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Benefit Concerts

For decades and even centuries, benefit concerts have been a way to create awareness and raise funds (monetary or otherwise) for charitable causes, disaster relief, humanitarian efforts and other philanthropic endeavors.

Benefit concerts are usually assembled featuring prominent performers from a particular region, genre or those that share like-minded interests who gather to perform songs or performances they are best known for or who join in collaborative efforts specifically for the chosen charity. A specific example of such collaboration was the 1984 Christmas song “Do They Know Its Christmas” to raise money for relief of 1984–1985 famine in Ethiopia. The song was performed and released by the charity supergroup Band Aid featuring prominent music acts from the early 1980s.

Throughout the late 70s and all through the 80s, high profile benefit concerts took place regularly raising awareness for all types of causes like nuclear weapons, famine relief in Ethiopia and family farming issues among many others. The 90s saw much fewer publicized benefit concerts, but following the events of 9/11, benefit concerts were given a re-birth and have been on the rise again over the past 7 years.

Notable Benefit Concerts of the last 30 years

  • A Gift of Song: The Music for UNICEF Concert (1979)
    January 9, 1979 - The A Gift of Song: The Music for UNICEF Concert was held at the United Nations General Assembly and broadcast worldwide to raise money for UNICEF and mark the International Year of the Child. Performers included ABBA, Bee Gees, Andy Gibb, Olivia Newton-John, John Denver, Earth, Wind & Fire, Rita Coolidge, Kris Kristofferson, Rod Stewart, Donna Summer. The concert was the idea of impresario Robert Stigwood, the Bee Gees, and David Frost.
  • The Secret Policeman's Ball (1979)
    June 27-June 30, 1979 - Amnesty International staged the third of its Secret Policeman's Ball benefits. The show titled The Secret Policeman's Ball was staged in London over four consecutive nights. In addition to the usual comedic performers from Monty Python, producer Martin Lewis secured musical performances from Pete Townshend and Tom Robinson.
  • The No Nukes concerts (1979)
    September, 1979 - The No Nukes concerts in New York
  • The Concerts for Kampuchea (1979)
    December 26-December 29, 1979 - The Concerts for Kampuchea were held at the Hammersmith Odeon, benefitting the citizens of Cambodia who were victims of the tyrannical reign of dictator Pol Pot.
  • The Secret Policeman's Other Ball (1981)
    September 9-September 12, 1981 - Amnesty International staged the fourth of its Secret Policeman's Ball benefits. The show titled The Secret Policeman's Other Ball was staged in London over four consecutive nights. This show expanded on its 1979 predecessor with appearances by multiple rock musicians including Sting, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Phil Collins, Donovan and the first-ever benefit concert appearance by a young rock musician named Bob Geldof.
  • Nuclear Disarmament Rally (1982)
    June 12, 1982 - In NYC, 750,000 people marched from the UN to Central Park to protest nuclear weapons — in what was probably the largest single protest in U.S. history. New York City was shut down for the day. The concert featured Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt, Bruce Springsteen, etc. Keith Haring created a poster for the event which was handed out free to the audience and John Fekner stencils were on the site.
  • Live Aid (1985)
    July 13, 1985 - The Live Aid benefit concerts - conceived and organized by Bob Geldof - took place in London and Philadelphia to benefit famine relief in Ethiopia. Similar concerts were held in Sydney and Moscow.
  • Farm Aid (1985)
    September 22, 1985 - The first Farm Aid concert, organized by Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp to raise money for family farmers in the United States, was held in Champaign, Illinois. There have been 19 Farm Aid concerts as of 2007.
  • Self Aid (1986)
    May 17, 1986 - The Self Aid concert held in Dublin, Ireland aimed to highlight the chronic unemployment problem in Ireland at the time. Performers at the event included U2, Van Morrison and The Pogues.
  • Conspiracy of Hope US Tour (1986)
    June 4-June 15, 1986 - The Conspiracy of Hope US tour of 6 rock concerts for Amnesty International
  • Human Rights Now! World Tour (1988)
    September 2 - October 15, 1988 - The Human Rights Now! World tour of rock concerts for Amnesty International
  • The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert (1992)
    April 20, 1992 - The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert was organized at Wembley Stadium, London, to pay homage to recently deceased Queen singer and to raise money for the Mercury Phoenix Trust, a fund for victims of AIDS. Among the performers: David Bowie, Elton John, Guns N' Roses, Metallica, Robert Plant, Liza Minnelli, Roger Daltrey, George Michael.
  • America: A Tribute to Heroes (2001)
    September 21, 2001 - America: A Tribute to Heroes was a telethon in the style of a benefit concert organized in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and The Pentagon by the four major United States television networks.
  • The Concert for New York City (2001)
    October 20, 2001 - The Concert for New York City was a benefit concert organized as a tribute to the heroes and survivors of the September 11, 2001 attacks on New York. It was initiated by Paul McCartney and produced by a team including Harvey Weinstein and Jann Wenner
  • The SARS Benefit Concert (2003)
    July 30, 2003 - 450,000 spectators saw The Rolling Stones, AC/DC, The Guess Who, and others at the largest concert in Canadian history, the The SARS Benefit Concert concert in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, held to prove that the city was safe from SARS.
  • Live 8 (2005)
    July 2, 2005 - Bob Geldof and Bono organized Live 8, a set of 8 concerts held in 8 cities around the world on the same day - as part of a campaign to persuade the G8 member governments to increase their fight to eradicate poverty in third-world countries.
  • Live Earth (2007)
    July 7, 2007 - Al Gore inspired and helped organize Live Earth. During its first year, it was comprised of a series of concerts held on all 7 continents of the planet on the same day.
  • A Billion Hands Concert (2008)
    December 5, 2008 - Anoushka Shankar and Jethro Tull held A Billion Hands Concert in Mumbai, India. All proceeds from the concert went to victims of the November 2008 Mumbai attacks.

 

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