The Live Aid shows that took place on separate continents on July 13, 1985, featured a slew of the top artists of the day performing for a good cause. Most of them went out there and played a handful of their own songs, trying to put their best foot forward so they could look and sound good amidst such heady company.
But one artist went another route. With only time for one song, Elvis Costello decided to ignore his own catalog, as esteemed as it was. Instead, he reached back for what he called an “old Northern English folk song,” and, in turn, created one of the iconic moments from that magical day.
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Elvis Is in the Building
The Live Aid shows in London and Philadelphia grew out of the successful charity singles “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” and “We Are the World.” Bob Geldof, who spearheaded the initial effort as a way to provide famine relief for starving people in Ethiopia, decided to go the extra mile by asking the world’s biggest stars to unite on stage to draw even more attention (and funds) to the cause.
The lineups for the concerts were as formidable as any single event since the Woodstock shows on 1969. In England alone, the roster was infinitely iconic. Among the luminaries: Phil Collins, Sting, The Who, David Bowie, U2, Queen, Elton John, and, as the closer, Paul McCartney.
At that point in his career, Elvis Costello couldn’t quite hold a candle to any of the aforementioned artists in terms of popularity. In fact, he did the show in somewhat of a rough patch. His albums in the late ’70s and early ’80s made him a critical darling, especially when he assembled the crackerjack band the Attractions to back him.
He had made an attempt to court more commercial success with the ornately produced back-to-back records Punch the Clock and Goodbye Cruel World. But he ended up disliking the results. Tensions among the Attractions were also building. King of America, the album that he was in the process of making when he played Live Aid, would barely feature the band at all.
That was the context when he received the call from Geldof. But the timing was actually right for what was required from him. There was a slot open in the London show for one solo artist to play a single song on a lone mic. That would give the stage workers time to get things set up for one full band to follow another. (As it turned out, Spandau Ballet would precede this one-off performance, with Nik Kershaw and his band slated to follow.)
Hence, Costello wasn’t asked to bring along the Attractions. And he was given just that one song to make an impression. Not an easy task. Luckily, he had a brilliant idea that won the day.
“Love” in the Air
After hearing the way the crowd had been singing along to earlier acts, Costello wanted to play something that would be ideal for that kind of response. But he knew there wasn’t really anything in his catalog that would serve that purpose. On top of that, he wanted to play something that would catch the spirit of the event.
That’s why the onetime member of the Official Beatles Fan Club as a youth decided to trot out his own version of “All You Need is Love” that day. To make sure he didn’t mess the song up, he had scribbled notes on his hand to guide him through it. A bearded Costello took the stage and made the winking comment about it being an English folk song.
When he began singing the lyrics, the crowd roared in recognition. And he received exactly the response for which he had hoped. The crowd bellowed out the lyrics to the point where it hardly mattered if there were anyone on stage at all.
Maybe a searing set from Elvis Costello and the Attractions would have made a massive impact that day. But it’s hard to argue with the end result, one that proved Costello could rise to the occasion on the biggest stage by leading with humility.
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