Bob Geldof was left “mortified” when he read the script for the Live Aid musical, but wanted to make sure that it still remained “pertinent” in the current political climate.
Bob Geldof was left “mortified” when he read the script for the Live Aid musical.
The 78-year-old musician teamed up with Midge Ure to organise the the benefit concert and raised funds for relief of the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia with a major concert starring the likes of late Queen star Freddie Mercury, pop legend Sir Elton John and rock band Status Quo amongst a host of others but just days before the story behind it launches as jukebox musical titled ‘Just For One Day’ in London’s West End, he admitted he felt uncomfortable reading about himself.
Speaking at Wembley Stadium on Thursday (01.05.25) as he announced the release of the ‘Just For One Day’ cast recording, he said: “It’s extraordinary, the musical is extraordinary. I’m not familiar with this sort of thing, I’m more of a Rodgers and Hammerstein guy, and when they approached me I was mortified by the script because, you know, you’re reading a version of the self.
“My main thing was that it has to be politically pertinent. It has to be about what it was always supposed to be about, the charity, which everyone 40 years ago had understood. These days it’s about Freddie [Mercury] – genius and all that – but what the musical does for us is put it in the contemporary perspective.
“What happened 40 years ago at Wembley was to lay that idea to rest that there is such a thing as society, it proved that human beings do care about each other.”
‘Just for One Day’ will be celebrating the 40th anniversary of Live Aid with a very special performance at the Shaftesbury Theatre in London on 13 July, and the Boomtown Rats star – who co-wrote ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ in the months before the legendary concert took place – admitted that he had no idea all those years ago that the issue would be as “vital” today.
He said: “We couldn’t possibly have known that 40 years down the track, the issue would be as vital or the interest as great. Millions of children today are being forced to starve as an instrument of war, and millions of lives are in peril due to AIDS and because of cuts to international aid.
“This musical is extraordinary, and it brings Live Aid to a new generation – the possibility of what individuals can do together. It refutes Thatcher’s dictum that there’s no such thing as society. There is and it roared its existence on that day 40 years ago in Wembley Stadium. Human beings do care about each other – they rise above contemporary politics.
“Just For One Day puts Live Aid into perspective. It’s a phenomenal piece of work. I read somewhere that it’s a ‘jukebox musical’ – dude, it’s the original musical jukebox! That’s what we called it back then – ‘Live Aid – the Global Jukebox’! That’s what Live Aid was, arguably the greatest collection of songs of the rock era, and so this musical is hit after hit after hit, stunningly arranged for this generation! Its achievement is to conjure that vivid sense of 40 years ago, and to make it relevant to now.”
‘Just For One Day – The Live Aid Musical’ (Original Cast Recording) will be available from 11th .
Bob Geldof was left ‘mortified’ when he read the script for the Live Aid musical
