Notable Benefit Concerts
Benefit concerts have always been very popular. Due to the very nature of these concerts, where all proceeds go to helping some worthy cause, people have always flocked to them. Usually the performing artists accept very little in terms of remuneration and most do not accept any payment at all. The largest of these in recent times was the Live 8 concert of 2005. But there have been other notable concerts over the past few years and the following is a list of a few of them:
The 1967 Monterey Pop Festival can be considered the Grandfather of all benefit shows and was put together to raise funds for the MIPF Foundation.
In 1969 A Gift of Song: The Music for UNICEF Concert took place to collect funds for UNICEF. This year was also named the International Year of the Child.
1985 saw the Live Aid come into being, which was designed to help relieve famine in Ethiopia. This was the first concert aimed at helping an African nation.
1992 highlighted the consequences of the deadly AIDS virus with the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert. The concert raised funds for the Mercury Phoenix Trust which helps AIDS victims.
After the 9/11 catastrophe, America: A Tribute to Heroes and The Concert for New York City were held in 2001 to aid various charities addressing the victims.
This year saw tremendous devastation (the worst since the Asian tsunami disaster) in Haiti. Wyclef Jean has organized three benefit concerts in New York, Los Angeles and London to help the victims.