Celebrate Live Aid’s 40th Anniversary on WXPN

It’s been 40 years since the music world rallied around the cause of famine relief in Ethiopia: through the hit fundraising singles “Do They Know It’s Christmas,” “We Are The World,” and through the massive Live Aid benefit festival. The first-of-its-kind global concert broadcast took place on July 13, 1985 at Wembley Stadium in London, and at JFK Stadium right here in Philadelphia.

To commemorate this historic event, WXPN presents Live Aid 40th Anniversary: a chronological playback of live recordings from Live Aid on Sunday, July 13th. It begins at 10 a.m. with highlights from both the Wembley Stadium and JFK shows – with London 5 hours ahead, Live Aid started with UK artists like Status Quo, The Style Council and Boomtown Rats, before the stages started alternating as the show kicked off in Philly with folk legend Joan Baez and hometown heroes The Hooters.

“We were in the midst of a national tour, opening for Don Henley, when our management contacted us about the possibility of playing Live Aid on the Philly stage,” remembers Hooters keyboard player and co-songwriter Rob Hyman. “Promoter Larry Magid was determined to have a local band represent the hometown city – and as fate would have it, we just happened to be in the right place at the right time.”

Hyman will chat with Robert Drake during our Live Aid special, as will other notable figures who were there at the time: legendary WMMR host Pierre Robert, and Martha Graham Cracker, the veteran Philly cabaret performer who organized a Live Aid tribute concert at Union Transfer on Sunday night with Johnny Showcase, Reef the Lost Cauze, Joey Sweeney, Eliza Hardy Jones, and more.

Drake was also in attendance at the original Live Aid. He was able to get tickets to the in-demand concert through a friend who worked at Veteran’s Stadium. After a crammed subway ride on a 95 degree day, Drake arrived at Live Aid and recalls “We spent much of the time in the parking lot and wandering around the crowd inside JFK, absorbing the sights and sounds. (And smells!) Keep in mind we had no idea who was on next, not to mention who was even performing – folks constantly talked about Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston being backstage (they weren’t) and that CSN&Y were going to reunite on stage (they did). We finally got close enough to the stage to catch The Cars, Neil Young, and Power Station. We decided to leave during Thompson Twins and went to a friend’s house in South Philly to hydrate, cool down and catch the rest on MTV. Truly a messy, sweaty and wonderful day in Philadelphia.”

WXPN’s Bruce Warren also attended Live Aid, and shared memories of his personal highlights: Madonna making a big impression early in the day, Phil Collins wow-ing the crowd by bringing out Robert Plant, Jimmy Page, and John Paul Jones for an impromptu Led Zeppelin reunion, Teddy Pendergrass giving a moving performance — his first time onstage after an auto accident in 1982 left him paralyzed, and Neil Young ending his set with a smoking “Powderfinger.” He also remembers the celebrity presenters introducing the bands, including Chevy Chase, Joe Piscopo, Jack Nicholson, and Don Johnson.

“There was a brilliant ludicrousness to it,” Warren says. “I mean, all these famous people all in one city, one place all at the same time!! Looking back and thinking about the scale of this thing, you can’t help but consider the global massiveness and historical nature of it all. Pre-internet, it was broadcast live on BBC and MTV. At the time, it was the largest satellite link-up and global broadcast ever. I remember leaving the concert and I was so thirsty. There was a guy out on the street filling empty milk gallons up with water from a fire hydrant, selling them for 5 bucks each. I said to him, ‘hey, I’ll take two.” I drank one almost in one gulp and poured the other one over my head.”

Live Aid 40th Anniversary begins at 10 a.m. with Warren and Drake hosting throughout the day, and runs until approximately 8 p.m. Tune in to the broadcast on the radio in Philly at 88.5 FM, stream it worldwide at XPN.org and through your smart speaker, or listen through the XPN app.