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Live Aid concert 'one of the highlights of my life'

Matt Shepherd
BBC News Cornwall
Reporting fromSt Austell
Julia Gregory
BBC News South West
Matt Shepherd/BBC A man with a white beard and glasses is standing in a gallery with a range of different paintings in a variety of styles. Some show bright red and green circles in front of a bright green background. His polo shirt has the logo Market House.Matt Shepherd/BBC
Paul Jennings was in the crowd at Wembley for Live Aid 40 years ago

A man who was among the 72,000-strong crowd at the groundbreaking Live Aid concert in 1985, has said it was "one of the highlights of my life", on the 40th anniversary of the event.

Paul Jennings, from St Austell, managed to secure one of the much sought after tickets to the day-long festival at Wembley Stadium on 13 July 1985, which was organised to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia.

Paul McCartney, David Bowie, Madonna and Mick Jagger were among the performers at the concert that raised £150m.

"It was absolutely magic. You kept on seeing the stars reported in the press. This star's coming, that star's coming. You just didn't expect to get 20 to 30 groups together," said Mr Jennings.

PA Bono, Paul McCartney and Freddie Mercury are all singing on a stage, with the word Live just seen behind them. Paul McCartney has dark hair and a black top and is singing into a microphone held by Bono, who wears a dark jacket. Freddie Mercury from Queen is to their right. He has a red singlet on, short cropped dark hair and has a dark moustache.PA
Bono, Paul McCartney and Freddie Mercury were among the stars who performed at Live Aid

The concert was organised by Boomtown Rats singer Bob Geldof and Ultravox singer Midge Ure.

It was seen by an estimated two billion people in more than 100 countries with simultaneous concerts in London and Philadelphia in the US and followed on from the Band Aid single Do They Know It's Christmas?

Status Quo started the show with Rocking all over the World and there were also performances from Tina Turner, U2, Elvis Costello, Howard Jones, Roger Daltrey, Spandau Ballet, Sting, and The Style Council.

PA Freddie Mercury has short dark cropped hair and a black moustache and is wearing a white singlet and holding a microphone as he looks out towards the audience.PA
Mr Jennings said Queen's Freddie Mercury stole the show at Live Aid

"What a way to start," said Mr Jennings, who was working for a London computer company at the time.

He said Queen's Freddie Mercury stole the show and "just stood out 200% above everybody else".

"It was hairs on the back of your neck, a real buzz," Mr Jennings added, referring to when he joined the crowd singing with the Queen star when he led the ay-oh call and response.

"It was just an outstanding performance, the amazing voice he had."

'Struggling to survive'

Mr Jennings, who is now a director of the Market House in St Austell, said the concert was "one of the highlights of my life".

He had visited east Africa and seen "how people were living" and then saw news reports of "how it had descended into a total dustbowl and you had thousands of people struggling to survive".

"We all felt we've got to do something, even if it's just buying a ticket to a concert. It was 'we've got to do something'," he said.

Live Aid: Cornish memories forty years on

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