A temporary exhibition looking at the legendary Live Aid concert 40 years later through some of the personal archive of organiser Bob Geldof.
It was the 13th of July, 1985 and the world waited with anticipation as the stage at Wembley Stadium was poised to launch Live Aid. BBC Radio 1 DJ Richard Skinner famously declared,
“It’s 12 noon in London, 7am in Philadelphia and around the world, it’s time for Live Aid”.
The ground-breaking concert was planned as a “global jukebox” and a continued response from the music industry and fans to the famine in Ethiopia. The concert was truly global, advances in technology allowed for its broadcast to over 150 countries. 72,000 people attended Wembley Stadium and 90,000 packed into the John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia. Estimates of the global TV audience vary, the highest of which (1.9billion) would have equated to around 40% of the world’s population at the time.
Band Aid and Live Aid were conceived to help meet an immediate and pressing humanitarian need. For many, they will always be era-defining moments when music was used as the most powerful unifying tool. The story continued – Visual Aid for Band Aid, Fashion Aid, Sport Aid and then Live 8 – the global series of benefit concerts timed to precede the G8 conference in 2005 featuring more than 1,000 musicians and with an estimated 30 million viewers worldwide. Importantly, government policy change was sparked as the enormous power of unity shown by record-breaking audiences and viewers was harnessed into action. No longer was it possible to turn a blind eye.
Over the past 40 years, the Band Aid Charitable Trust has raised an estimated £480 million. The Trust has utilised these funds to provide emergency aid and support long-term development initiatives, aiming to make a lasting impact on communities in need. The Trust continues to play a significant role in humanitarian efforts, with its fundraising activities and charitable work remaining active.
We reflect on the legacy by displaying some items from the personal collection of organiser Bob Geldof. Items include letters from Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, planning documents for Live Aid, the very first test pressing for Band Aid, Peter Blake’s stage-side sketches of Live 8, hand-written re-worked lyrics for Band Aid 20 and much more. The British Red Cross have also kindly loaned a collage by artist Julia Miranda and a letter by Dame Claire Bertschinger – the nurse who appeared in Michael Buerk’s first report for BBC News on the effects of the drought in Ethiopia.
Our merch store will be selling limited original, official Band Aid and Live Aid merchandise after 40 years locked in a storage time capsule, with profits going to the Band Aid Trust.
The temporary exhibition celebrating Live Aid 40 is included with all general entry tickets purchased.
Event Date: Thursday 5th June 2025 - Sunday 4th January 2026
Location: British Music Experience
Categories: 2025 | Festivals & Events | Galleries & Exhibitions | Music & Dance
