Live Aid was possibly the biggest gig in history. Taking place simultaneously at London’s Wembley Stadium and Philadelphia’s JFK Stadium on Saturday, July 13, 1985, it featured a Who’s Who of music, from Paul McCartney, Queen and David Bowie to Madonna, Duran Duran and Bob Dylan. Hard rock and heavy metal were less well-represented, though the US leg did feature big-name reunion sets from Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, as well as an appearance by Judas Priest.
The brand new issue of Classic Rock magazine features a look back at the Philadelphia gig, written by veteran journalist Mick Wall, who was there on the day. In the piece, Wall untangles the story behind Zeppelin’s hugely anticipated reunion, which was originally planned as a set from singer Robert Plant’s post-Zeppelin band The Honeydrippers before label executive Phil Carson suggested be joined by Jimmy Page, as well as recalling Ozzy Osbourne’s suggestion to one bamboozled TV journalist that Sabbath were going to open their set at this famine-relief gig with a version of Food Glorious Food from the musical Oliver! (in the end they played Children Of The Grave, Iron Man and Paranoid).
Still, not everyone was happy with the presence of even a handful of heavier bands on the bill. According to Wall, former Byrds and Crosby, Stills & Nash singer David Crosby was disgruntled about the newly reunited CSN’s positioning on the bill.
“A bedraggled David Crosby thundered around [backstage], railing against the drugs and weapons offenses for which he’d just been sentenced to nine months in jail,” writes Wall. “Telling me how ‘fucking disgusted’ he was that the first Crosby, Stills & Nash performance for 10 years had been followed by ‘some heavy metal garbage!’ Specifically, Judas Priest.”
Unlike Crosby, Priest singer Rob Halford was characteristically positive about appearing at the US Live Aid.
“I was there for the whole event,” Halford tells Classic Rock in the piece. “For me the three best highlights was watching Sabbath – and later Plant and Page. Then toward the end Tina [Turner] and Mick [Jagger].”
He continues: “Looking back, I feel good that Priest took part in something so important and [that] showed the world how powerful music is when all kinds and styles come together for a great cause.”
Read the full story of the US Live Aid show in the brand new issue of Classic Rock, on sale now. Order it online and have it delivered straight to your door.
