How stars rock for the cause

By Keily Oakes
BBC News Online entertainment staff

Nelson Mandela's 46664 concert in Cape Town on Saturday - named after his prison number - promises to be one of the biggest charity concerts ever staged, as it highlights the Aids crisis in Africa.

The precedent for giant concerts was set by the Live Aid extravaganza in July 1985, which raised more than £40m to combat devastating famine in Ethiopia.

Up to 70,000 crammed into Wembley Stadium for Live Aid

Geldof was spurred into action by a TV broadcast in which he saw starving children in Africa.

The well-connected star got on the phone to many of his chums in the music business, rounding them up for a charity single in 1984.

Featuring Paul Young, George Michael, Bananarama and U2 among many others, the project became Do They Know It's Christmas?, which became the biggest selling hit of the 1980s.

US stars followed suit, with artists including Michael Jackson, Bob Dylan and Madonna recording the smash hit We Are the World.

NELSON MANDELA Former prisoner and South Africa's first black president Profile: Nelson Mandela

Charity singles have become a regular event, with the Ferry Aid recording of Let it Be raising money for the victims of the Zeebrugge disaster, and Ferry Cross the Mersey released to aid those affected by the Hillsborough football tragedy.

Global broadcast

But after Band Aid Geldof decided to keep the momentum going by organising a dual concert at Wembley Stadium in London and the JFK Stadium in Philadelphia.

On 13 July some of the world's biggest recording stars came together for one of the biggest events of its kind ever, broadcast around the globe.

The list of stars taking part read like a who's who of legendary and popular artists, with Phil Collins even managing to play on both sides of the Atlantic.

During the live broadcast viewers were begged and cajoled in to ringing in to pledge as much money as they could spare.

Phil Collins, pictured with Sting, performed in the UK and US during the Live Aid event

But although Live Aid has gone down in history as one of the biggest charity events, it was not the first fund-raising concerts by far.

Blazing a trail more than a decade before was former Beatle George Harrison, who organised the Concert for Bangladesh to raise for victims of the fierce floods.

Voice for farmers

He signed up Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Ravi Shankar and Bob Dylan to play at New York's Madison Square Garden in 1971.

An album of the concert was re-released to mark its 20th anniversary with proceeds donated to Unicef.

In 1985, and inspired by Live Aid, a group of US musicians staged a concert that would benefit those closer to home.

Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and Neil Young founded Farm Aid to give a voice to farmers and help them through crisis, providing emergency grants and legal assistance, and planning long-term provisions for helping rural America.

The show was put together in just six weeks with 80,000 in attendance at Champaign, Illinois, to watch Billy Joel, BB King, Loretta Lynn, Roy Orbison and Tom Petty among others.

The cause has continued and there have now been 16 concerts held through the years, granting more than $17m (£9.8m) to causes across the US.

The Prince's Trust in the UK now stages an annual open-air benefit concert with line-ups usually drawn for the chart-topping artists of the day.

Willie Nelson was one of the founders of Farm Aid

Nelson Mandela himself was the subject of his own concert in 1988 as organisers put on a show to mark his 70th birthday, highlighting the injustice of his captivity in South Africa.

Focus

Held at Wembley Stadium, a capacity audience of 72,000 had the privilege of seeing people power at work.

It began with the formation of Artists Against Apartheid, which hosted the Freedom Festival on Clapham Common in London, which was preceded by a march.

Although not a financial success, it was the stepping stone to the Wembley gig in 1988.

Although Mandela was the focus of the concert, it was about the wider issue of political prisoners in South Africa and Namibia.

Among those taking part was Simple Minds, Dire Straights, Sting, Tracy Chapman and George Michael.

The pressure of the world's limelight shining on the politics of South Africa seemed to work as Mandela was released in 1990.

The Eurythmics played at the Free Nelson Mandela gig in 1988

An Aids fundraising concert is no new initiative as the Red, Hot and Blue organisation roped in a number of popular artists, including Annie Lennox, Sinead O'Connor and Bob Dylan, to record classic Cole Porter songs.

A hugely successful album, the organisation is still going strong releasing material to raise money for Aids awareness.

But the momentum for Aids fundraising on a grand scale appeared to have waned until Mandela and another group of artists, including Bono and the surviving members of Queen, believed the time was right to highlight that Aids and HIV is still very much with us.