July 21, 2025 • 7 mins
"Can one man’s obsession change the world—or at least get Phil Collins to play two continents in one day?"In this unforgettable episode of The Ben and Skin Show, hosts Ben Rogers, Jeff “Skin” Wade, Kevin “KT” Turner, and Krystina Ray take you on a wild ride through the jaw-dropping history of Live Aid, the 1985 global concert that united the world for a cause—and nearly broke it in the process.From Queen’s iconic performance to Led Zeppelin’s disastrous reunion (so bad they banned the footage), Skin dives deep into the new CNN docuseries that has him completely hooked.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Ben and skin Show nine to one point one the Eagles.
Sometime in the next couple hours, we're gonna give giveaway
tickets to Volbeat and Hailstorm. They're gonna be coming July
twenty eight, that's next Monday, I believe, at the Toyota
Music Factory, and one lucky winner this week is going
to get to do the meet and greet. So we're
giving away tickets every day and then one of you
lucky folks gets the meet and greet. You gotta have
(00:20):
the iHeart app to win. Be listening and when we
give you the queue, you can get on it. Coming up,
there is a big Beyonce bug conundrum. We'll get to
the bottom of that at the bottom of this hour,
but right now it's time for this.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Skinny Is Track, another edition of Things is Traffic.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
All right, Thank you everyone, Thank you. No grab a seat,
grab a seat. So July thirteenth, I believe, was the date.
It was the forty year anniversary of Live Aid. Oh yeah, okay,
so I'm curious to know who knows what about Live Aid.
We'll start with you, Ben, cause you and I were
fourteen years old when it happened. Do you remember anything
(01:02):
about it was this to help farmer farm Aid that
was that came after. Okay, but the time capsule here
is the band Aid song? Do they know? It's Christmas?
Came out in I guess that would have been eighty
four December of eighty four, and it was it sold
like three point seven million dollars or three point seven
(01:23):
million copies and raise all this money. And then America goes,
why aren't we doing that? And so a couple months
later they did We Are the World, which we talked about.
That that was in February, and then by July they
did Live Aid. So all that happened in about six
or seven months, and it was to feed. It was
for famine relief in Ethiopia. What year nineteen? It started
(01:47):
at the end of eighty four, and Live Aid happened
in nineteen eighty five. So this summer is the forty year.
July is the forty year anniversary of it. Yeah, I
remember it happening. I just don't remember much many of
the details. Now, you guys weren't born yet. Do you
know anything about it? Christina is nodding in there. What
do you know? I just know of Queen's iconic performance
I've seen that multiple times. Oh that's where that was. Yes, yeah,
(02:07):
I was featured in the movie, right. They talked about that,
which is really interesting because Bob Geldoff, the guy who
organized all of this, but he was the singer of
a band called Boomtown Rats. If you know him, you
probably you probably know him because he was the star
of Pink Floyd The Wall. He was the protagonist in
the Wall. If you know him. Besides Live Aid.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
I'd say all of my Live Aid information came from
Live eight, which happened in the summer of five, which
is also driver's license summer for me. So, but you know,
seventeen years old, okay, and VH one and MTV and
all the men come together, eight countries and it's all
you know, yeah, from two thousand and five.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
So it was like fast and furious. They just kept
doing them. They just did it.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Yeah, this did it once, like the twenty year anniversary
of it, and I learned a lot about it.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Why did they stop? This is like a happy Gilmore
two situation. It's uh so, this is really the reason
I'm talking about this, and I have my memories of
it because there's a few things that happened that were
iconic for a fourteen year old that was a way
into music. But there's a documentary series about it right
now on CNN that's incredible, and it's it's not that
it's a great documentary, but the story is truly unbelievable
(03:13):
of what they did, how they did it, how it
all came together. I mean, it's just it's just really
an amazing time. But the thing that was crazy is
it all happened so fast, and the guy who was
leading the charge, this Bob Geldoff, became obsessed with it
and he was going to make it happen no matter what.
And he started bullying people to be involved basically and
(03:37):
lying to them like when it came time to do
live aid. So when it started there like all right,
we're gonna do a concert in the UK, we're gonna
do it at Wimbley, Okay, and we're gonna get it's
gonna be an all day affair. And then Bob Geldoff
is like, not only that, we're also going to do
a second concert at the same time in America and
it's going to be sixteen hours of live music and
(03:58):
we're going to broadcast it all over the world, and
everyone's like, okay, do we have the technology to do
this big? Figure it out. We're gonna do this in
three months. What I don't how is that even possible?
But they did pull it off, and the stats on
this are unbelievable. I went and looked this up on
the UH. I went and looked this up on the
(04:19):
Wikipedia page. So basically an estimated audience keep mind this
nineteen eighty five of one point nine billion people, Wow,
and one hundred and fifty nations watched the live broadcast,
so nearly forty percent of the world's population tuned in
to watch it. Wow. Okay, and you know it's happening
(04:42):
in America, it's happening in UH in the UK and
I and so the third episode is coming up next week.
And when it was episode two was over, I was
just like and itis. I was like, I need more,
I need more. It was so good and they were
taking me back in time because there was two things
that happened that I was excited about as a kid.
Number one Zeppelin reuniting for this show. But it was
(05:04):
so bad Led Zeppelin will not let anybody watch it. Yeah,
I tried to. They banned the footage of it. Yeah,
Phil Collins played drums. Jimmy Page was pissed off, didn't
what Phil Collins with him. Earlier in the day, Phil
Collins had played with Sting in the UK, got on
a concord, flew to America, went to RFK and played
drums with Led Zeppelin, and Jimmy Page hated it and
(05:26):
was pissed. Why couldn't why couldn't he just keep it
from happening in his own band. Uh, they didn't have.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Enough rehearsal time, that's what they say.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Yeah, so it was just suitable for acoustics. And the
other thing is that Geldolf was just bullying everybody. You know,
you've got to do this, Geldof. So the police had
just broken up, and so Sting was like, well, I'm
not gonna play with the police. He goes, you're playing
with Phil Collins. Okay, you know, So everyone's just getting bullied.
And then number two for fourteen year old skin Run
(05:54):
DMC played the ninety thousand people. Oh wow, that was amazing, Like,
that was so exciting. But I'll hit this part real quick.
So David Bowie is one of the headliners in the
UK and he took one of his songs out, So
imagine everyone's partying. There's ninety thousand people in the stadium
and everyone's partying. So David Bowie cuts one of his
(06:14):
songs short and they show a four minute video of
people starving in Africa, and they show the crowd and
they're all just standing there with the worst looks on
their faces. And it's because no money is coming in
on the phone calls. So Geldoff gets on TV, shows
this video and goes, you're sending money now, and then
(06:34):
suddenly all this money came flooding in and it broke
the phone banks. It's an insane story if you get
a chance to watch it. This is the forty year
anniversary of Live Nation. One of the craziest things that
ever happened in the history of entertainment and charity work. Wow,
can't wait, it's awesome. All right, So two parts of
aired and third is coming next to the final. Yep,
(06:54):
all right, good stuff, all right, coming up next, we're
going it takes in the Hollywood Shuffle.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Kat's now now we have some breaking It is a
celebrity death that you need to know about.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Next
Ben and skin Show nine to one point one the Eagles.
Sometime in the next couple hours, we're gonna give giveaway
tickets to Volbeat and Hailstorm. They're gonna be coming July
twenty eight, that's next Monday, I believe, at the Toyota
Music Factory, and one lucky winner this week is going
to get to do the meet and greet. So we're
giving away tickets every day and then one of you
lucky folks gets the meet and greet. You gotta have
(00:20):
the iHeart app to win. Be listening and when we
give you the queue, you can get on it. Coming up,
there is a big Beyonce bug conundrum. We'll get to
the bottom of that at the bottom of this hour,
but right now it's time for this.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Skinny Is Track, another edition of Things is Traffic.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
All right, Thank you everyone, Thank you. No grab a seat,
grab a seat. So July thirteenth, I believe, was the date.
It was the forty year anniversary of Live Aid. Oh yeah, okay,
so I'm curious to know who knows what about Live Aid.
We'll start with you, Ben, cause you and I were
fourteen years old when it happened. Do you remember anything
(01:02):
about it was this to help farmer farm Aid that
was that came after. Okay, but the time capsule here
is the band Aid song? Do they know? It's Christmas?
Came out in I guess that would have been eighty
four December of eighty four, and it was it sold
like three point seven million dollars or three point seven
(01:23):
million copies and raise all this money. And then America goes,
why aren't we doing that? And so a couple months
later they did We Are the World, which we talked about.
That that was in February, and then by July they
did Live Aid. So all that happened in about six
or seven months, and it was to feed. It was
for famine relief in Ethiopia. What year nineteen? It started
(01:47):
at the end of eighty four, and Live Aid happened
in nineteen eighty five. So this summer is the forty year.
July is the forty year anniversary of it. Yeah, I
remember it happening. I just don't remember much many of
the details. Now, you guys weren't born yet. Do you
know anything about it? Christina is nodding in there. What
do you know? I just know of Queen's iconic performance
I've seen that multiple times. Oh that's where that was. Yes, yeah,
(02:07):
I was featured in the movie, right. They talked about that,
which is really interesting because Bob Geldoff, the guy who
organized all of this, but he was the singer of
a band called Boomtown Rats. If you know him, you
probably you probably know him because he was the star
of Pink Floyd The Wall. He was the protagonist in
the Wall. If you know him. Besides Live Aid.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
I'd say all of my Live Aid information came from
Live eight, which happened in the summer of five, which
is also driver's license summer for me. So, but you know,
seventeen years old, okay, and VH one and MTV and
all the men come together, eight countries and it's all
you know, yeah, from two thousand and five.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
So it was like fast and furious. They just kept
doing them. They just did it.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
Yeah, this did it once, like the twenty year anniversary
of it, and I learned a lot about it.
Speaker 1 (02:51):
Why did they stop? This is like a happy Gilmore
two situation. It's uh so, this is really the reason
I'm talking about this, and I have my memories of
it because there's a few things that happened that were
iconic for a fourteen year old that was a way
into music. But there's a documentary series about it right
now on CNN that's incredible, and it's it's not that
it's a great documentary, but the story is truly unbelievable
(03:13):
of what they did, how they did it, how it
all came together. I mean, it's just it's just really
an amazing time. But the thing that was crazy is
it all happened so fast, and the guy who was
leading the charge, this Bob Geldoff, became obsessed with it
and he was going to make it happen no matter what.
And he started bullying people to be involved basically and
(03:37):
lying to them like when it came time to do
live aid. So when it started there like all right,
we're gonna do a concert in the UK, we're gonna
do it at Wimbley, Okay, and we're gonna get it's
gonna be an all day affair. And then Bob Geldoff
is like, not only that, we're also going to do
a second concert at the same time in America and
it's going to be sixteen hours of live music and
(03:58):
we're going to broadcast it all over the world, and
everyone's like, okay, do we have the technology to do
this big? Figure it out. We're gonna do this in
three months. What I don't how is that even possible?
But they did pull it off, and the stats on
this are unbelievable. I went and looked this up on
the UH. I went and looked this up on the
(04:19):
Wikipedia page. So basically an estimated audience keep mind this
nineteen eighty five of one point nine billion people, Wow,
and one hundred and fifty nations watched the live broadcast,
so nearly forty percent of the world's population tuned in
to watch it. Wow. Okay, and you know it's happening
(04:42):
in America, it's happening in UH in the UK and
I and so the third episode is coming up next week.
And when it was episode two was over, I was
just like and itis. I was like, I need more,
I need more. It was so good and they were
taking me back in time because there was two things
that happened that I was excited about as a kid.
Number one Zeppelin reuniting for this show. But it was
(05:04):
so bad Led Zeppelin will not let anybody watch it. Yeah,
I tried to. They banned the footage of it. Yeah,
Phil Collins played drums. Jimmy Page was pissed off, didn't
what Phil Collins with him. Earlier in the day, Phil
Collins had played with Sting in the UK, got on
a concord, flew to America, went to RFK and played
drums with Led Zeppelin, and Jimmy Page hated it and
(05:26):
was pissed. Why couldn't why couldn't he just keep it
from happening in his own band. Uh, they didn't have.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Enough rehearsal time, that's what they say.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
Yeah, so it was just suitable for acoustics. And the
other thing is that Geldolf was just bullying everybody. You know,
you've got to do this, Geldof. So the police had
just broken up, and so Sting was like, well, I'm
not gonna play with the police. He goes, you're playing
with Phil Collins. Okay, you know, So everyone's just getting bullied.
And then number two for fourteen year old skin Run
(05:54):
DMC played the ninety thousand people. Oh wow, that was amazing, Like,
that was so exciting. But I'll hit this part real quick.
So David Bowie is one of the headliners in the
UK and he took one of his songs out, So
imagine everyone's partying. There's ninety thousand people in the stadium
and everyone's partying. So David Bowie cuts one of his
(06:14):
songs short and they show a four minute video of
people starving in Africa, and they show the crowd and
they're all just standing there with the worst looks on
their faces. And it's because no money is coming in
on the phone calls. So Geldoff gets on TV, shows
this video and goes, you're sending money now, and then
(06:34):
suddenly all this money came flooding in and it broke
the phone banks. It's an insane story if you get
a chance to watch it. This is the forty year
anniversary of Live Nation. One of the craziest things that
ever happened in the history of entertainment and charity work. Wow,
can't wait, it's awesome. All right, So two parts of
aired and third is coming next to the final. Yep,
(06:54):
all right, good stuff, all right, coming up next, we're
going it takes in the Hollywood Shuffle.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
Kat's now now we have some breaking It is a
celebrity death that you need to know about.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Next
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