Although millions of people believe that Queen's six-song medley was the highlight of 1985's Live Aid, organizer and Boomtown Rats singer Bob Geldof didn't want them on the bill.
British promoter Harvey Goldsmith, who put the show together with Geldof, tells Mojo magazine, "Being the producer, I understood how slots work and who went where. I was also dealing with the technical side: We were doing two shows [London and Philadelphia] and had to stay strictly to time because of the satellite.
“I thought about it, and said for the late afternoon slot the perfect act would be Queen. Bob said, ‘No, they’ve peaked. I don’t think they should play.’ I said to Bob, I really think they’ll be perfect to go on in that 5.30, 6 o’clock type slot -- knowing Freddie [Mercury] as I did, I knew they’d really make a show of it. Bob and I went backwards and forwards. I had to do a lot of persuading. He said, ‘No, we’ve got other acts we could put on.’ I dug my heels in and said there’s no better act that could do this than Queen."
And then there was Queen, who initially weren't interested in performing, as Brian May explained to Classic Rock magazine last year. “We definitely hesitated to say yes. We had to consider whether we were in good enough shape. The chances of making fools of ourselves were so big.”
And Goldsmith adds, "They’d just finished a long tour and were all a bit wrecked and wanted a break. And it was very close to the day. Freddie stood back from it all a bit -- I think he wanted to see what the reaction to Live Aid’s announcement was. When he realized the reaction of the press and media and the demand for tickets, he talked to the band and to their manager Jim Beach, and they decided to do it.
"Of course they wanted to close the show. And I said, 'No, I want you to go on at this slot.' I think what really swung Freddie over was the thought that he could play to a billion people in one go, live. Nobody had ever done that before. I think he just felt, ‘OK, I’ll show you…’ Freddie smelt blood. He went for the throat."
Queen's Live Aid set was re-created for their 2018 bio-pic, Bohemian Rhapsody, and then Queen+Adam Lambert did the set in 2020 at the Fire Fight Australia benefit concert.