Live Aid: A milestone in music history – without Rod Stewart

Exactly 40 years ago, one of the biggest music events the world has ever seen took place. The charity concert, organised by Bob Geldorf (The Bootown Rats) and Midge Ure (Ultravox), took place on 13 July 1985 simultaneously at Wembley Stadium in London (subtitle Feed the World) and John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia.
Most of the top international stars of the music scene at the time, including Queen, Mick Jagger, Madonna, Elton John, Santana, The Who and Paul McCartney, performed alternately on the two stages in London and Philadelphia for more than 16 hours. However, a number of top stars were missing, such as Michael Jackson and Bruce Springsteen.
Sir Rod Stewart was also not at Live Aid, even though his name was initially on an official announcement. For years, it was said that Rod had not managed to put together a band for the show in time (even though he had just finished a world tour three months earlier).
So what was the real reason? For a long time, Stewart remained silent about the background. It was not until 2021 that he spoke out in detail for the first time in an interview.
‘We were supposed to perform,’ Rod told the BBC, "but a few guys from the band told me that our ex-manager had refused because I wasn't getting the right coverage in the news. He wanted me to only perform if I was on the CBS news at 10 o'clock. He said, “If not, he won't do it.” And that wasn't what it was about. It was about raising money for children. It wasn't about which news channel you would be seen on in America. I only found out about this now,‘ said Rod. ’I thought it was strange that I wasn't there."
The proceeds from the worldwide fundraising appeals, amounting to approximately 200 million German marks (equivalent to 218 million euros today), went to hunger relief in Africa. On 9 November 2004, a DVD set of this concert with a playing time of about 10 hours was released. The proceeds from this will also go to hunger relief in Africa. The funds went primarily to the organisations UNICEF, Bread for the World and Band Aid Trust.