This Thursday, November 24th, local charity group BEAN is teaming up with a handful of local bands for their annual Rocksgiving charity show, which helps feed migrant school children.

Featuring Boys Climbing Ropes, Rainbow Danger Club, Next Year’s Love and more, Rocksgiving aims to use music to help address social responsibility, and with that in mind, The Beat takes a look back at some of the most impressive charity rock shows in history.

Concert for Bangladesh: August 1, 1971

Considered the first large-scale charity rock show, the Concert for Bangladesh, featured a post-Beatles George Harrison and Ringo Starr, Ravi Shankar, Eric Clapton and Bob Dylan, who convened at New York’s Madison Square Garden to raise money for refugees from East Pakistan, following the Bangladesh Liberation War.

Orangized by Harrison and Shankar, the Concert for Bangladesh raised over $240,000 for relief, and later inspired a live album and film of the show, which was attended by over 40,000 fans.

Live Aid: July 13, 1985

Organized by uber promoter Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, Live Aid raised money for the Ethopian famine with two massive shows at Wembley Stadium in London and JFK Stadium in Philadelphia.

With more than 170,000 in attendance, Live Aid also attracted a massive television audience of over a billion viewers, who were all treated to a double dose of Phil Collins, the former Genesis singer hopping the Concorde to headline the Philly show after playing a set in London.

Other notable performances came from Queen, Hall & Oates, and a John Bonham-less Led Zeppelin.

Farm Aid: September 22, 1985

Less than two months after the success of Live Aid, John “Cougar” Mellencamp, Willie Nelson, and Neil Young founded Farm Aid, putting together an all-star line up of Glen Campbell, Johnny Cash, David Allan Coe, Charlie Daniels Band, John Denver, Bob Dylan, John Fogerty, Arlo Guthrie, Sammy Hagar, Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, Billy Joel, Randy Newman, B. B. King, Kris Kristofferson, Roy Orbison, to raise money for American farmers who were in danger of losing their land to mortgage debt.

Now an institution in the American Mid-West, Farm Aid has become an annual show, continuing to raise money for American farmers, no word on when Johnny Cougar’s relevance will return to the modern consciousness.

Concert for New York: October 20, 2001

Featuring a veritable line-up of some of classic rock and rap’s heaviest hitters, including The Who, Jay Z, David Bowie and Elton John, the Concert for New York raised money in the wake of the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks, and paid homage to the New York City police and firefighters who gave their lives.

Founded by Paul McCartney, the Concert for New York took place at Madison Square Garden, and went on to inspire a double album and DVD.

The Sars Benefit Concert: July 30, 2003

With still Toronto under World Health Organization warning during the SARS epidemic, the Rolling Stones rallied Canada’s rock elite to help revitalize the city, after the virus put a serious economic damper on the local economy. Playing alongside The Guess Who, RUSH, The Flaming Lips and AC/DC, the Stones welcomed some 450,000 fans to the Toronto waterfront for the show that later became known as “SARS-a-palooza.”

Honorable Mention

Chef Aid: October 7, 1998

With Chef now in debt to big record companies for a frivolous law suit, Kyle, Stan Kenny and Cartman convince Elton John, Ozzy Osbourne, Joe Strummer, D.M.X. and Meatloaf to play a benefit to help Chef get out of the financial hole.

“Hey everybody have you seen my balls. They’re big and salty and brown . . .

. . . put ‘em in your mouth and suck ‘em.”