World Rock Day, why is it celebrated today?

On July 13, 1985, two impressive mega-concerts were held in the presence of most of the great personalities of the time, with the aim of raising funds for the fight against hunger in Ethiopia. In honor of that date, World Rock Day was established the following year.

Both festivals took place simultaneously at London’s Wembley Stadium and Philadelphia’s John F. Kennedy Stadium, with unprecedented turnout, both in person and on television, as well as artists committed to the cause. The event was attended by musicians of the stature of Queen, Tom Petty, Madonna, Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin, Neil Young, U2, Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Duran Duran, Phil Collins and Bob Dylan, among others.

The idea of ​​Live Aid was to reflect the spirit of the most popular music on the planet: rock, with all its predecessors and successors, plus everything it had and has to say, from that position that rebels against all injustices. , crying out without asking for blood for all that needs to be changed.

As defined by Pete Townshend and then quoted by Charly García on his first solo album, “If you shout the truth instead of helping, if you commit yourself with a courage that you are not sure you possess, if you stand up to point out something is wrong but it doesn’t ask for blood to redeem it, so it’s rock and roll. “

an annual fee

Live Aid originated this date as a celebration of rock around the world, becoming known the following year as World Rock Day.

It is an annual tribute to the most important musical and solidarity event in history and to the great gathering of European and American rock artists of the time.

The reason was to raise funds for the benefit of African countries, in particular Ethiopia and Somalia. A few months earlier, at the hands of musician and activist Bob Geldof, the song was released Do they know it’s Christmas? with the same ends, giving shape to a kind of We are the Worldargument that was also made for solidarity purposes.

The origin of the party

After a great drought between 1983 and 198.5 in the arid region of northern Ethiopia, there was what was called “hell on earth”: lack of food and little water, which resulted in a massive death of the population for hunger

When the BBC television network showed what was happening, musician and actor Bob Geldof went to find out what was happening in Africa and then created the Band Aid Trust, with the aim of managing and distributing all the aid collected.

First of all, to attract the attention of the world, Geldof and his friend Midge Ure, of Ultravox, managed to summon a large number of great figures from the English scene to record the song in 1984. Do they know it’s Christmas?which was a worldwide success and broke sales records.

Later, the idea of ​​doing a benefit concert to help victims and raise funds for Ethiopia would come from Boy George and Culture Club drummer Jon Moss.

The idea, therefore, was to create the greatest event in history. TV rights, sold tickets and everything else could be able to raise a lot of money for Africa. Eventually they decided to organize two festivals at the same time, one in the United States and the other in England.

The great participation of artists made the event a great success and marked part of the history of music, showing the world that music could raise awareness and help the peoples of Africa.

The concert saw the return of bands such as Queen, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, The Who, as well as the participation of great music legends as a member of the largest and most influential band in history. Beatles.

The collection exceeded $ 100 million, the concert was broadcast live via satellite in more than 72 countries and was one of the most followed musical events in the world.

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