Queen’s Iconic Live Aid Performance To Stream Worldwide For 40th Anniversary
Set to premiere on Sunday, July 13th, on Queen’s official YouTube channel, the 21-minute set will stream live for 24 hours straight.
Ahead of Live Aid’s 40th anniversary, Queen has announced a special worldwide live stream of their iconic performance at the benefit.
Set to premiere on Sunday, July 13th on Queen’s official YouTube channel, the 21-minute set will be available to watch in full for 24 hours starting at approximately 6:41 PM BST. The video is part of a series of 40th-anniversary celebrations, including limited-edition merchandise designed and overseen by Sir Bob Geldof, one of Live Aid’s organisers, and Queen members Roger Taylor and Brian May. A cumulative 50 percent of proceeds from the merchandise will go to support the Band Aid Trust and the Mercury Phoenix Trust.
Hosted on July 13th, 1985 at Wembley Stadium in London, Live Aid was organised by Sir Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise money to support humanitarian aid in Ethiopia, where a widespread famine affected millions. Other performers included Black Sabbath, the Pretenders, Santana, REO Speedwagon, Judas Priest, The Beach Boys, Teddy Pendergrass, Elvis Costello, U2, and David Bowie. In addition to the 72,000 people in attendance at the show (including Princess Diana), Live Aid was also watched by nearly two billion viewers around the world via multiple live streams. The history of the concert is currently the subject of a musical showing on London’s West End, Just For One Day.
Although the star-studded benefit featured many highlights, Queen’s set may be one of the most famous, in part due to Freddie Mercury’s call-and-response segment, topped off with the climactic “Note Heard Around The World.” The performance blended a number of Queen’s biggest hits, including “We Are The Champions,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “We Will Rock You,” and “Crazy Little Thing Called Love.” “Freddie was our secret weapon,” May recalled of the historic night. ”He was able to reach out to everybody in that stadium effortlessly, and I think it was really his night.” Taylor added: “The whole day was one of those stand out wonderful days. A great credit to music which can move mountains if it has to! It’s beyond politics and politicians!”
