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Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood Join Bob Dylan at Live Aid 1985
Some rock performances are remembered because everything went perfectly. Others survive because absolutely nothing does—and that’s where the fun begins. At Live Aid The Rolling Stones connection arrived in an unexpected form: Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood joining Bob Dylan for a chaotic finale that was anything but polished. With a massive global audience watching, the performance delivered loose timing, rough edges, and the kind of unpredictable energy that rehearsals usually try to eliminate. In the end, perfection was never the point. This was rock and roll in its natural habitat: messy, spontaneous, and impossible to ignore.
JKF Stadium, Philadelphia, July 13 1985 (complete set): Blowin’ in the Wind/Ballad of Hollis Brown/ When the Ship Comes In
As history has it, the trio performed as the night’s second-to-last act after a great performance by Tina Turner and Mick Jagger. Dylan had taught Richards and Wood his entire discography in the week leading up to the concert, preparing them for Live Aid. At first, he only asked Wood to play with him, but then Wood persuaded Dylan to ask Keith to join in, and the trio spent a couple of days in Ronnie’s New York place rehearsing some songs.
“Anyway, we’re up there beginning to relax when pliiiinnngg!, Bob breaks a string,” Ronnie remembered. “Not having a roadie that day, I had to give him my guitar and use a cheapo replacement, which somebody handed me from backstage and which was completely out of tune. I ended up using one string with a slide on it.”
Keith Richards about doing Live Aid (1985): “Well, it’s not the first time I’ve played with Dylan… First time before a paying audience. Course we didn’t get paid (laughs). Would have been better if we’d gotten paid… Technically it was a very dizzy thing to do. Three acoustic guitars at the end of God knows how many hours of high-tech band stuff. We couldn’t hear a goddamn thing except the band behind us tuning up to do We Are the World. But it was a real privilege to play with Bob. I’ll work with that asshole anytime.”
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