Tribute Night: Live Aid 40th Anniversary

“It’s 12 noon in London, 7am in Philadelphia… and around the world, it’s time for Live Aid!”

Live Aid – ‘The Global Jukebox’ – was the biggest live rock event ever, featuring an incredible roster of the day’s arist-rock-racy. The concerts were broadcast live from Wembley Stadium in London and JFK Stadium in Philadelphia on 13 July 1985, and there were also contributions from Japan, Australia, Netherlands, Yugoslavia, Russia and Germany (although, as Andy Kershaw rightly noted, not from Africa). The whole event featured 16 hours of live music and was watched by over 1.5 billion people worldwide. Not without its criticisms and shortcomings, Live Aid was undoubtedly a significant and memorable event in our lives and pop history.

If you would like to be involved, you will need to do a little bit of research. You may perform any song that was performed at Live Aid. That’s it. Simple. That information is easy to find.

As well as commemorating 40 years since Live Aid, this is a rare opportunity for you to revisit artists already featured at Tribute Night that you may have missed the first time around, and also to pick songs by artists who perhaps might otherwise be overlooked in the Trib schedule.

If you want to be involved and play a song or two, email Zac at tributenight@hotmail.co.uk back and let me know. You can bagsy a slot first if you haven’t decided on a song.

Thank you for your continued support of this frivolous thing we call Tribute Night. It’s a right lark.

As usual, there is no admission fee, but donations will be collected during the interval – suggested donation £5 – cash, card, or QR code to PayPal.

On this occasion, our donations will be sent to Reading Food Bank, aka ReadiFood - something which sits perfectly with the Band Aid / Live Aid mission of alleviating hunger, and the Rising Sun's mission of serving the local community.

• All cash donations in the hats will go to the Food Bank. We are also looking into getting a QR code for you to scan and donate online.
• Payments via the card reader and the Rising Sun's PayPal QR code will still go to the Rising Sun, so you have a choice of where your donation goes.

(A further collection will be done at the end of the night to hoover up any loose change that people can spare before going home.)

Additionally, we will provide a clearly signposted donation point in the centre for tinned and non-perishable packet food. Please bring any suitable items that you can spare and comfortably carry to the centre.