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A brief history of fundraising rock concerts

Howard Lake | 8 December 2003 | News

Against the backdrop of Nelson Mandela’s 46664 concert in Cape Town last week, BBC Online has presented a brief history of fundraising rock concerts.

The article starts not surprisingly in 1984 with Band Aid and Live Aid in 1985, but acknowledges that the first large-scale fundraising rock concert was Concert for Bangladesh in 1971, organised by George Harrison.

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It mentions Farm Aid, a US initiative to help farmers facing crisis, which has spawned 16 concerts since 1985. Other concerts mentioned include Artists Against Apartheid’s Freedom Festival on London’s Clapham Common, the Nelson Mandela birthday and freedom concerts, and the Red Hot and Blue concert to raise money for Aids awareness.

It is far from a complete listing, but a useful list of some of the more well-known fundraising rock concerts.

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