The Greatest Rock n’ Roll Scream Is In The Who’s 1985 Live Aid Performance

As we wait for the reunion of the two remaining members of The Who for their The Who Hits Back! Tour, let’s take a brief time to ponder on their well-documented reunion at the historic 1985 Live Aid in Wembley Stadium, London.

With around 72,000 people present to watch the event, it was a highly-anticipated reunion of the original members except for Keith Moon, who died of a drug overdose in 1978. Kenney Jones replaced him, becoming the band’s drummer until 1988. Apart from the band, CSNY, Led Zeppelin, and Black Sabbath were also cruising the reunion ship.

It’s not brutally honest to say that The Who’s performance was nothing short of ordinary and a failure. Their set was remembered for all the wrong reasons: admitted to being woefully unprepared as the event approached, the satellite feed wasn’t doing them any justice, John Entwistle’s bass kept cutting in and out, and too much pressure was put into them, with Queen finishing their set an hour earlier, and David Bowie performed a fantastic show before the Who. “The Who were out of practice,” Pete Townshend wrote, “And should probably have left it to Queen and George Michael, who stole the show.”

But it was their ending song, “Won’t Get Fooled Again” that became a banger. Few mishaps occurred, but the band captured the spark that they longed to create at the beginning. (sdyouthservices.org) And who could ever deny that guiltiest scream of Roger Daltrey? Only he could provide that.

You can watch their performance below.