There was a tree just off to the left of the rear entrance at Live Aid along the wooden fence that surrounded that part of the stadium. Climbing up, I looked in, there were these two guys on the other side that saw me. I looked at them, and knowing what I was up to gave me the all clear. Thinking quickly I turned to look back at my friend Joe, gave him the high sign and jumped. I WAS IN! I walked straight across to the courtesy tent and had some pizza; mingling with the back stage crowd, I could not believe it. Very cool… Eventually I worked my way under the stage. I was now directly under the concert, hanging out and digging the situation. Now, right behind me was the stairs that led to center stage. This is where the talent went before getting on and who do you think was walking up at that time... TINA TURNER! I yelled "Hey Tina!" She stopped. I approached, took her hand and said, "Do Good Baby." (What else to say?) She said "ok I will", and up she went. WOW! Mental overload. Then a chick I met while I was under the stage took a picture of me shaking her hand. I met some cool people that evening. So Tina went up, I figured I would follow and making it to the top, security stopped me. I sad "Tina!"She looked back and gave me one of those "oh well" looks so I retreated. I went back down and under to the front of the stage. It was open, I had a clear view of Tina, and Mick Jagger getting down, that was until security told me I could not stay where I was... No problem, I went back to the stairs. So now what to do? This time I tried another approach, going to the back of the stage I found myself directly behind the concert, but this time security was a little thicker. I had to think about my next move, and sure enough, there was. This blind spot between these series boxes that made sort of channel about 3 feet high that went directly to the stage. All I had to do was crawl for about 15 feet and then walk right on, and that is exactly what I did. Wow! I could not believe it... I went to the scaffolding climbed it slid over on to the curtain rod, and now I was center stage directly above the concert. I could have jumped right on top of Bill Wyman. I had my shoe off, was going to toss it at him... I should have jumped on the stage; at least I would have made Letterman. However, I was good. ( I look back at that and should have jumped ) Now a photographer saw me and said that I could not stay there because I had no passes... This was fine since the concert was ending. Another thing I will never forget is singing "We Are The World" with everyone else on stage. Well, I was directly above them... Once the singing ended security locked hands and made a path for all the talent to walk in-between as they vacated the stage. So I climbed down walked right on stage and followed the "gang". I had to stop at center stage and wave to the crowd. It was incredible! I turned and walked past security down the back stage and got some more pizza. Now the fun starts... There was Joan Baize, and having no idea who she was at that time, I bragged to her about what I did... She was not fazed. Then there was Harry Bellefonte nice man, we talked about his neighborhood. Next was Cher, she was heading for the limo. We chatted about the concert, I probably could of got into the limo (I walked her right to it) but I could not leave all of this. At that point, I said goodbye and re-treated. I had some more Dominos. Then I went back to center stage and stood there in awe... It was truly amazing... By this time, the stadium was emptying. I went to the guest rooms and hung out... If I was only able to get in earlier, it would have been nice to meet Robert Plant and Jimmy Page. .. Now everybody left, it was time for me to go and it was hard to do. What an awesome situation to be in. But, I walked out the back, found my friends and told them the story. As for Joe, he got in also, having a neck full of back stage passes.

I was just a young pup with barely enough allowance to cover a movie. I never could have bought the pay per view. Now that I'm an adult I'm paying a fortune for bootlegs and authorized versions. That's the thing about nostalgia, what seemed unimportant as a child becomes the stuff that dreams are made of sitting in a cubicle all day. Still, the official release is worth picking up. I'm disappointed some acts chose not to participate in the re-release. I guess Led Zepplin doesn't need any new publicity but if I was the Hooters I'd be begging for a chance to get back into daylight, never mind the spotlight.

I happened to be in England at the time of this concert and was able to buy a ticket. I got there early and took a place on the field. The crowd was different than at an American concert -- mellower and nicer overall. Once U2 came onstage, though, things changed. The crowd started to move toward the stage in massive wave-like surges. It was a little anxiety-provoking, but nobody got hurt that I could see. The line-up was nothing short of spectacular and I was particularly happy to see The Who, David Bowie, Sting, Queen and Paul McCartney. This was in Paul's anxious phase, after John was killed; Paul only did one song and seemed to be hiding behind the piano. The surprise stand-out act of the day for me was Queen. Freddy Mercury really knew how to work the crowd and he had 50,000 people (or whatever) in the palm of his hand.

July 13th, 1985. This was the most amazing concert I've ever seen. So many acts you had to take no-doze to catch them all. Too many to list but these guys were there, Phil Collins, Bryan Adams, Sting, The Cars, Madonna, Simple Minds, Beach Boys, Ozzy, Run DMC, REO Speedwagon, The Power Station, Rick Springfield, Queen, INXS, Elton John, Hall and Oats, Mick Jagger, Tina Turner, David Bowie, and how could you forget the band who had the #1 hit song at the time they played at Live Aid...Duran Duran. I'm still waiting for someone to release Live Aid on video or cd.