The original Woodstock Festival took place at the end of the 60s. Its scheduled three-day concert rolled into a fourth day encompassing lots of sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll - plus a lot of mud. Woodstock of the 80s is quite a different story...
1985 The so-labeled Woodstock of the 80s -- the "Live Aid" concerts to aid starving Africans -- took place on dual stages in London and Philadelphia on July 13, 1985. Sixty-one of rock's biggest acts performed for 17 hours in the outdoor stadiums for a global TV and radio audience of more than 1.5 billion.
Stage view of Live Aid at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia
"Boomtown Rats" singer Bob Geldof organized the historic concerts, which by the end of the year had raised an estimated US $70 million for African famine relief. The final tally raised was double that. Geldof was knighted in 1986 and nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize several times.
Among the highlights: the reunion of "The Who," Robert Plant and Jimmy Page reforming "Led Zeppelin" with Phil Collins and members of "Power Station," and a Tina Turner-Mick Jagger duet on "State of Shock" that ended with Jagger relieving Turner of her leather miniskirt. Collins made it a truly transatlantic event. He began the day in London singing with Sting then took the Concorde to New York and a helicopter to Philadelphia to perform there. Other performers taking part included David Bowie, Elton John, "U2," "Queen," "Wham!", "Dire Straits," "The Beach Boys," Bob Dylan, "Duran Duran," Paul Simon, Madonna and Eric Clapton.
In November 2004, the concert was released on DVD worldwide.
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