Tears For Fears open up about missing Live Aid: “We were exhausted”

Tears For Fears have opened up about missing Live Aid in 1985.

Speaking to NME, the duo’s Curt Smith said the group were initially upset with Live Aid organiser Bob Geldof because he announced that they were performing without their knowledge.

Additionally, Smith went on to explain that the group were in the middle of a year long tour, with the Live Aid event falling on their only weekend off.

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Smith said: “Initially, I was pissed off because Bob had announced we were doing it without even asking us and it was smack in the middle of a year-long tour. It was the first week off we had.

“We kissed and made up with Bob and did ‘Everybody Wants To Run The World’ for him [for Sport Aid] afterwards, but we didn’t think us not performing would affect the amount of money they were raising in any way, so we didn’t do it so we could have that break.”

Live Aid
Bob Geldof at Wembley Stadium during Live Aid preparations in 1985. CREDIT: AP Photo/David Caulkin

When asked if the band regret not performing, Smith replied: “No, because we were exhausted.

“I realised we’d pulled out of his huge event, and there was this amusing moment where we were in Hawaii on the day it was happening, and there was a local cover band playing ‘Everybody Wants To Rule The World’ in this little bar. I’m like: this or Live Aid? I don’t know!”

He added: “It’s just that Live Aid was bad timing for us.”

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Last week, the group shared a new single called ‘Break The Man’.

The song is the third taste of the group’s first album in 17 years, ‘The Tipping Point’, which is due to arrive on February 25 via Concord Records.

In October 2021, the duo released the record’s title track and last month, they released second single ‘No Small Thing’.

Tears For Fears have 16 tour dates on the itinerary for next summer in support of ‘The Tipping Point’, kicking off in Shropshire on Friday July 1. Check out the full schedule here.