“They are not powerless in the face of human monstrosity”: Greatest Hits Radio to broadcast 10-hour recreation of Live Aid

It’s been announced that Live Aid is to be broadcast again on the 40th anniversary of the original concert in a few weeks’ time.

UK station Greatest Hits Radio's schedule is being cleared on Sunday 13 July for a 10-hour special which will feature all the performances from the Wembley leg of the concert. The performances will be accompanied by commentary by Martin Kemp, who, of course, performed in the afternoon that day with Spandau Ballet as well as the cast of the Live Aid musical, Just For One Day.

So listeners will be able to once again marvel at Queen’s show-stealing set and Bowie’s emotive performance, as well as Paul McCartney’s rendering of Let It Be with a faulty mic.

Live Aid (Queen) Full Concert [1985, London, Wembley Stadium] - YouTube

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Yes, those of us who were there at the time will recall that Live Aid was itself a very mixed bag that veered between the sublime and the ridiculous. Presumably, the Greatest Hits Radio recreation of it will cut out the segments when British TV viewers were treated to the various Band Aids around the world, like Austria Fur Afrika’s rather rum Warum? (Why?) or indeed the Soviet contribution, by Russia’s leading AOR band at the time, Autograph.

It’s unclear whether the Greatest Hits Radio event will also include footage from the US leg of Live Aid: the gig at JFK Stadium Philadelphia that ran concurrently with the Wembley show. For five hours, UK viewers were ping-ponged between the two with the likes of Simple Minds being sandwiched between Queen and David Bowie and Santana following The Who.

Whatever, it was an incredible event, which even as it was happening was being described as ‘historic’. The high-water mark in terms of the reach and influence of Anglo-American pop/rock, it was seen by an estimated 1.9 billion people – 40% of the world’s population at the time - and raised over £114 million for famine relief.

The man who started it all has given a statement. Bob Geldof said: “Thank you Greatest Hits Radio for hopefully letting people know that they are not powerless in the face of human monstrosity. What better time than now to know and understand the power of music and what it can achieve?”

“I was there as a paying customer 40 years ago and I can’t wait to relive that extraordinary day,” says Simon Mayo., who will present the rerun. “Apart from finding a place to park in Wembley, of course.”

The Greatest Hits Radio recreation will end with the final episode of Live Aid: 40 Years On, a documentary about the whole event that features all the main players. “This is the story of when and how rock music took on the world and won,” says Geldof. “Maybe the greatest series of radio documentaries about Live Aid I have listened to – and believe me, there have been thousands.”