A benefit concert is a concert featuring
musicians, comedians, or other performers that is held for a charitable
purpose, often directed at a specific and immediate humanitarian crisis.
Such events raise both funds and public awareness to address the cause
at issue.
Benefit concerts typically feature popular performers working for little
or no pay. The largest such effort in recent memory was the multi-venue
Live 8 concert organized by Bob Geldof, who has arranged a number of
similar events. Benefit concerts were also arranged following the 2004
Indian Ocean earthquake and Hurricane Katrina. America: A Tribute to
Heroes was a benefit concert organized in the aftermath of the September
11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and The Pentagon by the four
major United States television networks.
Albums or video recordings of performances at benefit concerts can
provide additional revenue for the charitable cause to which the event
is directed. Furthermore, the importance of the cause can lead musicians
to put aside long-held grudges. Examples of this include the brief
reunion of Roger Waters with Pink Floyd for their Live 8 performance;
and the first post-break-up reunion of Simon and Garfunkel at a 1972
concert in support of presidential candidate George McGovern.
Notable benefit concerts
Other notable benefit concerts have included the following:
* December 28, 1791 - a benefit concert is held in Prague for the family
of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
* December 22, 1808 - Ludwig van Beethoven held a benefit concert which
was over four hours long and included the premiers of the Fifth and
Sixth Symphonies, along with Piano Concerto No. 4 and pieces of the Mass
in C.
* 8 February 1847, Johann Strauss II premiers his 'Explosions-Polka'
written for the 'Lust-Explosionsfest' (Joyful Explosions Festival), a
benefit concert held in the Sträussl-Säle of the Josefstädter Theater.
* January 16, 1853 - Johann Strauss II recovers from an illness in order
to premier his new waltz, Phönix-Schwingen at a benefit concert.
* In 1955, Dorothy Buffum Chandler organizes a concert featuring Dinah
Shore, Danny Kaye and Jack Benny that raised $400,000 towards building a
performing arts center for Los Angeles.
* On August 1, 1971, partially at the behest of Ravi Shankar, George
Harrison hold the Concert for Bangladesh in Madison Square Garden,
featuring Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, Leon
Russell, Klaus Voormann, and Badfinger.
* On January 18, 1973 - The Rolling Stones raise over $350,000 for
victims of an earthquake that had destroyed Managua, the capital of
Nicaragua, on December 22, 1972.
* January 9, 1979 - The Music for UNICEF Concert is held at the United
Nations General Assembly and broadcast worldwide to raise money for
UNICEF and mark the International Year of the Child.
* January 13, 1980 - The Beach Boys, Grateful Dead, and Jefferson
Starship headline a concert at Oakland Coliseum for the benefit of the
people of Kampuchea (now Cambodia).
* July 13, 1985 - The Live Aid benefit concert takes place in multiple
venues, including London, Philadelphia, Sydney and Moscow.
* September 22, 1985 - the first Farm Aid concert, organized by Willie
Nelson and John Mellencamp to raise money for family farmers in the
United States is held in Champaign, Illinois.
* On July 30, 2003, 450,000 spectators see The Rolling Stones, AC/DC,
The Guess Who, and others at the largest concert in Canadian history,
the Molson Canadian Rocks for Toronto concert in Toronto, Ontario,
Canada, held to prove that the city is safe from SARS.
