Bob Dylan’s brief but transcendent performance at Live Aid in 1985 has generally been overlooked amidst the hype over Phil Collins playing on both sides of the Atlantic, Mick Jagger and Tina Turner’s “wardrobe malfunction” and the Led Zeppelin reunion.
But sandwiched in between the bombast of the Mick & Tina show — which concluded with Mick ripping off Tina’s skirt — and the all-star conclusion of “We Are The World,” Dylan emerged from the catacombs of the stage, introduced by Jack Nicholson, and brought along two friends, Ron Wood and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones.
At this point in their career, the Stones were on hiatus, and Keith and Mick were bad-mouthing each other in the press. So I’m sure it wasn’t coincidental that Keith and Ron would just happen to come along for the ride.
The main story though was Dylan’s total disregard of the 100,000 people in the stadium and millions watching worldwide, most of whom were only familiar with his “hits,” and doing what he felt were the most poignant songs he could imagine for the global hunger-relief event.
He opened with the rarely played “Ballad of Hollis Brown,” which recounts the story of a South Dakota farmer who, overwhelmed by the desperation of poverty, kills his wife, children and then himself. He then went on to perform “When the Ship Comes In,” inspired by a personal tale about Dylan being denied hotel lodging due to his appearance, with a more universal appeal for people down on their luck hoping for a better future.
Dylan then finished off with “Blowin’ in the Wind,” something everyone could relate to and a fitting finale to his short set.
I had been at Live Aid since it started some 12 hours earlier, through the heat and the cool of night, and I felt Dylan’s performance was perfect for that point in the show. Peforming in a ragged manner on accoustic guitar with his Rolling Stone friends strumming along, at one point Dylan’s guitar string broke so Ron Wood gave him his guitar, and the show went on uninterrupted.
The Live Aid performance was also the start of a new movement as well, with Dylan saying “Maybe we could give a little bit of the money to the farmers.” Inspired by his remarks, John Cougar Mellencamp and Willie Neslon went on to start Farm Aid later that summer to benefit family farmers having trouble making ends meet, and has been held most years since.
Live Aid will be remembered for many things, but for me Dylan’s set was one of the highlights. Since Joan Baez had opened the show, I thought that maybe she would stick around and duet with Bob, but even without her it was a great, albeit short set.
Below are some YouTube clips of his performance. The complete set is audio-only, the videos are individual songs.