Why didn’t Rod Stewart perform at Live Aid?
Head to your local dive bar or nightclub right now, and you’ll see how music can connect people. It can do so in small increments, but it can also work on a larger scale, and Live Aid is a great example of the latter.
Certain moments in music history act as footnotes; meanwhile, others get their own chapters. Significant chapters include: the birth of rock ‘n’ roll, Beatlemania, Woodstock, and of course, Live Aid. The event was massive in two ways: the money it raised, and how much it connected all of those who watched.
When I talk about music being able to connect people, you can read that in two different ways. There’s the smaller, more subdued way, which you see in your local venues, as strangers put their arms around one another and sing along to songs they love. This smaller version is incredibly important, but then you have events like Live Aid, whose impact resonates globally rather than merely amongst a select few.
The event was put together by Bob Geldof, who wanted to raise money for the famine in Ethiopia. Rather than merely ask the public for donations, he knew a much better way to get everyone’s attention would be to host one of the biggest rock concerts of all time, all in the name of charity. It started as a noble cause, and quickly became the biggest who’s who that music had ever seen.
Across different stages, legends old and new strutted their stuff, taking to the mic, guitar, drum kit, and delivering something stellar in the name of a good cause. Some sets from that day are now remembered as the stuff of legend, a significant moment in different bands’ careers as they launched themselves from good to great.
There was someone missing, though… Rod Stewart. Stewart was a respected artist by the time Live Aid came around, and there was definitely a place for him on the set if he wanted it. His recent performance at Glastonbury, despite being 80 years old, was a reflection of just how much of a top-tier performer he is. If he’s doing that at 80, you best believe that Live Aid was something he wanted to tackle when he was 40, but his name was nowhere to be seen. Why?
Frustratingly for Stewart, it all came down to an issue with management. While musicians and fans might often revel in the power of connectivity that music so beautifully brandishes, music management and businesses don’t think like that. Live Aid wasn’t just a charitable cause for them, it was a great opportunity for publicity. That opportunity got in the way of Stewart playing the gig.
“We actually were supposed to do it,” recalled Stewart, “But a few guys in the band told me that our ex-manager turned it down because I wasn’t getting the right news coverage […] He only wanted me to do it if I got on the CBS news at 10 o’clock. He said, ‘If not, he’s not doing it’.”
It’s not lost on Stewart how pathetic this reason was. There is no doubt that some artists’ careers certainly benefited from Live Aid, but the fact remains that that wasn’t the point. The point was to use music as a source for good and raise some money for those who need it, not to get your face on CBS.
“That’s not what it was all about,” he admitted, “It was to raise money for kids. It wasn’t about what news channel you were going to be on in America.”
