Monday 13 July 2020 marks the 35th anniversary of Live Aid. Francis Rossi on that momentous day:

“Monday marks the 35th anniversary of the Live Aid show. Whenever Quo steps onto a stage we strive to give it our best, no one audience or gig is more important than another to the band, but it is undeniable that the thirteenth of July, 1985 was special. There were serious tensions in the band at the time, I arrived in some ways wondering how I’d been persuaded to turn up.

Some of the other acts were interested in who was going to play last, to headline, whilst we decided to go on first so that we could be done and dusted. Turned out to be a great decision, it was Quo’s music that kicked things off as seemingly the whole world’s attention came to bear to on what Live Aid was trying to communicate.

It was over in a flash and, whilst I’m not one for nostalgia or dwelling on past glories, at the time it felt important and thirty-five years later it still does.” 

FRANCIS ROSSI, JULY 2020