This Week In History- Concerts For The People Of Kampuchea
Concerts for the People of Kampuchea was a series of concerts featuring musical giants of the 1970’s including Queen, The Clash, The Pretenders, The Who, Elvis Costello, Wings, and many more artists.
The concerts were held at the Hammersmith Odeon in London over 4 days from 26-29 December 1979 to raise money for the victims of war-torn Cambodia (then called Kampuchea).
The event was organized by former Beatle Paul McCartney and Kurt Waldheim (who was then Secretary General of the UN, later Austrian president).
An album and EP were released in 1981, and the best of the concerts were released as a film, Concert for Kampuchea.
The series of concerts was opened by Queen on Boxing day, and closed by Rockestra, a McCartney-led supergroup of at least thirty English rockers including Wings, John Paul Jones and John Bonham of Led Zeppelin, David Gilmour from Pink Floyd, Ronnie Lane of the Faces, Kenney Jones and Pete Townshend of the Who, and Hank Marvin of the Shadows
26 December
- Queen
27 December
- Ian Dury and the Blockheads (with guest Mick Jones)
- Matumbi
- The Clash
28 December
- The Pretenders
- The Specials
- The Who
29 December
- Elvis Costello & The Attractions
- Rockpile (with guest Robert Plant on “Little Sister”)
- Wings
- Rockestra
For all those nostalgic about classic rock from 40 years ago this week, the 1981 album is here, in full glory:
