{"id":271011,"date":"2026-06-18T16:48:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T16:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/271011\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T16:48:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T16:48:11","slug":"queens-most-iconic-concert-was-packed-with-rock-legends-most-have-forgotten","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/271011\/","title":{"rendered":"Queen’s Most Iconic Concert Was Packed With Rock Legends Most Have Forgotten"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2018, the Freddie Mercury<\/a> biopic Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)<\/a> became a cultural and commercial juggernaut, earning 900 million dollars and winning multiple Oscars. Due to this success, Bohemian Rhapsody became a new touchpoint for the myth of Queen<\/a> for a whole new generation. The film climaxes with the band\u2019s performance at Live Aid in 1985. It\u2019s a triumphant note to end the movie on. Despite some factual errors, in both the presentation of Live Aid and throughout the film, the movie solidified Live Aid, more than it already was, as the crowning achievement of one of the greatest rock bands of all time. However, Live Aid was an all-day performance, with a slew of incredible performers across two continents. Like all of the artists of Live Aid, Queen played a quick set of only six songs, comparatively long to peers like REO Speedwagon, but still a small set overall. So what happened the rest of the day? Queen\u2019s set may have stolen the show, but they were just one of over 70 artists that put on incredible performances at Live Aid that have since been forgotten.<\/p>\n

Queen Plays Alongside Some Legendary Peers in Britain<\/p>\n

\"David-Bowie
\n Image via\u00a0Werner Baum\/picture-alliance\/Cover Images<\/p>\n

Live Aid was a charity concert held to raise money for a famine going on in Ethiopia. It was conceived as a spiritual successor to \u201cDo They Know It\u2019s Christmas,\u201d a hit holiday single sung by a host of musical icons for the same cause. Live Aid took place on July 13th, 1985, in both Wembley Stadium in London and John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with artists divided between the two venues. Queen, for example, performed at the Wembley Stadium show, sandwiched between Dire Straits and David Bowie<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the Dire Straits set that preceded Queen, the band was joined by Sting<\/a> of The Police<\/a> for \u201cMoney for Nothing,\u201d who had also performed earlier in the day with Phil Collins. Collins managed to be the only artist to play both the London and Philadelphia shows, boarding a supersonic jet to make it across the Atlantic in time. The collaboration between Collins and Sting was not the only team-up of legendary artists; in fact, Live Aid was defined by them. Elton John<\/a> was joined by members of Wham!<\/a> for “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me”, and Paul McCartney<\/a> performed The Beatles’<\/a> classic \u201cLet It Be\u201d with David Bowie, Pete Townsend, Alyson Monet, and Bob Geldof.<\/p>\n

America Has Its Own Legendary Live Aid Performances<\/p>\n

\"Tina-Turner
\n Image via\u00a0George Bodnar Archive\/IconicPix\/Cover Images<\/p>\n

Arguably, however, even more memorable reunions, collabs, and overall performances happened at the U.S. version of the show. The caliber of talent was evenly spread, and there was no distinct separation like all British artists playing the London show, for example, or vice versa. For example, Judas Priest,<\/a> a metal act at the apex of their powers, gave a phenomenal performance of some of their biggest hits. Their non-stop energy was almost as impressive as their ability to perform on a July afternoon, clad in head-to-toe leather. They were followed up by Bryan Adams<\/a> and The Beach Boys<\/a>. The latter, in particular, sounded particularly great late into their career. The band was still just as musically tight as ever, while nailing all of their signature lush harmonies. Run-DMC<\/a>, who performed earlier in the day, was the only hip-hop act that performed at Live Aid, which provided key exposure to the burgeoning genre. Madonna<\/a> was also one of the only pop stars to take the Live Aid stage. With the success of \u201cLike a Virgin\u201d on MTV just a year prior, she was the major draw for younger pop fans who were perhaps less familiar with Eric Clapton<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mick Jagger<\/a> of The Rolling Stones<\/a> performed alongside Tina Turner<\/a>, a duo who had been friends and collaborators for a while up until that point. However, the Live Aid performance was really the icing on the cake. Their duet of \u201cState of Shock\u201d and \u201cIt\u2019s All Rock and Roll to Me\u201d is a brilliant showcase of raw vocal talent and on-stage charisma, as the duo perfectly played off of each other. Their effortless line trading and energetic stage movements made this one of the most high-energy rock performances of all time.<\/p>\n


\n \"Bohemian-Rhapsody-Queen-band-members-Freddie-Mercury-Brian-May\"<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Related<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\tWas Queen\u2019s Live Aid Performance Really the Greatest of All Time?
\n\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

An Unforgettable Night When Queen Conquered Wembley.<\/p>\n

70s Rock Giants Reunite to Mixed Results<\/p>\n

\"Led-Zeppelin
\n Image via\u00a0Philippe Gras\/Le Pictorium\/Cover Images<\/p>\n

Black Sabbath<\/a> reunited with original lead singer Ozzy Osbourne<\/a> to perform \u201cChildren of the Grave,\u201d \u201cIron Man,\u201d and \u201cParanoid.\u201d This was the first time the band had been back on stage since Ozzy had left the band in the late 70s. According to guitarist Tony Iommi, this was supposed to be the first step to the original lineup returning<\/a> in full force. While this wouldn\u2019t happen for another few decades, the band did get drunk together the night before the show, and somehow put on a great performance, despite being extremely hungover.<\/p>\n

An arguably bigger reunion was Led Zeppelin<\/a>, who reunited for the first time since the death of drummer John Bonham. For Live Aid, Led Zeppelin was joined by Phil Collins. It\u2019s a musical milestone on premise alone. However, Led Zeppelin\u2019s performance went over, like the cover on their first album. Crashing and burning. From the first notes of \u201cRock and Roll,\u201d it\u2019s clear that Robert Plant\u2019s voice isn\u2019t up to snuff to properly hit the high notes of his younger self. Jimmy Page is wildly out of time and tune. Phil Collins, who\u2019s filling in on drums, does his best while clearly under-rehearsed. John Paul Jones attempts to hold the whole thing together on the bass. What could\u2019ve been one of the most triumphant performances in music history was a complete failure. This performance may be one of the only parts of this day that\u2019s best left buried in the sands of time.<\/p>\n

The Legacy of Live Aid Fades in Queen’s Shadow<\/p>\n

\"The
\n Image via queenonline.com<\/p>\n

Live Aid 1985 was a resounding success, raising 127 million dollars over it\u2019s 16 hour broadcast for Ethiopian famine relief, and spawning numerous derivatives like Farm Aid and Live 8. The broadcast, which streamed to 1.5 billion people<\/a>, provided artists with a great platform for exposure, even if the Queen’s performance is what\u2019s remembered best in retrospect. Even with their show-stealing performance, the rest of Live Aid was one of the most star-studded lineups in music festival history. The majority of the festivals\u2019 performances are really great, and it\u2019s a testament to how unifying and novel the concept of a charity concert was at the time. It serves as a fascinating time capsule of the state of rock music in 1985 and deserves to be remembered for a whole day of performances, not just Queen’s 20 minutes. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In 2018, the Freddie Mercury biopic Bohemian Rhapsody (2018) became a cultural and commercial juggernaut, earning 900 million…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":271012,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-271011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271011","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271011"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271011\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}