Editing Live Aid (section)

== Collaborative effort ==
The concert began at noon British Summer Time (BST) (7:00 Eastern Daylight Time (EDT)) at [[Wembley Stadium (1923)|Wembley Stadium]] in the United Kingdom.<ref name="Skinner"/> It continued at [[John F. Kennedy Stadium]] (JFK, now the [[Lincoln Financial Field]]) in the United States, starting at 13:51 BST (8:51 EDT). The UK's Wembley performances ended at 22:00 BST (17:00 EDT). The JFK performances and the whole concert in the US ended at 04:05 BST on 14 July (23:05 EDT). Thus, the concert continued for just over 16 hours, but since many artists' performances were conducted simultaneously in Wembley and JFK, the total concert length was much longer.<ref name="Skinner"/>

[[Mick Jagger]] and [[David Bowie]] intended to perform a transatlantic duet, with Bowie in London and Jagger in Philadelphia.<ref name="Duet">{{cite news |title=Watch David Bowie's iconic performance of 'Heroes' at 'Live Aid' in 1985 |url=https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/david-bowie-heroes-live-aid/ |access-date=14 July 2021 |magazine=Far Out Magazine |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200729030909/https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/david-bowie-heroes-live-aid/|archive-date=29 July 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> Problems of synchronisation meant the only practical solution was to have one artist, likely Bowie at Wembley, mime along to prerecorded vocals broadcast as part of the live sound mix for Jagger's performance from Philadelphia.<ref name="Duet"/> Veteran music engineer [[David Richards (record producer)|David Richards]] ([[Pink Floyd]] and [[Queen (band)|Queen]]) was brought in to create footage and sound mixes Jagger and Bowie could perform to in their respective venues. The BBC would then have had to ensure those footage and sound mixes were in sync while also performing a live vision mix of the footage from both venues. The combined footage would then have had to be bounced back by satellite to the various broadcasters worldwide. Due to the time lag (the signal would take several seconds to be broadcast twice across the Atlantic Ocean), Richards concluded there was no way for Jagger to hear or see Bowie's performance, meaning there could be no interaction between the artists, essentially defeating the whole point of the exercise. On top of this, both artists objected to miming during what was perceived as a historic event. Instead, Jagger and Bowie worked with Richards to create a video of the song they would have performed, a cover of "[[Dancing in the Street]]", which was shown on the screens of both stadiums and broadcast as part of many TV networks' coverage.<ref name="Duet"/>

Each of the two main parts of the concert ended with their particular continental all-star anti-hunger anthems, with [[Band Aid (band)|Band Aid]]'s "[[Do They Know It's Christmas?]]" closing the UK concert, and [[USA for Africa]]'s "[[We Are the World]]" closing the US concert (and thus the entire event itself).<ref>{{cite web |url=http://liveaid.free.fr/pages/liveaidtimesdetaileduk.html |title=Detailed list of all the artist having performed at the Live Aid concert |publisher=Liveaid.free.fr |date=13 July 1985 |access-date=4 April 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051212072441/http://liveaid.free.fr/pages/liveaidtimesdetaileduk.html|archive-date=12 December 2005|url-status=live}}</ref>

Concert organisers have subsequently said they were particularly keen to ensure at least one surviving member of [[the Beatles]], ideally [[Paul McCartney]], took part in the concert as they felt that having an 'elder statesman' from British music would give it greater legitimacy in the eyes of the political leaders whose opinions the performers were trying to shape. McCartney agreed to perform and has said it was "the management" – his children – who persuaded him to take part. In the event, he was the last performer (aside from the Band Aid finale) to take to the stage and one of the few to be beset by technical difficulties; his microphone failed for the first two minutes of his piano performance of "[[Let It Be (song)|Let It Be]]", making it difficult for television viewers and impossible for those in the stadium to hear him.<ref name="CNN"/> He later joked by saying he had thought about changing the lyrics to "There will be some feedback, let it be".<ref>{{cite news |title=The Beatles – Let It Be Lyrics |url=https://www.spin.com/2019/04/beatles-let-it-be-lyrics/ |access-date=9 June 2020 |work=Spin |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190501030419/https://www.spin.com/2019/04/beatles-let-it-be-lyrics/|archive-date=1 May 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Phil Collins]] performed at both Wembley Stadium and JFK, travelling from Wembley by helicopter (piloted by UK TV personality [[Noel Edmonds]]) to [[London Heathrow Airport]], then took a [[British Airways]] [[Concorde]] flight to New York City, before taking another helicopter to Philadelphia.<ref name="Collins MVP"/> As well as his own set at both venues, he also played the drums for [[Sting (musician)|Sting]] in London, then for [[Eric Clapton]], and played with the reuniting surviving members of [[Led Zeppelin]] at JFK. On the Concorde flight, Collins encountered actress and singer [[Cher]], who was unaware of the concerts. Upon reaching the US, she attended the Philadelphia concert and can be seen performing as part of the concert's "[[We Are the World]]" finale.<ref name="Geldof artists"/> In a 1985 interview, singer-songwriter [[Billy Joel]] stated that he had considered performing at the event, but ultimately chose not to because he had difficulties getting his band together and did not want to perform by himself.<ref>{{Citation|title=Billy Joel 1985 Interview part 2 of 2|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pCIrypwQIs|url-status=dead|language=en|access-date=4 October 2019|archive-date=10 September 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190910225356/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pCIrypwQIs&gl=US&hl=en}}</ref>