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Yahoo
5 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
How Bob Dylan's Live Aid Remark — ‘Pay The Mortgages on Some of the Farms' — Sparked 40 Years of Activism By Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp & More
Forty years ago, at the Live Aid festival in Philadelphia on July 13, 1985, it took Bob Dylan just a few moments to set in motion the music industry's longest-running concert for a cause — Willie Nelson's Farm Aid. Dylan took the stage at JFK Stadium late in the day, just past 10:30 p.m., accompanied by Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones, each with acoustic guitars. (They were preceded by Mick Jagger and Tina Turner's incendiary duet.) More from Billboard 'Been Busy': Tame Impala Teases New Music With Social Media Update Doja Cat, Tems, J Balvin & Coldplay Join Forces for Unifying FIFA Club World Cup Final Halftime Show Performance King Crimson's Manager Warns of 'Premature' Excitement Following New Album Rumors Opening with two seldom-performed songs from 1964, 'Ballad of Hollis Brown' and 'When The Ship Comes In,' Dylan then said, in an off-the-cuff manner: 'I hope that some of the money that's raised for the people in Africa, maybe they can just take a little bit of it — maybe one or two million, maybe — and use it, say, to pay the mortgages on some of the farms that the farmers here owe to the banks.' 'The question hit me like a ton of bricks,' Nelson recalled to his biographer David Ritz in Billboard in 2015. The musician was on the road that day, watching Live Aid on his tour-bus TV. 'Farming was my first job,' he told Billboard. 'I picked cotton. I pulled corn. I knew firsthand what it meant to farm. I knew damn well how tough it was. My farm roots are deep-seated in the soil of my personal story.' So are the roots of Nelson's philanthropy. In his small hometown of Abbott, Texas, where he attended the United Methodist Church, 'we had a collection box, and even though we were struggling financially, I knew there were folks with far greater struggles. As part of a loving community, I was taught the moral responsibility of helping those in need.' Like Dylan, at that time, Nelson also had been following the news of the family farming crisis that was devastating the heartland of the United States. Prices paid for crops had plummeted. Banks were foreclosing on farms, throwing families off land they had worked, often, for generations. Small towns, dependent on spending by local farmers, were reeling. David Senter, a fourth-generation farmer and co-founder of the American Agriculture Movement, recalled that time for 'Against the Grain,' the Farm Aid podcast. 'The farm crisis was a terrible, expanding tragedy for rural America,' said Senter. 'We lost 50 percent of the total family farmers during the crisis. Three-hundred-and-sixty-five farmers a day were going out of business during '85. We brought a couple of thousand farmers to Washington in March of '85 and we had a rally on the steps of the Jefferson [Memorial]. We had 365 white crosses [bearing the names of farmers] who had committed suicide or been foreclosed on. And we drove them on the Mall and made a graveyard in front of U.S.D.A.,' the headquarters of the United States Department of Agriculture. In 1985, Nelson's booking agent was Tony Conway of Buddy Lee Attractions. For a history of Farm Aid published for the organization's 20th anniversary, Lee recalled that, in August of that year, Nelson was playing the Illinois State Fair in Springfield, Ill., when the singer said: 'I want to do a concert for the American farmers. I want to see if we can do it here in Illinois, just someplace where we can get a stadium.' 'Willie asked me, 'Do you think you can get a hold of the governor?,'' he recalled. 'I made a few calls and got a call back saying [then] Governor Jim Thompson was on his way to the bus.' Nelson told his idea to Thompson, Lee said, and the governor made a call to secure availability of the football stadium at the University of Illinois in Champaign, Ill., for the one day open in Nelson's packed autumn touring schedule — Sept. 22, 1985. Nelson recruited Neil Young and John Mellencamp, who later became the first fellow members of the Farm Aid board. (The board expanded in 2001 to include Dave Matthews and again in 2021 to include Margo Price — who had grown up on a farm which her family lost in 1986, during the crisis which led to the creation of Farm Aid.) Farm Aid: A Concert for America was put together with the unthinkably short lead time of six weeks. It raised more than $7 million for the nation's family farmers and featured performers including Billy Joel, Bonnie Raitt, B.B. King, Loretta Lynn, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty — and Bob Dylan. A front-page story in Billboard, under the bylines of Paul Grein and Kip Kirby, reported that the Jam Productions of Chicago, which help mount Farm Aid, used the same 60-foot diameter, circular, two-stage set that had been used at JFK Stadium for Live Aid. The Billboard story reported that Nelson wrote the first check on the Farm Aid account to the National Council of Churches in the amount of $100,000 for food pantries to help feed farm families in seven states: Iowa, Minnesota, Wyoming, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Ohio and Kansas. 'In addition,' Billboard reported, 'Nelson notes that the toll-free 1-800-FARMAID phone lines will remain in operation for one year.' Forty years later, Farm Aid carries on. The organization has raised more than $80 million to support programs that help family farmers thrive. It has earned a four-star rating from Charity Navigator, the widely known assessment organization for philanthropies. Nelson, Young, Mellencamp, Matthew and Price will headline this year's anniversary concert on Sept. 20 at Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, on a bill with Billy Strings, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, Trampled by Turtles, Waxahatchee, Eric Burton of Black Pumas, Jesse Welles and Madeline Edwards. Transcending the crisis which sparked its creation, Farm Aid's mission today is 'to build a vibrant, family farm-centered system of agriculture in America,' the organization states on its website. 'We're best known for our annual music, food and farm festival, but the truth is we work each and every day, year-round to build a system of agriculture that values family farmers, good food, soil and water, and strong communities.' And Dylan, who has been sharing headlining status with Nelson on this summer's Outlaw Music Festival Tour, made a surprise return to the Farm Aid stage in 2023 at the Ruoff Music Center in Noblesville, Indiana. Joined by members of The Heartbreakers — whom he first performed with at Farm Aid in 1985 — Dylan walked onstage without any introduction, and played a short-but-intense set of 'Maggie's Farm,' 'Positively 4th Street' and 'Ballad of a Thin Man' against the stark backdrop of a silhouetted windmill. His connection to Nelson, to Farm Aid and the cause he first highlighted at Live Aid 40 years ago remains unbroken. Best of Billboard Chart Rewind: In 1989, New Kids on the Block Were 'Hangin' Tough' at No. 1 Janet Jackson's Biggest Billboard Hot 100 Hits H.E.R. & Chris Brown 'Come Through' to No. 1 on Adult R&B Airplay Chart Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
10 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Legendary Artist Performed at Live Aid in Two Different Cities and Got ‘Caught in a Toxic, Dysfunctional Web of Led Zeppelin'
Legendary Artist Performed at Live Aid in Two Different Cities and Got 'Caught in a Toxic, Dysfunctional Web of Led Zeppelin' originally appeared on Parade. Perhaps no look back at Live Aid on its 40th anniversary is complete without focusing on the herculean task of on July 13, 1985. The Genesis singer-drummer and solo artist was the only artist to play the historic fund-raising concert in both London and Philadelphia. 🎬 SIGN UP for Parade's Daily newsletter to get the latest pop culture news & celebrity interviews delivered right to your inbox 🎬 Amazingly, Collins first performed and played drums for and in London at Wembley Stadium and then he traveled by helicopter to Heathrow Airport from where he flew on the Concorde to New York City and then jumped on another helicopter to Philadelphia. Once in Philly, he performed a solo set and played drums with and the reunited Led Zeppelin. With Sting in London, the Police singer started his set with two Police songs, 'Roxanne' and 'Driven to Tears' before Collins joined to perform his hit 'Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now,' the Police's 'Message in a Bottle,' Collins' 'In the Air Tonight' and 'Long Long Way to Go,' and the Police's 'Every Breath You Take.' At JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, Collins did his own two-song solo set consisting of 'Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)' and 'In the Air Tonight,' then backed Clapton on the Cream song 'White Room,' Clapton's 'She's Waiting' and Derek and the Dominos' 'Layla.' But he wasn't done. He also backed Led Zeppelin's , and on a three-song set featuring 'Rock and Roll,' 'Whole Lotta Love' and 'Stairway to Heaven.' Drummer was also on hand because apparently it took two drummers to fill the shoes of the late . 'It's just great to be part of something like this,' Collins told reporters backstage at the Wembley show, per Music Radar. Later, he was interviewed in the Concorde's cockpit while in transit, Collins said, 'Basically the reason I'm doing this is because it can be done. It's good fun isn't it?' However, Collins would later have second thoughts. Initially, Plant, Page and Collins were possibly going to perform, but it eventually turned into a full-scale Led Zeppelin reunion. ''You, me and Jimmy maybe doing something together' had become the second coming of history's greatest rock band. This is a development for which I am blissfully ignorant. Robert hasn't called, so I don't know that John Paul Jones is coming too. All of a sudden, it's Led Zeppelin,' Collins said. He went on to further detail the experience in his 2016 autobiography, Not Dead Yet. 'I didn't come here to play with Led Zeppelin, I came here to play with a friend of mine who has morphed back into being the singer of Led Zeppelin -- a very different animal to the one that invited me,' Collins wrote. 'Now I'm caught up in the ceaselessly toxic, dysfunctional web of Led Zeppelin interpersonal relationships' Collins admitted he knew things weren't going well during the short set. 'I know the wheels are falling off from early on in the set," Collins wrote in his book. 'I can't hear Robert clearly from where I'm sat, but I can hear enough to know that he's not on top of his game. Ditto Jimmy." Despite the honor of playing the gig and making history that day, Collins admitted it ended on a sour note. 'If I could have left that stage, I would have left, half-way through 'Stairway,' if not earlier,' he wrote. Legendary Artist Performed at Live Aid in Two Different Cities and Got 'Caught in a Toxic, Dysfunctional Web of Led Zeppelin' first appeared on Parade on Jul 11, 2025 This story was originally reported by Parade on Jul 11, 2025, where it first appeared.
Express Tribune
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
Live Aid stars gather for 40th anniversary
Musicians who performed at Live Aid, the transatlantic concert that raised millions for famine relief in Ethiopia, reunited in London on Sunday to mark the event's 40th anniversary, attending a special performance of the musical Just For One Day. Among the stars gathered at Shaftesbury Theatre were Live Aid organisers Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, Queen guitarist Brian May, musician Nik Kershaw and actor Vanessa Williams. On this day in 1985, some of the biggest names in music came together for the televised international charity show, held simultaneously at London's Wembley Stadium and the John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia. An estimated 1.5 billion people globally watched Live Aid via live satellite broadcasts. The event raised about USD100 million and spawned similar events all over the world for decades afterwards. Irish rocker and activist Geldof told Reuters that Live Aid was still important because it showed the power of collaborative action. "And today in the age of the death of kindness, which [US President Donald] Trump, [Vice President JD] Vance and [Elon] Musk have ushered in, it probably resonates all the more strongly," Geldof said. The musicians attended a performance of Just For One Day: The Live Aid Musical, a behind-the-scenes stage musical featuring songs from Sunday's attendees as well as Bob Dylan, David Bowie, Madonna, Elton John and Paul McCartney. The musical, which had a run at London's Old Vic in 2024, transferred to the Shaftesbury Theatre in London's West End in May. It is produced with the permission of the Band Aid Charitable Trust, which gets 10 per cent from the sales of all tickets. "It made me very emotional at the time. Even thinking about it now makes me emotional," May told Reuters, referring to Live Aid in 1985. Queen's performance that day at Wembley Stadium is widely regarded as a landmark concert in rock music history. "There has never been a day like that in my life," May said. Reuters
Toronto Sun
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Toronto Sun
Forty years later, a chance encounter in Montreal made Live Aid 'worth it' for Bob Geldof
The co-founder of the 1985 benefit concert said an Ethiopian man thanked him for saving his life. Published Jul 15, 2025 • Last updated 3 hours ago • 1 minute read Bob Geldof on stage during the curtain call at the "Live Aid" 40th Anniversary Gala at at the Shaftesbury Theatre on July 13, 2025 in London, and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. Bob Geldof was visiting Montreal last fall when he met a man who thanked him not only for Live Aid, but credited him for saving his life. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account The co-founder of the 1985 benefit concerts recounted the touching interaction in a recent interview ahead of the historic event's 40th anniversary. Live Aid, which was held simultaneously in London and Philadelphia, raised millions of dollars for famine relief in Ethiopia. The 16-hour, star-studded fundraiser included sets from Queen, David Bowie and U2. 'Last November in Montreal, my wife ordered breakfast. She got a call saying 'Is it all right, I'm not your normal waiter guy, can I come and say hello to your husband?'' Geldof told CNN. The worker greeted him before standing up straight and saying 'I wanted to thank you very much.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. He detailed how Band Aid, the charity group founded by the Irish singer-songwriter, helped him as a young boy in Ethiopia. 'He said 'I had no idea who my parents are,'' Geldof said. 'He said 'They died, but someone put me in a Band Aid hospital and Band Aid paid to make me better. And then I was brought up in a Band Aid orphanage. 'And he said 'I made my way to Paris and I studied catering' and he said 'And I came here.'' Geldof congratulated him and asked more about his life, including whether he is married and has a family. The worker said he was married to an Ethiopian woman and showed parts of his life on his phone. The man paused when he put his phone back in his pocket, Geldof said. 'And then he just ran forward and clutched me,' Geldof said. It wasn't quite a hug, but Geldof said the man buried his head in his chest, saying 'Thank you for my sons. Thank you for my life.' 'So even if it was for that guy, just that guy, if it was just for him, 40 years — worth it,' Geldof said. NFL Editorial Cartoons Canada Toronto & GTA Columnists
Montreal Gazette
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Montreal Gazette
Forty years later, a chance encounter in Montreal made Live Aid ‘worth it' for Bob Geldof
News Bob Geldof was visiting Montreal last fall when he met a man who thanked him not only for Live Aid, but credited him for saving his life. The co-founder of the 1985 benefit concerts recounted the touching interaction in a recent interview ahead of the historic event's 40th anniversary. Live Aid, which was held simultaneously in London and Philadelphia, raised millions of dollars for famine relief in Ethiopia. The 16-hour, star-studded fundraiser included sets from Queen, David Bowie and U2. 'Last November in Montreal, my wife ordered breakfast. She got a call saying 'Is it all right, I'm not your normal waiter guy, can I come and say hello to your husband?'' Geldof told CNN. View this post on Instagram A post shared by CNN Original Series (@cnnorigseries) The worker greeted him before standing up straight and saying 'I wanted to thank you very much.' He detailed how Band Aid, the charity group founded by the Irish singer-songwriter, helped him as a young boy in Ethiopia. 'He said 'I had no idea who my parents are,'' Geldof said. 'He said 'They died, but someone put me in a Band Aid hospital and Band Aid paid to make me better. And then I was brought up in a Band Aid orphanage. 'And he said 'I made my way to Paris and I studied catering' and he said 'And I came here.'' Geldof congratulated him and asked more about his life, including whether he is married and has a family. The worker said he was married to an Ethiopian woman and showed parts of his life on his phone. The man paused when he put his phone back in his pocket, Geldof said. 'And then he just ran forward and clutched me,' Geldof said. It wasn't quite a hug, but Geldof said the man buried his head in his chest, saying 'Thank you for my sons. Thank you for my life.' 'So even if it was for that guy, just that guy, if it was just for him, 40 years — worth it,' Geldof said. This story was originally published July 15, 2025 at 1:18 PM.
