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Midge Ure has claimed that Live Aid could never be repeated in today’s world because people are “too busy looking at screens” to unite around one global cause.
The Ultravox frontman, who co-organised the 1985 mega-concert with Bob Geldof, reflected on the historic event as it marks its 40th anniversary this week.
Live Aid saw the biggest names in rock and pop take to the stage at London’s Wembley Stadium and Philadelphia’s JFK Stadium on 13 July 1985, broadcast simultaneously to an estimated two billion viewers worldwide. The show raised over £150 million for famine relief in Africa, cementing its place as one of the most extraordinary moments in music, and humanitarian, history.
But Ure believes the modern world is simply too distracted to recreate that kind of unity today.
“Everyone’s all over the place,” he said this week. “Everyone’s too busy looking at screens. Technically, you could organise it easier now, but these days you have so many distractions.”
The singer explained that, in the mid-1980s, music occupied a uniquely central role in people’s lives, something that has since been diluted by technology.
“Forty years ago, music was the be-all and end-all. You didn’t have smartphones. You didn’t have the internet. You didn’t have 24-hour anything at all. There were no distractions. You had no video games. You had none of that stuff. So, you could focus.”
Live Aid became a defining moment for a generation. Iconic performances by Queen, David Bowie, U2, Elton John, and Paul McCartney have gone down in history, with Queen’s 20-minute Wembley set regularly voted the greatest live performance of all time.
At its peak, the concert accounted for nearly 40% of the entire world’s television audience, an astonishing feat that remains unmatched.
Reflecting on the event’s legacy, Ure added: “I can’t quite believe I’m still here and the fact that we’re still talking about Band Aid and Live Aid at 40 years old. It’s quite magnificent.”
Both he and Geldof have since been knighted for their charity work, and their efforts inspired countless other large-scale benefit concerts and movements.
However, Ure’s comments serve as a sobering reminder of just how much the cultural landscape has changed, and why, despite the technology at our fingertips, Live Aid may forever remain a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon.
As fans old and new look back on that unforgettable day, it’s clear that Live Aid’s spirit of unity and compassion still resonates, even if the world around us has moved on.
