Live Aid 30th anniversary: Seven things you may not know about Bob Geldof's charity concert
Updated
Today marks 30 years since charity concert Live Aid, when some of the world's biggest musical acts gathered to raise funds for famine relief in Africa.
The event was held simultaneously at Wembley Stadium in London and JFK Stadium in Philadelphia on July 13, 1985.
It was conceived by Bob Geldolf after the runaway success of charity singles Do They Know It's Christmas and We are the World.
The super concert was watched by an estimated 1.5 billion worldwide, featured 16 hours of live music and raised about £50 million ($A104 million) on the day and about £150 million ($A312 million) in the decades since the event from merchandise sales.
Here are seven other things about "the day rock and roll changed the world".
Queen stole the show
Freddy Mercury's band did not open or close the show. Instead, they asked for a 6pm slot — when the television audience would be at its peak.
Queen made the most of their 20 minutes, opening with Bohemian Rhapsody and finishing with We Will Rock You and We Are The Champions.
As the story goes, Queen's sound engineer quietly switched out the limiters that had been installed on the venue's sound system so the performance would be louder than the others.
Queen's appearance was voted the best live gig of all time in a British television poll of more than 60 musicians and journalists in 2005.
Phil Collins played on two continents that day
After performing Against All Odds and In The Air Tonight, plus a duet with Sting at Wembley Stadium, Phil Collins hopped the Concorde to America, picking up the sticks for Led Zeppelin at the Philadelphia concert.
Collins later branded the performance alongside Robert Plant and Jimmy Page a disaster, saying: "Robert was not match-fit with his voice and Jimmy was out of it, dribbling. It wasn't my fault it was crap."
In another strange turn of events, Cher was on the ex-Genesis drummer's Concorde flight.
According to Collins, the singer asked what was going on and whether he could get her on the Live Aid broadcast.
"I told her to just turn up," he said.
And that she did, joining in the finale song We are the World.
There was no place like home for INXS
An Australian-based companion event, Oz for Africa, took place on the same day as Live Aid and also raised funds for the Ethiopian famine.
The headline act, INXS, had their performance broadcast at the Live Aid show in London.
AC/DC and Jacko turned down the chance to play
AC/DC singer Brian Johnson is quoted as saying the band prefers to help in private, and in 2010 shed light on their decision to give Live Aid a miss.
"Bob Geldof is a canny lad. He did what he thought was right at the time but it didn't work," Johnson told The Daily Telegraph.
"The money didn't go to poor people. It makes me mad when people try to use politics or charity for publicity.
"Do a charity gig, fair enough, but not on worldwide television."
AC/DC were not the only notable absentees. Tears for Fears, Bruce Springsteen and Michael Jackson also said no, though Springsteen later said he regretted not doing an acoustic set.
Jagger and Turner had the original wardrobe malfunction
Decades before Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson shocked the world with a "wardrobe malfunction" live at the Super Bowl, Mick Jagger and Tina Turner shocked crowds with their own revealing moment.
During their energetic duet of It's Only Rock And Roll, Jagger tore off Turner's skirt and she danced away the rest of the song in a leotard.
The concert reunited classic bands
Geldof convinced several bands who had been defunct for years to reunite for the concert.
Among them were The Who, Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, who had not played since the death of John Bonham.
The Who performed so energetically that when a red light signalling the end of the performance began to flash, lead guitarist Pete Townshend broke it and played for another five minutes.
Geldof's Live Aid outburst became the stuff of legend
Geldof's rant during the broadcast made television history, and in the 30 years since has been continually misquoted.
"There are people dying now, so give me the money," he told viewers.
Geldof swears at one point in the broadcast, saying "fuck the address, let's get the numbers," but he is often misquoted as having said "give me your fucking money".
Topics: arts-and-entertainment, community-and-society, charities, famine, united-kingdom, united-states, australia
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