Live Aid facts will rock you!

1 It was held in two places simultaneously – at Wembley and the John F Kennedy Stadium, Philadelphia. There were also benefit concerts the same day in countries including Russia, Japan, Germany and Australia. Culture Club’s Boy George 2 had the initial idea for the charity concert – but ironically his band didn’t perform at Live Aid. Phil Collins performed at 3 both legs, and used Concorde to fly from London to Philadelphia. At his US set, he said: “I was in England this afternoon. Funny old world, innit?” There were plans for Mick 4 Jagger and David Bowie, right, to perform a duet, with Jagger in Philadelphia and Bowie in London. But due to technical difficulties this didn’t happen. After Simon Le Bon sang out 5 of tune on A View To A Kill, Duran Duran were mocked for “the bum note heard round the world”. The original band didn’t perform again for 17 years.

Live Aid holds the record for 6 the most-watched TV event in history, viewed by 1.9billion viewers in 150 countries. Queen stole the 7 show, but almost didn’t perform as frontman Freddie Mercury , above left, was concerned it would be seen as a political statement.

According to 8 several polls, Queen’s 17-minute set is the greatest live performance in the history of rock music.

Bands who turned down 9 requests to perform at Live Aid included Depeche Mode, Talking Heads, The Smiths, Frankie Goes To Hollywood and Van Halen. 10 The surviving Beatles declined the opportunity to reform for it, so Paul Mccartney performed Let It Be with David Bowie, left, Bob Geldof, above, Alison Moyet and Pete Townshend. Wham! duo George Michael 11 and Andrew Ridgeley were supposed to perform after Elton John, but he ran over his time. To compensate, Elton brought them out to sing with him.

The Who opened with My 12 Generation, but in a weird coincidence as Roger Daltrey sang “Why don’t you all fade away”, the feed cut out and the US audience could not watch it. Led Zeppelin’s set was their 13 first performance since the death of drummer John Bonham, but Jimmy Page’s guitar was out of tune, and Robert Plant’s voice was hoarse. Plant has described it as “a f***ing atrocity”.

Both concerts ended with 14 anti-hunger anthems – Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas? and USA For Africa – We Are the World.

The concert lasted 16 hours – 15 noon to 10pm in the UK, with another six hours in the US.

TODAY marks 35 years since Live Aid. Organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, it brought together stars including Queen, David Bowie and Elton John for a mammoth charity concert. The event – to raise funds for relief of the Ethiopian famine – was viewed by an estimated 1.9billion people worldwide. Here NATASHA WYNARCZYK presents 15 facts you might not know about the iconic gig.