A benefit concert or charity concert is a concert, show or gala featuring musicians, comedians, or other performers that is held for a charitable purpose, often directed at a specific and immediate humanitarian crisis. Benefit concerts can have both subjective and concrete objectives. Subjective objectives include raising awareness about an issue such as misery in Africa (see Live 8) and uplifting a nation after a disaster (see America: A Tribute to Heroes). Concrete objectives include raising funds (Live Aid) and influencing legislation (Live 8; Farm Aid). The popularization of benefit concerts started after the Concert For Bangladesh, organized by George Harrison in 1971. However, the format in which most concerts are done nowadays was only created after the occurrence of Bob Geldof’s Live Aid (CBC). The two largest benefit concerts of all time, in size, were the Live 8 and the Live Earth, both with billions of spectators. Scholars theorize that the observed increase on concert size since the Live Aid is happening because organizers strive to make their events as big as the tragedy at hand, thus hoping to gain legitimization that way.
Read more about Benefit Concert: Celebrity Charity, Effectiveness, As Media Events, Benefit Concerts and Para-social Interaction, Criticisms, Notable Examples
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“There is also this benefit in brag, that the speaker is unconsciously expressing his own ideal. Humor him by all means, draw it all out, and hold him to it.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
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