# Did you Watch Live Aid on 13 July 1985? Or recordings afterwards? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [January 17, 2026, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-watch-live-aid-on-13-july-1985-or-recordings-afterwards/1026774 "2026-01-17T16:48:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2026, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-watch-live-aid-on-13-july-1985-or-recordings-afterwards/1026774/41 "2026-01-20T01:05:12Z")
> [@Coriolanus](#): > > _U2 from Wembley played a nice set._ I’d heard of U2 before Live Aid and was familiar with a few of their hit songs, but hadn’t been paying them close attention. Then, at Live Aid, they did “Bad,” which completely blew me away. I immediately began educating myself on their earlier songs and became a longtime fan. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2026, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-watch-live-aid-on-13-july-1985-or-recordings-afterwards/1026774/42 "2026-01-20T14:25:38Z")
> [@Coriolanus](#): > > It got confusing (at least for the Philly) crowd as Phil Collins choppered in to fo his well known hit and some movie song - in TWO CONTINENTS! It wasn’t particularly confusing. They announced ahead of time that Phil Collins was going to do his Wembley set, jump on a Concorde, then do a late set in Philly. They gave us frequent updates as to his progress as well. And when he played “In The Air Tonight” the place went nuts - Miami Vice had just come out a few months before, which gave that song a huge bump. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2026, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-watch-live-aid-on-13-july-1985-or-recordings-afterwards/1026774/43 "2026-01-20T14:50:28Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > I’m also always confusing it and the acts with the “Free Mandela concert” from a few years later at Wembley, though I remember that much more clearly. > [@Al128](#): > > I was 15, glued to the screen all day and I vividly recall Tracey Chapman starting her international career with huge impact (everyone asking who she was, akin to the girl in the yellow coat at Biden’s inauguration ). You did the same 😉. Tracy Chapman’s sensational breakthrough happened at the Mandela concert at Wembley in 1988. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/wGmHpn-prd0/hqdefault.jpg "Tracy Chapman - Talkin 'bout a Revolution, Live 1988 Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute concert") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wGmHpn-prd0) [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/7tWE9mPM9pw/maxresdefault.jpg "Tracy Chapman - Fast Car (Nelson Mandela 70th Tribute Concert, Live 1988)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tWE9mPM9pw) ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2026, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-watch-live-aid-on-13-july-1985-or-recordings-afterwards/1026774/44 "2026-01-20T15:20:53Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > They announced ahead of time that Phil Collins was going to do his Wembley set, jump on a Concorde, then do a late set in Philly. They gave us frequent updates as to his progress as well. And when he played “In The Air Tonight” the place went nuts - Miami Vice had just come out a few months before, which gave that song a huge bump. I assume, today there would be quite a bit of (environmental) pushback for what was ultimately a PR-stunt ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2026, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-watch-live-aid-on-13-july-1985-or-recordings-afterwards/1026774/45 "2026-01-20T15:23:43Z")
It was a scheduled Concorde flight Heathrow to JFK, so it was going anyway. Then a helicopter from JFK to Philadelphia airport, that was likely chartered. Utterly inconsequential compared to the environmental impact of the 100K attendees getting to the concert, which was pretty much just a huge PR stunt anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2026, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-watch-live-aid-on-13-july-1985-or-recordings-afterwards/1026774/46 "2026-01-20T15:27:02Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > You did the same 😉. Tracy Chapman’s sensational breakthrough happened at the Mandela concert at Wembley in 1988. you are of course right … I had a few seconds of doubt if it was Live Aid, but could not come up with another concert of similar characteristics. The Mandela Concert was of course that! Her, Suzanne Vega and a couple of other fine ladies (Tanita Tikaram, Edie Brickell, Michelle Shocked…) did create a bit of a “girl-and-guitar” fad/current back in the late 80ies pop scene, didn’t they? ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2026, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-watch-live-aid-on-13-july-1985-or-recordings-afterwards/1026774/47 "2026-01-20T15:31:10Z")
> [@Al128](#): > > Her, Suzanne Vega and a couple of other fine ladies (Tanita Tikaram, Edie Brickell, Michelle Shocked…) did create a bit of a “girl-and-guitar” fad/current back in the late 80ies pop scene, didn’t they? You remember that correctly, and I liked that music (still do). I bought the Tracy Chapman debut album the week after the Mandela concert, and it was in my heavy rotation for months. It was a mega-seller in Germany, I just read an interview with her for Spiegel while doing research for this thread where the interviewer mentioned that it sold more copies here than “The Wall” or “Thriller”. ---
**Author:** ![Coriolanus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coriolanus/32/18769_2.png) [@Coriolanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coriolanus)\ **Post date:** [January 20, 2026, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-watch-live-aid-on-13-july-1985-or-recordings-afterwards/1026774/48 "2026-01-20T18:19:33Z")
**No** band would have wanted to come on stage right after a video of Queen’s Wembley set was played. Especially one that had not rehearsed, Robert Plant’s voice was off, Tony Thompson had been called in to play drums in case Phil’s Concorde Adventure didn’t go off, so why not let both of them play together? Neither of them had rehearsed at all. Phil couldn’t even pull off the intro to “Rock and Roll”, at least by Jimmy-not-my-fault Page’s opinion. He blamed Phil, the two drummers blamed each other, I think Plant took some blame for not singing well. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-you-watch-live-aid-on-13-july-1985-or-recordings-afterwards/1026774.md?page=2)