'80s Metal Icon Rob Halford Couldn’t Believe What Joan Baez Told Him at Live Aid

Rob Halford received a surprise when he performed at Live Aid in Philadelphia 40 years ago. The Judas Priest frontman told the Associated Press that meeting Joan Baez backstage at the star-studded July 13, 1985, concert event was a highlight of the day, but that it panned out much differently than he expected.

The rocker, who covered Baez’s 1975 song “Diamonds and Rust” on the 1977 Priest album Sin After Sin, expected the folk legend to be furious at him for his heavy rendition of the classic song.

“I thought, ‘Oh my God, she’s gonna come and kick me in the a-- for wrecking her beautiful song,’” Halford, 73, said of his meeting with Baez. Instead, she praised the cover.

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“She gives me a quick hug and goes, ‘The reason I’m here is because my son said to me, if you see Rob Halford from Judas Priest at the Live Aid Show in Philadelphia, will you tell him from me that I prefer Judas Priest’s version to my mom’s version?’" Halford recalled. "It was a display of such kindness.”

Joan Baez performing at Live Aid at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 13, 1985.

Ebet Roberts/Getty Images

In 2021, Halford told the Dr. Dot podcast that he was initially apprehensive about recording Baez’s song. “The quick story on that was the band was slowly making marks in the United States, and our label has said, ‘Guys, if we can get a song that we can send to rock ‘n’ roll radio, that’ll really give you a boost,’” he recalled.

“We didn’t really have anything so that’s when somebody at the label suggested this song,” he said of “Diamonds and Rust.” “So we all sit around a record player and put it on, and then Joan starts singing, and then we go, ‘Are they having a laugh? What is this?’” he cracked. “And then we listened again and then we got it, ‘Oh yeah, now we got it. This is an incredible song, this song will take the Priest’s interpretation.'”

At Live Aid, Judas Priest played “Living After Midnight,” “The Green Manalishi,” and “You’ve Got Another Thing Coming.”

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Baez went the lighter route with “Amazing Grace” and “We Are the World,” after announcing to the massive crowd, “Children of the ‘80s…this is your Woodstock. And it’s long overdue.”

Related: Rock Legend Reveals Why He Refuses to Watch His Live Aid Performance 40 Years Later

'80s Metal Icon Rob Halford Couldn’t Believe What Joan Baez Told Him at Live Aid first appeared on Men's Journal on Jul 13, 2025