Live Aid 1985 Trivia Quiz

Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts

1. The Live Aid 1985 concerts took place on what date and in which month?

Answer: 13th July

The 1985 Live Aid Concerts were held on 13th July. The concerts followed on from the success of the Band Aid record, "Do They Know It's Christmas", which had been released in December 1984. This record had been made by a variety of U.K. musicians who all gave their services for free. Following the success of this record, musician's in the U.S. produced their own song and released it to raise funds for famine relief in Africa.

2. With which song did the group Queen open their set at Wembley, London?

Answer: Bohemian Rhapsody

Queen began their set by singing "Bohemian Rhapsody". In 2005, the result of a music industry poll to determine the greatest rock gig/performance ever, placed Queen's Live Aid performance of 1985 at number 1.

3. On the day of Live Aid 1985 there were several concerts held worldwide but the two main events were held in London, England and in which city in the United States?

Answer: Philadelphia

Philadelphia hosted the U.S. concert at the JFK Stadium. The duration of the concert over both U.K. and U.S. venues lasted for 16 hours and was broadcast around the world. Videos and TV link ups with other smaller venues were also broadcast throughout the day.

4. Which group opened the Wembley concert with the song "Rockin' All over the World"?

Answer: Status Quo

Status Quo opened the 1985 Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium, England. This was not the first time that Status Quo had had the honour of being the opening act for a large concert in aid of charity. In 1982 they had been the opening act at the first Princes Trust concert. This concert was held at The Royal Albert Hall in London.

5. Which drummer played at both the U.K. and U.S. venues, travelling to the U.S. by private helicopter and Concorde?

Answer: Phil Collins

Phil Collins was the drummer who appeared at both U.K. and U.S. venues. Collins flew to the U.S. aboard the supersonic aircraft Concorde following his appearance at Wembley. As the plane flew over Wembley it dipped it's wings in recognition of the event.

When he arrived on the stage at Philadelphia Collins addressed the crowd with the following words, "I was in England this afternoon. Funny old world init".

6. Crosby, Stills and Nash reunited to play at the U.S venue. Neil Young played a solo set, also at the U.S. venue. The four of them played a set together later on during that day.

Answer: True

It was true that Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young performed a set together for Live Aid 1985. Their song set consisted of: "Only Love Can Break Your Heart and "Daylight Again"/"Find The Cost of Freedom". Crosby was actually on bail at the time following an earlier arrest for drug offenses.

7. Which U.S. artist angered Bob Geldof by making the following statement from the stage? "I'd just like to say, I hope that some of the money that's raised for the people in Africa - maybe they could just take a little bit of it - maybe one or two milion, maybe - and use it, say, to pay the mortgages on some of the farms that the farmers here owe to the banks."

Answer: Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan made this statement. It was more than likely a rehearsed and intended statement by him. Prior to making the statement one of the songs he had performed in his set was "Hollis Brown", this tells the story of a destitute farmer. Geldof thought Dylan's statement inappropriate and "not in keeping with the spirit of the day". Dylan's statement however was has been acted upon by musicians in the U.S. and has resulted in regular "Farm Aid" fund raising concerts.

8. A video was shown on the big screens of Mick Jagger and David Bowie performing which Motown Song?

Answer: Dancing in the Street

The Motown song that Bowie and Jagger performed was "Dancing in the Street".
It was originally planned that Bowie and Jagger would duet the song live with Bowie in the U.K. and Jagger in the U.S. However, engineers found that due to the time zone differences it would not be possible to synchronize the performance adequately. Other possibilities were considered but they finally accepted defeat and Bowie and Jagger recorded a video of the song which was shown on the large screens at each venue. Both artists did perform live with other people during the concerts.

9. The Live Aid 1985 concerts were held to raise money for famine relief in which African Country?

Answer: Ethiopia

Ethiopia was the African country. In October 1984 Michael Buerk, a journalist working for the BBC, appeared on the U.K. 6 O'Clock News reporting on the famine in Ethiopia and highlighting the plight of the starving millions. The pictures which accompanied the report, of the starving people and in particular of the children and babies, touched the hearts of many who saw the report. Bob Geldof was amongst these and he used his popularity and influence in the music industry to instigate both the Band Aid Single and The Live Aid Concerts.

10. In 2005 Live Aid celebrated it's 20th anniversary. In May 2005 Bob Geldof, the organiser of the original Live Aid Concerts, announced that he would be organising a further string of benefit concerts on a similar scale to that of the Live Aid concerts of 1985. These concerts were timed to coincide with the G8 Conference and Summit taking place between 6-8 July 2005 in Scotland. This series of concerts were known by what name?

Answer: Live 8

The concerts in 2005 went by the name of Live 8. Unlike the 1985 Live Aid concerts the aim was not to raise money but to raise awareness for Global Action Against World Poverty and to lobby the political world leaders. A list of 30 million signatures, obtained from people around the world, was handed to Tony Blair, the UK Prime Minister, who was hosting the G8 Conference in Gleneagles, Scotland.
The London concert took place in Hyde Park and was just one of a further 10 which happened across the globe including one held in Africa.

Source: Author rubytops

This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor kyleisalive before going online.
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The Live Aid Concert of 1985 has been one of the all time great music events of our time. Here are ten questions which will test your memory of that eventful day.

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