During the opening moments of Just For One Day, the new musical that celebrates the phenomenon of Live Aid, the audience are asked if anyone present actually went to the famous concert. A smattering of hands goes up.
‘That makes you very hip,’ we are told. ‘But it also makes you very old.’
Doesn’t it just. Can it really be nearly 40 years since the Live Aid concerts took place? Forty years since Bob Geldof and his band of ragged-trousered troubadours united the world, raising funds and awareness for the famine crisis then taking place in Ethiopia?
Back in 1985, Live Aid — with its twin concerts in London and Philadelphia — went on to become the most famous event in pop music history, watched by a global television audience of 1.5 billion. It raised more than £150 million for famine relief and undoubtedly saved many, many thousands of Ethiopians from starving to death.
Geldof was later knighted and today the Live Aid legacy lingers on, as well as the music. In both good ways and bad.
The all-star line-up at Wembley Stadium in London included the legendary front man of Queen, Freddie Mercury, who graced the stage in his iconic yellow jacket and striped tracksuit
Just For One Day hit on the winning idea of scooping up all the brightest young stars of musical theatre and letting them breathe fire and new life into the Live Aid classics
All this is celebrated in Just For One Day — The Live Aid Musical, currently in preview at The Old Vic theatre in London, with its official world premiere on February 13.
Sir Bob Geldof has collaborated on the show which was devised and directed by Luke Sheppard and written by former Guardian columnist, Spitting Image lead writer and author John O’Farrell. Sheppard said working with Geldof was ‘extraordinary’. I’ll bet!
Apparently, there were many healthy clashes of opinion in the rehearsal room, but a collaborative atmosphere ensued. All this in an enterprise determined to include the highs, the lows and the ‘criticisms’ of Live Aid and how the millions raised were distributed — but blink and you might miss those bum notes.
Throughout the exuberant show, St Bob (Craige Els) is shown in an unyieldingly heroic light and to be honest, I grew quite tired of him storming around the stage in his denim top shouting ‘just give us the fooking money’ and so on.
We all know what a marvellous achievement it was, but Geldof is still a polarising figure, even if here we see him at his most vulnerable, consumed by doubts. Between songs, his character wonders if ‘we did enough’; if ‘everything we did was for nothing’; and if ‘every generation is doomed to fail’.
‘History never ends,’ he says at one point, and seems to suggest that Live Aid has cast a shadow over his life for ’40 f***ing years’. Elsewhere he ponders that ‘pop stars cannot eliminate poverty’.
Just For One Day — The Live Aid Musical, is currently in preview at The Old Vic theatre in London, with its official world premiere on February 13
It’s been forty years since Bob Geldof and his band of ragged-trousered troubadours united the world, raising funds and awareness for the famine crisis
David Bowie, who is sadly no longer with us, serenaded screaming fans at the Wembley concert
What is the point of it all then, I found myself wondering, as he wrestled on and on with his scruples. And is Just For One Day anything more than a jukebox musical pretending to have a conscience?
If so, what a musical. 37 Live Aid songs — some just snatches of choruses floating in the air, some full-blown numbers — are crammed into the 130-minute show.
Instead of having a theatrical Stars In Their Eyes tribute, perhaps someone in a unitard and stick-on moustache impersonating Freddie Mercury, for example, they have hit on the winning idea of scooping up all the brightest young stars of musical theatre and letting them breathe fire and new life into the Live Aid classics.
The singing and dancing are wonderful, the sheer musicality and energy irresistible. When the whole ensemble is thundering though The Police’s hit song Message In A Bottle or David Bowie’s Heroes (the lyrics of which give the musical its title), it is easy to forget the tragedy at the heart of this matter. Not for long.
At one point in the show, a clip of Michael Buerk’s iconic BBC broadcast from October 1984 is played — still heart-stopping all these years later. His report, in which he described events in Ethiopia as ‘a biblical famine in the 20th century’ and ‘the closest thing to hell on Earth’ was what first inspired Geldof to act.
Back in 1985, Live Aid — with its twin concerts in London and Philadelphia — went on to become the most famous event in pop music history
Bono of U2, Paul McCartney, and Freddie Mercury of Queen during the finale of the Live Aid Concert at Wembley Stadium in 1985
Queen performing at at Live Aid on July 13, 1985 as part of an all-star line-up at Wembley Stadium
Homage is also paid to Geldof’s late wife Paula Yates, as we are told how she pinned an envelope on to the fridge of their Chelsea home, encouraging visitors to put a fiver in it for famine charities.
Of course there are several evil obstacles blocking Geldof’s route to sainthood, not least of all Margaret Thatcher (Julie Atherton), who wants to charge VAT on his charity.
The former prime minister is introduced onstage when a character shouts ‘Mrs Thatcher! I couldn’t bloody stand her’ just in case you were wondering where Just For One Day’s political sympathies lie.
Mrs Thatcher even sings three songs — The Pretenders’ Stop Your Sobbing, the Diana Ross hit Reach Out And Touch (Somebody’s Hand) and I’m Still Standing from Elton John.
Actually, these are very funny numbers — deftly executed by Atherton — while Geldof himself is credited with changing some of the lyrics to fit her purpose. ‘You may applaud,’ she tells the audience after her big show-stopper. Thatcher-bashing by the luvvies? It just never lets up, does it?
Even in the show’s souvenir programme Matthew Warchus, the artistic director of The Old Vic, writes of how ‘under Thatcher’s successive governments there had been war in the Falklands, soaring unemployment and widespread industrial action’ alongside ‘generalised social paranoia’.
Freddie mercury striking a pose as he unleashes his stunning vocals into the mic at Live Aid
Looking back on Live Aid now is a turbulent trip down pop’s memory lane considering Freddie Mercury, David Bowie and George Michael are sadly no longer with us
The event was watched by a global television audience of 1.5 billion and raised more than £150 million for famine relief
I’m not saying everything was perfect in 1985, but under the Blair government that followed from 1997 there was the Iraq war, the invasion of Afghanistan, the decline of the manufacturing industry and scant investment in social housing. I look forward to reading about that in a theatre programme sometime never.
I digress. Let’s get back to the show. Harvey Goldsmith (Joel Montague) sings The Who’s Pinball Wizard in a three-piece suit, while Midge Ure (Jack Shalloo) is given a few slight numbers and a slightly dodgy Scottish accent. I note the dialogue coach is called Kirsty Strain — and Midge certainly sounds like he has strained his kirsties in rehearsals.
Of course, it was Ure and Geldof who wrote the Christmas Band Aid single in 1984; the magical song that started everything. Today their charitable work carries on and it is heartening to see that one of the major beneficiaries of Just For One Day will be The Band Aid Charitable Trust, which will receive 10 per cent of every ticket sold.
Looking back on Live Aid now is a turbulent trip down pop’s memory lane. From the all-star line-up at Wembley Stadium in London, Freddie Mercury, David Bowie and George Michael are sadly no longer with us.
Yet Sting, the winemaker and multi-millionaire, rolls on, Elton John has only just given up touring at the age of 76, Sir Paul McCartney and U2 are still working and Bananarama are still friends.
A packed Wembley stadium teeming with fans during the Live Aid Concert in July 1985
The former Wham member George Michael on stage performing during the live Aid concert
From the line-up at the JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, Sir Mick Jagger, Madonna, Bob Dylan and Neil Young all rock on, while Tina Turner died last year, and Hall has issued a restraining order against Oates.
Uniquely, Phil Collins played in both stadiums, flying across the Atlantic on Concorde to make the dates. Both the plane and Phil have long since retired.
The overall message seems to be that the power of music is enduring. And also that Sir Bob Geldof has done his bit. He wants to hang up his butcher boy cap and pass the African aid baton to a new generation ready to take up the challenge. But maybe not now, Bob — we’re on the brink of World War III, mate.
Oddest of all, the show ends with a rousing rendition of Let It Be, which is the very thing Just For One Day is urging everyone not to do.
