NEED TO KNOW
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In 1985, Phil Collins flew on Concorde to perform at two Live Aid concerts in the UK and US in one day.
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He was the only artist who was able to perform at both events after other planned joint appearances fell through.
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The Live Aid concert raised awareness of the famine in Ethiopia and featured iconic performances by Queen, U2 and other bands.
Phil Collins remembers, as if it were yesterday, performing at Live Aid in both the United States and the United Kingdom simultaneously.
In a new interview for BBC The 75-year-old singer said of the two charity concerts in 1985: "I remember it very well.".
Recalling how it all came about, the Genesis frontman said someone suggested he "do both" by flying on Concorde, the revolutionary supersonic passenger jet that flew from London to New York in about three hours.
«"And I said, 'Yeah, okay,'" he recalled. However, Collins wanted to make sure he wouldn't be the only one making the trip.
Phil Collins at the Live Aid concert in London. Photo: Georges De Kyrle/Getty.
«"And I said, 'I'm not the only one doing this, am I? Because that would seem like bragging,' and they said, 'No, no, no. Power Station are playing in America, and Duran Duran, some of the same band members, are playing in London.' And then I said, 'Well, yeah, sure.'".
However, he noted that The Power Station had "broken up" before that, so he "found himself the only member." Meanwhile, Duran Duran decided to stay and perform in the United States.
Nevertheless, Collins flew between the two concerts on Concorde, performing at London's Wembley Arena, then took a helicopter to Heathrow Airport, and from there to New York's JFK Airport. From there, he took another helicopter to Philadelphia to perform there.
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«"Looking back, it was a combination of two events. I played the same two songs in both places," Collins recalled of his performances of "Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)" and "In the Air Tonight." He also duetted with Sting at the UK concert.
Even though history was being made at that moment, he stated BBC , that "everything was planned differently.".
«"It was just a chain of events, one thing led to another, then another, and so on," he shared.
Phil Collins at Wembley Stadium in 1985. Photo: Pete Still/Redferns/Getty
In addition to his solo performances in the US, Collins also played drums for Eric Clapton and during the Led Zeppelin reunion with Robert Plant, Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones.
Although Collins listened to "Stairway to Heaven" on board the Concorde, he previously told Classic Rock that he and the other members of Led Zeppelin had not rehearsed together and there had been some tension between the musicians, making the performance a bit chaotic and leaving him feeling "the odd one out.".
«I’ve already gotten over it now,» he joked. BBC interview , commenting on what happened.
The Live Aid concert took place simultaneously at London's Wembley Stadium and Philadelphia's John F. Kennedy Stadium on July 13, 1985. An estimated 1.9 billion people, representing nearly 401,000,000 of the world's population at the time, watched the concert, which raised money for famine relief in Ethiopia.
Live Aid concerts featured The Beach Boys, Patti LaBelle, Hall and Oates, Sade, Sting, U2, The Who, Elton John, Paul McCartney, Joan Baez, Crosby, Stills and Nash, and many others. Queen frontman Freddie Mercury also made history with his iconic Live Aid performance. .
Read the original article on People.