Tom Petty’s issue with Live Aid: “It was so crappy”
Most people of a certain age demographic probably remember Live Aid the same way that others remember the Moon landing. Although the shows were far from the first major worldwide concert, the fact that so many iconic stars came together under one roof for charity was the kind of massive blockbuster that only the 1980s could have produced. Regardless of the enormous amount of talent going on at every hour, Tom Petty would have sooner done away with playing any of his set that day.
That’s not to say that the performances were god-awful by any stretch. If you take almost any show from these dates, it would have been enough for any musician to quit music altogether the day after and still be satisfied, with everyone from Paul McCartney to Phil Collins turning in amazing sets.
And if you look at the performances by U2 and Queen, these were more than just a typical rock concert. The Irish icons were slowly coming into their own as one of the biggest names in modern music, and while Freddie Mercury was already known as a god among frontmen, his performance of getting the crowd amped up midway through Queen’s set should be studied by anyone who has ever been interested in pushing the envelope when playing live.
For Petty, this was just another gig in front of a massive crowd. It’s not like Petty hadn’t played to huge crowds before, but something about the gig’s massive commercial potential was far from what he had expected.
When talking about playing the benefit Farm Aid years later, Petty would say that he greatly preferred that to what he saw in the 1980s, telling Paul Zollo, “That was a lot of fun because it was much better than Live Aid to me, because I didn’t like a single act that I saw at Live Aid. It was so crappy. Maybe I’m wrong, but I didn’t like it. I liked Led Zeppelin. But it wasn’t really our kind of show”.
Looking at the kind of music that Petty makes, though, it’s easy to see why he didn’t really seem to fit the flavours of the day. Here was a songwriter known for making beautiful portraits of what the heart of America looked like, and suddenly, he was being forced to share airtime with the same minds behind ‘We Will Rock You’ and ‘Pride’.
For comparison, the fact that Farm Aid was founded by artists like Neil Young and Willie Nelson really tells you everything you need to know. Petty was known for making music much closer to the bone than the glamorous side of rock, and seeing him share the stage with people like Bob Dylan and Roy Orbison made him feel right at home.
Still, maybe Petty just didn’t see the right acts when he first descended into that stadium for Live Aid. Say what you want about bands that aren’t to your taste, but there’s a good chance that anyone who looks in the general vicinity of Queen at Live Aid could be an instantly converted rock fan.
