____ July 13, 1985, at Wembley Stadium in London, Prince Charles and Princess Diana ____ opened Live Aid, a ____ rock concert organized to raise ____ for the relief of famine-stricken Africans. Continued at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia and at other arenas ____ the world, the 16-hour “superconcert” was globally ____ by satellite to more than a billion ____ in 110 nations. In a triumph of ____ and good will, the event ____ more than $125 million in famine relief for ____. Live Aid was the brainchild of Bob Geldof, the ____ of an Irish rock group. In 1984, Geldof travelled to Ethiopia after ____ news reports of a horrific ____ that had killed hundreds of ____ of Ethiopians and threatened to kill ____ more. After returning to London, he ____ Britain’s and Ireland’s top pop artists together to ____ a single to benefit Ethiopian famine relief. “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” was ____ by Geldof and Ultravox singer Midge Ure and ____ by “Band Aid,” an ensemble that featured Culture Club, Duran Duran, Phil Collins, U2, Wham!, and others. It was the best-selling ____ in Britain to that date and raised more than $10 million. “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” was ____ a No. 1 hit in the United States and inspired U.S. pop artists to come ____ and perform “We Are the World,” a song ____ by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie. “USA for Africa,” as the U.S. ____ was known, featured Jackson, Richie, Geldof, Harry Belafonte, Bob Dylan, Cyndi Lauper, Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, Tina Turner, Stevie Wonder, and many ____. The ____ went to the ____ of the charts and eventually raised $44 million. With the crisis continuing in Ethiopia, and the neighboring Sudan also stricken with ____, Geldof proposed Live Aid, an ____ global charity ____ aimed at raising more ____ and increasing awareness of the plight of many Africans. ____ in just 10 weeks, Live Aid was staged on Saturday, July 13, 1985. More than 75 acts performed, including Elton John, Queen, Madonna, Santana, Sade, Sting, Bryan Adams, the Beach Boys, Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Queen, Duran Duran, U2, the Who, Neil Young, and Eric Clapton. The majority of these ____ performed at either Wembley Stadium in London, where a crowd of 70,000 turned out, or at Philadelphia’s JFK Stadium, where 100,000 ____. A ____ performance of the ____ was by Queen, particularly frontman Freddie Mercury, who unexpectedly stole the show with a fierce performance. They offered the crowd an ____ 20-minute performance. Going ____ "Bohemian Rhapsody" to "We Will Rock You" and finishing with "We Are the Champions," Queen captivated the ____ with a journey through their hits, with Mercury at the helm. Another top moment was by Phil Collins in Philadelphia after ____ by Concorde from London, where he performed at Wembley earlier in the day. Beatle Paul McCartney and the Who’s Pete Townsend held Bob Geldof aloft on their ____ during the London finale, which featured a ____ performance of “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” Six hours later, the U.S. concert ended with “We Are the World.” Live Aid eventually ____ $127 million in famine relief for African nations, and the publicity it generated ____ Western nations to make available enough surplus grain to end the immediate ____ crisis in Africa. Geldof was later ____ by Queen Elizabeth II for his efforts.

Live Aid (long version)

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