During the opening moments of Just For One Day, the new musical celebrating the Live Aid phenomenon, the audience is asked whether anyone in attendance actually attended the famous concert. A touch of hands goes up.
“This makes you very hip,” we are told. “But it also makes you very old.”
Isn't it just like that? Can it really have been almost 40 years since the Live Aid concerts took place? Forty years have passed since Bob Geldof and his band of ragtag troubadours united the world to raise funds and awareness of the famine then raging in Ethiopia?
Back in 1985, Live Aid – with its double concerts in London and Philadelphia – became the most famous event in the history of popular music and was watched by a global television audience of 1.5 billion viewers. More than £150 million was raised for famine relief and undoubtedly saved many, many thousands of Ethiopians from starvation.
Geldof was later knighted and to this day the Live Aid legacy lives on, as does the music. For better or worse.
The all-star line-up at Wembley Stadium in London included legendary Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, who took to the stage in his iconic yellow jacket and striped tracksuit
Just For One Day came up with the successful idea of gathering the brightest young stars of musical theater and letting them breathe fire and new life into the Live Aid classics
All of this is celebrated in Just For One Day – The Live Aid Musical, currently in previews at The Old Vic Theater in London and having its official world premiere on February 13th. I was lucky enough to see a very early performance, only the third time the show had ever been performed publicly.
Sir Bob Geldof contributed to the show, which was conceived and directed by Luke Sheppard and written by former Guardian columnist, head writer and Spitting Image contributor John O'Farrell. Sheppard said working with Geldof was “extraordinary”. I bet!
Apparently there were a lot of disagreements in the rehearsal room, but there was a collaborative atmosphere. All this in a company determined to include the highs, lows and “criticisms” of Live Aid and the way the millions raised were distributed – but if you look, you might miss these unpleasant notes.
Throughout the exuberant show, St. Bob (Craige Els) is portrayed in an unrelentingly heroic light, and to be honest, I was fed up with him storming across the stage in his denim top shouting, “Just give us the damn money.” and so forth.
We all know what a wonderful performance this was, but Geldof is still a polarizing figure, even if we see him here at his most vulnerable, consumed by doubt. Between songs, his character wonders if “we’ve done enough”; when “everything we did was in vain”; and when “every generation is doomed.”
“The story never ends,” he says at one point, seeming to suggest that Live Aid cast a shadow over his life for “40 damn years.” Elsewhere he muses that “pop stars can’t eradicate poverty.”
“Just For One Day – The Live Aid Musical” is currently in previews at The Old Vic Theater in London, with the official world premiere taking place on February 13th
It has been forty years since Bob Geldof and his band of ragged troubadours united the world to raise funds and awareness of the famine
David Bowie, who is unfortunately no longer with us, serenaded the screaming fans at the Wembley concert
What's the point of all this? I asked myself as he continued to struggle with his scruples. And is Just For One Day more than a jukebox musical that pretends to have a conscience?
If so, what a musical. 37 Live Aid songs – some just snatches of airborne choruses, others full numbers – are crammed into the 130-minute show.
Instead of staging a theatrical homage to “Stars In Their Eyes” that might involve someone in a unitard and a pasted-on mustache imitating, say, Freddie Mercury, they came up with the winning idea of rounding up musical theater's brightest young stars and letting them breathe Fire and new life into the Live Aid classics.
The singing and dancing are wonderful, the pure musicality and energy irresistible. As the entire ensemble thunders through The Police's hit “Message In A Bottle” or David Bowie's “Heroes” (the lyrics give the musical its title), it's easy to forget the tragedy at the heart of the matter. Not for long.
At one point in the show, an excerpt from Michael Buerk's legendary BBC broadcast from October 1984 is played – still stunning even after all these years. His report, in which he described events in Ethiopia as “a biblical famine of the 20th century” and “the closest thing to hell on earth,” inspired Geldof to act.
Back in 1985, Live Aid – with its double concerts in London and Philadelphia – became the most famous event in the history of pop music
U2's Bono, Paul McCartney and Queen's Freddie Mercury during the final of the Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium in 1985
Queen performs at Live Aid as part of an all-star line-up at Wembley Stadium on July 13, 1985
Homage is also paid to Geldof's late wife Paula Yates, as we are told how she pinned an envelope to the fridge of her Chelsea home asking visitors to put a fiver in it for famine charities.
Of course, there are several nasty obstacles blocking Geldof's path to sainthood, not least Margaret Thatcher (Julie Atherton), who wants to impose VAT on his charity.
The former prime minister is introduced on stage as a character shouts “Mrs Thatcher!” I couldn't fucking stand her, just in case you're wondering where Just For One Day's political sympathies lie.
Mrs Thatcher even sings three songs – Stop Your Sobbing by The Pretenders, the Diana Ross hit Reach Out And Touch (Somebody's Hand) and I'm Still Standing by Elton John.
They are actually very funny numbers – skillfully executed by Atherton – while Geldof himself is credited with changing some of the lyrics to suit their purpose. “You can applaud,” she tells the audience after her big showstopper. Thatcher-bashing by the Luvvies? It just never lets up, does it?
Even in the show's souvenir program, Matthew Warchus, the artistic director of The Old Vic, writes about how “under Thatcher's successive governments there was war in the Falklands, rising unemployment and widespread industrial disputes” alongside “general social paranoia”.
Freddie Mercury poses as he unleashes his breathtaking vocals into the microphone at Live Aid
Looking back at Live Aid now is a turbulent journey down pop 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 viewers and raised more than £150 million for famine relief
I'm not saying everything was perfect in 1985, but under the Blair government from 1997 onwards there was the Iraq War, the invasion of Afghanistan, the decline of the manufacturing industry and little investment in social housing. I'm looking forward to one day never reading about it in a theater program.
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) gets a few understated numbers and a distinct Scottish accent.
Of course, it was Ure and Geldof who wrote the 1984 single “Christmas Band Aid”; the magical song that started it all. Today their charitable work continues and it is heartening to see that one of the main beneficiaries of Just For One Day will be the Band Aid Charitable Trust, which will receive 10 percent of every ticket sold.
The look back at “Live Aid” is a turbulent journey into pop memories. From the all-star line-up at Wembley Stadium in London, Freddie Mercury, David Bowie and George Michael are unfortunately no longer with us.
But Sting, the winemaker and multi-millionaire, carries on, Elton John has 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 full of fans during the Live Aid concert in July 1985
Former Wham member George Michael on stage during the Live Aid concert
From the line-up at Philadelphia's JFK Stadium, Sir Mick Jagger, Madonna, Bob Dylan and Neil Young continue to rock, while Tina Turner died last year and Hall has taken out a restraining order against Oates.
What was unique was that Phil Collins played in both stadiums and flew across the Atlantic on the Concorde to arrange the dates. Both the plane and Phil have long been retired.
The overall message seems to be that the power of music is enduring. And also that Sir Bob Geldof made his contribution. He wants to hang up his butcher boy cap and pass the baton of African aid 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.
The strangest thing of all is that the show ends with a rousing rendition of “Let It Be,” which is exactly what Just For One Day urges everyone not to do.