MTV broadcast Live Aid internationally from London and Philadelphia in 1985.
Live Aid was a major benefit concert held on July 13, 1985, to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia. The event used two principal stages: Wembley Stadium in London and John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia. MTV carried the concert to viewers, helping make it a defining television event of the decade.
The lineup included Queen, U2, David Bowie, Madonna, Elton John, and many other major performers. Queen’s performance at Wembley later became one of the event’s most celebrated moments, while the concert’s scale demonstrated the growing relationship between music television and live global broadcasting.
Live Aid is sometimes confused with Farm Aid, an annual benefit founded in 1985 for American farmers. Farm Aid began later that year and had a different cause, organizers, and concert history.