The most extraordinary musical event of the 1980's was Live Aid. The event was organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure in order to raise funds for famine relief in Ethiopia.  

Seven months after the success of the song “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”,
Bob Geldof and Midge Ure had convinced more than 60 popular musicians to donate for their time and services to an event that could raise money and bring awareness to the famine in Ethiopia.

Billed as “The Global Jukebox”; this 16 hour event was held simultaneously from Wembley Stadium in London, and JFK Stadium in Philadelphia on July 13, 1985.

The event was viewed by a live audience of 162,000 (90,000 in Philadelphia and 72,000 in London). The event, simulcast on television and radio, featured a live hook-up between Britain and the USA, and was broadcast and telecast live around the world to an estimated 1.9 billion TV viewers in 150 countries across the world. Wembley Stadium and JFK Stadium were equipped with identical revolving stages and giant video screens that allowed the audience to view each others concerts.

A concert held the night prior in Sydney, Australia called Oz for Africa was included as part of the final broadcast.

Sidenote: Live Aid was originally intended to link all three continents together, but due to Time Zone differences, it was decided that the Oz for Africa material would be used to fill in gaps.

Live Aid included video clip contributions and live video feeds from foreign countries including Köln, Vienna, Moscow, Belgrade, Australia, Japan, and Holland.

This concert was the most ambitious international satellite television endeavor ever. It was broadcast in the UK by the BBC; while abc was largely responsible for the U.S. broadcast (consequently abc telecast only the final three hours of the concert from Philadelphia, hosted by Dick Clark, with the rest shown in syndication).

An entirely separate and simultaneous U.S. feed was provided for cable viewers by MTV.

Each of the two main segments of the concert ended with their particular continental all-star anti-hunger anthems. The UK event closed with Band Aid's Do They Know It's Christmas and the US event closed with USA for Africa's We Are The World.

At last count, Live Aid raised an estimated $160 million to fight hunger in Ethiopia.