9 All-Time Best Concerts for a Cause (Photos and Videos)

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When Sound Meets Vision

On June 12, 1982, I marched with a million protesters through the streets of New York City in the Nuclear Disarmament Rally. I was young, but like a lot of people who showed up that day, rattled by the unavoidable doomsday threat-speech of the Cold War and its harrowing visual, the mushroom cloud. (For a good understanding of this hysteria, see The Day After.)

As survivors of the atom bomb dropped on Nagasaki walked beside us, generously handing out multicolored origami peace necklaces (which I still have today), and a giant chorus of people shrieked, “No Nukes!” what could’ve possibly added to the urgency and hope of a million people calling for a world safe from nuclear annihilation?

A rock show?

The labor movement of the ’20s and ’30s and the civil rights struggles and Vietnam War protests of the ’60s all had music as a uniting force and inspiration. In the early ’80s, we were in new territory. By the late ’70s, rock music had become a big, bloated business. Its wealthy stars were so sequestered that it seemed like popular music no longer had any fight to it. While some disaffected listeners turned to punk rock, most people were fine with music simply serving as background entertainment.

Still, some big music stars, informed by their ’60s fervor, were more than willing to show up for a cause. On that June day the march culminated on Central Park’s Great Lawn with a concert from Bruce Springsteen, Linda Ronstadt, Jackson Brown, and others.

Would the world have ignored a million protesters, the biggest political protest in American history up to that point? Maybe not, but crowd counts of large demonstrations have a way of being downgraded immediately by the press. It’s no question the concert brought more attention to the event, and the issue.

On any given weekend across the country, you’ll find musicians playing for a cause, whether it’s for a fellow player struggling with health bills or for a food bank trying to deliver meals to its community.

Recently, the band Dispatch brought its civic efforts to every stop on its tour, working for local nonprofits, and comping tickets and seats on the tour bus for any fan who’d pitch in with charity work.

Dispatch are groundbreakers for the way they incorporate social action into a tour schedule, but they have been preceded by a tradition of big-scale benefit concerts. Made possible by the draw of music’s biggest stars, these events have raised awareness and billions of dollars for humanitarian causes.

George Harrison’s Concert for Bangladesh is cosidered the benefit to inspire all the others (although less cited is Monterey Pop, which was really the first charity festival).

Click through to start with the former Beatle’s prototypical Bangladesh concert and end with a recent show for victims of Hurricane Sandy, and enjoy great performances from each of these gigs for good.

The Concert for Bangladesh—George Harrison (1971)

“My friend came to me/With sadness in his eyes/He told me that he wanted help/Before his country dies.” —“Bangla Desh,” George Harrison

By 1971, the people of East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) were suffering terribly. A brutal war for liberation with West Pakistan had resulted in starvation and the massacre of many of the region’s citizens, especially Hindus. A cyclone had already hit in November 1970, killing thousands, but in 1971 rains and floods made conditions even worse. An estimated seven million Bengalis had fled to India, and were now refugees.

As is told in George Harrison’s song “Bangla Desh” (lyrics above), internationally famous sitarist and native Bengali Ravi Shankar conveyed the gravity of the situation to his friend George, who responded by organizing what would be the first major benefit concert, held at New York’s Madison Square Garden.

Two concerts took place at the Garden on August 1, 1971, both starting with a set from Indian musicians, including Shankar, and moving into a second set featuring Harrison himself, Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Leon Russell, Billy Preston, Badfinger and others.

The concert initially raised $250,000 for UNICEF, which managed the funds for Bangledesh relief. A concert film and album followed. Amazingly, more than 40 years later, the project still serves humanitarian causes, with proceeds from the reissue record and DVD going to the George Harrison Fund for UNICEF.

In addition, Bangladesh served as the inspiration for future benefit concerts, making it indirectly responsible for raising money and awareness for other causes.

Here is Harrison as he started off his performance that day, playing a song from his album All Things Must Pass.

The Secret Policeman’s Ball—Coldplay (2012); Pete Townshend (1979)

Begun in the mid-’70s as a U.K. comedy benefit to raise money for human rights NGO Amnesty International, the Secret Policeman’s Ball grew into a major music and comedy event that is still a continuing series.

Last year a Ball was held in the U.S. for the first time as part of the events surrounding Amnesty’s 50th anniversary. Comedians Jon Stewart, Russell Brand, Fred Armisen, Kristen Wig and Sarah Silverman, to name a few, brought their schtick to Radio City Music Hall, while musicians Mumford & Sons, Reggie Watts and Coldplay carried the musical end of the night.

But the 1979 Ball is the one that hipped the cultural elite outside of the U.K. to the series, mainly because it was the first one to include music, notably a stellar acoustic performance by Pete Townshend. Further igniting interest in the series and raising more money for Amnesty’s efforts was the concert EP and concert movie, released by then-startup Miramax Films.

Like the Concert for Bangladesh before it, the Secret Policeman’s Ball is considered a major inspiration for other benefit concerts such as Live Aid and Live 8.

Live Aid—Queen (1985)

It’s mind-boggling to think of now, but imagine being able to capture the hearts and minds of 1.4 billion of the Earth’s 5 billion people around a single issue on a single day—without the Internet. On July 13, 1985, 95 percent of the planet’s TV sets were tuned in to Live Aid, a fund- and consciousness-raiser for the Ethiopian famine crisis. The program was so bravely executed by Irish musician Bob Geldof (with help from Ultravox leader Midge Ure) that Geldof became a Sir at 34.

Geldof was moved to act after watching a BBC news program on the millions of Ethiopians suffering from famine brought on by civil war and drought. Geldof first raised a hefty sum of relief money by masterminding production for the hit single, “Do They Know It’s Christmas?,” performed by a star-studded and largely teased-blonde group of U.K. artists billed as Band-Aid. Inspired by the song’s success (it raised more than $10 million for famine relief), Geldof began work on Live Aid with Ure, planning a televised satellite-linked “global jukebox” that would feature music’s biggest stars playing in both London’s Wembley Stadium and Philadelphia’s John F. Kenndy Stadium.

David Bowie, Elvis Costello, U2, and Queen (seen here) were just a few of the London highlights, while Madonna, Bob Dylan, Black Sabbath, a Led Zeppelin reunion, and others entertained the world from Philly.

Viewers were instructed to mail in their donations or call a number and speak to an actual live human being, crashing a call center when 70,000 donations came in at once. By the time the stadiums were empty, the ground littered with head bands and bangles, the event had raised $200 million for famine relief.

Despite promising he’d never plan a sequel, Geldof was back at it with 2006’s Live 8.

Farm Aid—Neil Young (1985)

In the early to mid-’80s, Midwestern family farmers were in the midst of a brutal debt crisis and were at risk of losing everything. Moved by the farmers’ plight, musicians Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp stepped in with Farm Aid, a concert held on September 22, 1985, at Champaign, Illinois’s Memorial Stadium. Eighty thousand people showed up to hear the three event founders plus Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, B.B. King, Roy Orbison, and others.

By the time the last note was played, $9 million had been raised for struggling farmers.

The musical relief led to even more positive developments for farmers. With Willie and Mellencamp by their side, family farmers testified before Congress, which eventually passed the Agricultural Credit Act of 1987, saving many in the Breadbasket from foreclosure.

Farm Aid is now an annual event, as well as a successful nonprofit, raising $40 million over its 27 years in the service of family farms. The organization is a key advocate for farm policy change, the local food movement, and maintains a fund for disaster relief. As we lose so many family farms to corporate farming, the Farm Aid mission has taken on a new relevance.

“We all see what’s happening with agriculture, what’s happening to our small towns,” says cofounder Mellencap. “They are going out of business. That’s a direct result of the farm problem. We’re still doing Farm Aid because it is contributing. It’s doing a job.”

The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert—David Bowie (1992)

Six years after his stirring performance with Queen at Live Aid, the seeminly insuppressable Freddie Mercury succumbed to complications from AIDS on November 24, 1991. In tribute to their singer, his surviving bandmates quickly organized a concert to raise funds for AIDS research.

On April 20, 1992, 70,000 people filled the open-air Wembley Stadium (also the site of Live Aid) and were given inspired performances by U2, Guns N’ Roses, George Michael, David Bowie (shown here in his performance of “Heroes”) and others.

For the comic relief part of the show, Spinal Tap brought all of the day’s bass players on stage for a spirited rendition of “Big Bottom.”

To allocate all the funds raised for the concert, the Mercury Phoenix Trust was established, which is still very active in promoting AIDS awareness and funding relief and research efforts. Since 1992, it has donated more than $15 million in the fight against AIDS.

Live 8—Madonna (2008)

“To Make Poverty History” was the call to action for the Bob Geldof-led Live 8, 10 concerts held in the world’s wealthiest eight countries (the G8) and South Africa on July 2, 2008, four days before the G8 Summit in Scotland. Not the fundraising initiative of its predecessor, Live Aid, Live 8’s mission—with the help of stars like Paul McCartney, Madonna, U2, and scores of others scattered around the globe—was for the world’s citizens to implore G8 leaders to step up efforts to end African poverty.

Among those strong requests: An increase of $25 billion in aid to Africa and another $25 billion to poverty-stricken nations elsewhere.

“History and the generations to come will judge our leaders by the decisions they make in the coming weeks,” Nelson Mandela told the crowd in Johannesburg that day. “I say to all those leaders: Do not look the other way, do not hesitate ... It is within your power to prevent a genocide.”

Around 200 musical acts played, reaching 5.5 billion people via the Internet and 182 TV stations, as well as 2,000 radio stations. Meanwhile, organizers were criticized for naively ignoring what some viewed as the real threat to African well-being: suppressive political dictatorships.

Still, the G8 leaders got the message, offering $50 billion more aid per year by 2010, with other commitments to AIDS drugs and care, debt cancellation, malaria nets, healthcare and education.

A year after the concert, Geldof claimed there had been some progress, but that the countries had been “off-track” on the delivery of their promises.

Live Earth—Crowded House (2007)

Another multicity, global music extravaganza, Live Earth was initiated by former vice president and global warming truth teller Al Gore, and executive producer Ken Wahl. The massive effort was held on the numerically optimistic July 7, 2007, with concerts in New York, London, Sydney, Tokyo, Shanghai, Rio de Janeiro, Johannesburg and Hamburg, and featured more than 150 music acts, from classic rockers like the Police, and Genesis to more recent headliners like Kanye West and Kelly Clarkson.

Given the concert’s mission, and the understandably massive amounts of energy generated by such an effort, the organizers made a commitment to creating the world’s biggest carbon-neutral event. But during Crowded House’s set in Sydney that day, the stadium lights unexpectedly went dark, prompting caught-off-guard frontman Neil Finn to exclaim, “I guess this is a statement, everybody! We’re saving power!”

The Bridge School Benefit—Beck (2011)

Held annually in Mountain View, California, the Bridge School Benefit concert was founded by Neil Young and his wife, Pegi, in 1986.

The Bridge School serves children who have physical and verbal challenges and is groundbreaking in its use of augmentative and alternative means of communication (AAC) and assistive technology (AT) to help these children participate in life. Because it is forward-thinking in its approach, the Bridge School has the potential to affect the lives of many other kids across the country.

Since Young is involved, the Bridge School Benefit shows are known to be consistently great musically. In 2011 Beck reunited the band he used for the album Sea Change for his benefit set.

12-12-12, The Concert for Sandy Relief—Adam Sandler (2012)

Big disaster relief concerts, quickly organized and televised to provide immediate help for victims of floods and earthquakes, unfortunately seem to be the new norm, filling in where Congress fails to go to minimize the damage done by a climate-change-enraged Mother Nature. Most recently, a concert was held on December 12, 2012 in New York to help communities that had been in Hurricane Sandy’s path. Let’s hope this is the last one of these that is needed for a long time.

Have we missed any of your favorite concerts for cause? Relive the glory in COMMENTS.

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Sheryl Farber is an editor at TakePart and a Los Angeles-based writer, editor and three-time Grammy nominee for her work as a music reissue producer.