PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — When Larry Magid was a student at Temple University, booking obscure bands that no one had ever heard of for frat parties, he got funny looks.
He saw them all. He also didn’t care. Unassuming yet confident, Magid trusted his gut. He didn’t just love music. He knew music.
Growing up in West Philadelphia, he would listen to almost everything (except opera). He connected with jazz at a young age, was into R&B. He immersed himself in the city’s music scene — the performers, clubs and DJs — until he eventually became a fixture in it himself.
“If there’s something you find that you’re good at, that you like, you don’t work a day in your life,” Magid said in a recent interview with KYW Newsradio. “It becomes almost like a passion play.”
And that passion propelled Magid to great heights.
By his mid-20s, he had opened the Electric Factory, a venue and brand that would become synonymous with Philadelphia’s live music industry. His company later assumed control of two other revered showcases in the city, the Theatre of the Living Arts and Tower Theater.
To this day, Magid continues to work with Bruce Springsteen. He has produced award-winning shows on Broadway.
For those who might not have seen or heard what Magid was seeing and hearing back in his Temple days, he certainly proved his chops.
“There were moments that were hard,” he said. “It took a lot of time, and you have to decide what in life you’re going to give up, because you’re going to [sacrifice] something, but you don’t let anybody or anything stop you.”
Including the top elected official in his hometown. In 1985, Magid got a call from legendary concert promoter Bill Graham. Graham, who played a key role in launching the careers of some of the greatest rock-and-roll acts of the 1960s and ’70s, needed help.
He had been tapped to curate the most ambitious lineup he could possibly put together for the American offering of Live Aid, a two-city, international, continuously running benefit show raising funds for and awareness about famine relief in Ethiopia.
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London’s Wembley Stadium was picked as one site. Organizers were looking for another in the United States. Graham was based in San Francisco, but the time difference between the UK was too great. An East Coast city made more sense for the concept of a transatlantic show.
Washington, D.C., was kicked around. So was New York City. But quickly, Graham and Magid zeroed in on Philadelphia. Magid was convinced he could pull off Live Aid in his own backyard, and Graham was on board.
Philadelphia Mayor Wilson Goode, however, was a different story. He initially shot the pitch down.
Live Aid will celebrate its 40th anniversary on July 13. KYW Newsradio looks back on the landmark music event through the stories and memories of a person instrumental in making it happen.
“The world tilted a little bit that day,” Magid recalled. “Just being a part of it was just a spectacular thing.”
How did the now-82-year-old convince city officials to approve the concert? Why was Magid so reluctant to talk about Live Aid for such a long period of his life? Listen in the player below to find out.