Midge Ure has hinted there may be plans to mark the 40th anniversary of Live Aid.
The 1985 benefit concert was held simultaneously at the John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia and Wembley Stadium in London to raise money for the famine in Ethiopia and featured performances from Queen, George Michael, Duran Duran and others.
It was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, with the latter discussing its 40th anniversary with Greatest Hits Radio.
“Would something happen in a couple of years’ time [to mark the anniversary]? Quite possibly,” he offered, “but it might not be a concert, or a record and it might take on a different form. The need is still there and that’s not going to go away.
“I’ve said, and Bob has said as well, wouldn’t it be great to do something like that every year simply because there’s a demand for it. There are so many issues on the planet right now it would be wonderful to see artists at the top of the tree today doing something similar, but it just hasn’t happened, I think, because music maybe doesn’t wield the same power it used to.’
“Back in 1984, 1985, music was the be all and end all. We didn’t have phones, the internet, we didn’t have screens that were stuck to our faces all the time so there are many, many diversions for people now. But back then it was all powerful and the idea of a bunch of artists getting together to help someone else was unseen, to do something for charity was a novelty.”
Reflecting on the monumental event, he added: “Even though I was part of it [the original Live Aid] somewhere in the back of my mind I doubted it was ever going to happen. It was just too big, too huge and we were pushing technology way beyond what it was capable of doing or supposed to be doing – satellite feeds from all around the world, two concerts with an ocean in between them – it was petrifying to say the least.
“[On the day] we arrived at Wembley in a helicopter and flew over an empty Wembley Stadium surrounded by thousands and thousands of people. That’s the moment the penny actually dropped, and I realised that everything we’d been talking about wasn’t just a fantasy.”
It comes ahead of a huge show for the pop legend, who will deliver a one-off performance on October 4 at London’s Royal Albert Hall to coincide with his 70th birthday.
Tickets are on sale now.
