Queen Played Live Aid 37 Years Ago Today. If You Could See Any Show, From Any Act Ever, Dead Or Alive, Who Would It Be?

 What a hypothetical for the ages right there.

Any band, singer, rapper, or even soprano, all time, at any venue, ever. Who would your choice be?

Could even be a show you’ve already seen before and just want to relive again.

I’ve got a few legends that passed before I was either born or before I got the chance to see them that would be on my list- Tom Petty, Bob Marley, Notorious B.I.G., Lynard Skynard, and Jimi Hendrix. Led Zeppelin, not having all members deceased but just not touring anymore is also up there.

As for living acts that I’d kill to see perform I have to go with Oasis (in the UK), Outkast, and Danity Kane.

But I think my numero uno has got to be Queen. And I would go with the point of this blog, their 1985 Live Aid performance.

Aside from being one of the most memorable live performances of all time, period. It stands the test of time in urban legend as well and I’d love to experience it first hand.

Brian May can deny it all he wants, but legend has it that Queen convinced the board operator to turn the volume up, wicked loud, for their set. So when Mercury and band took the stage, they were dialed up to 11.

For anybody that’s seen the movie, or rewatched the set (posted veloce), or were lucky enough to have been one of the 79,000 in attendance, or 1.9 BILLION people watching on television, they know that Mercury’s stage presence was transcendent.

The guy had every single one of those 79,000 in the palm of his hand. He incorporated them into Queen’s show, connecting with them on a personal level and making them genuinely feel like they were apart of it.

The way he ping-ponged his “heyyyyy ohhhh” volley with the crowd gives you immediate goosebumps. And that’s just through a screen. Imagine witness that in person?

And Queen was ahead of their time in the fact that they medley’d their set.

The Fest lineup was so jam packed that each act only had like 20 minute sets.

So instead of doing like 2-3 full version songs, Queen packed in abridged versions of their hits and pushed their set an extra few minutes (much to the dismay of the production crew).

All in all, one of the most epic performances ever.

So there’s mine. Interested in hearing everybody else’s so that I can look them up and see if there’s footage or recordings. If so I will update on this blog for all to share in.

Let’s hear it-