Saturday, July 13, 1985, will forevermore be known as one of the biggest days in music history. Bob Geldof, the scruffy, scrappy frontman of The Boomtown Rats, strongarmed artists, venues, satellite companies, and even heads of state into participating in a massive concert event to raise money to combat a catastrophic famine in Ethiopia.
Over a 16-hour broadcast, Live Aid, split between Wembley Stadium in London and JFK Stadium in Philadelphia, brought in over US$125 million in humanitarian aid from a global TV audience estimated at 1.9 billion — nearly 40 per cent of the world’s population — in 150 countries, including the Soviet Union. Queen’s 20-minute set is widely regarded as one of the greatest of all time. Bono’s dancing with a woman from the audience is now considered iconic. And Phil Collins jetting via Concorde to appear on both stages? Crazy.
There has never been, nor may there ever be again, a more powerful demonstration of how music can be a powerful agent for social and political change. Almost 40 years later, people still talk about Live Aid. And the talk has been rekindled, thanks to a new musical based on the event called Just For One Day (yes, the title is from the Bowie song, Heroes.) It follows several characters who remember that day and intertwines real-life events with over 30 songs performed at Live Aid.
After a run at the Old Vic in London’s West End (the reviews were brilliant), the production’s next stop is the Mirvish Theatre in Toronto from Jan. 26 to March 25, 2025. Geldof was in Toronto to talk about the production. I sat down with Bob for about half an hour. And Bob being Bob, I got in exactly two questions during that time. Here’s a gently summarized version of our chat.
Alan Cross: You never struck me as a fan of musical theatre.
AC: When it comes to Live Aid — the actual event — a lot of people today don’t realize how big of an event that was. We in ’85 rarely got to see our heroes, especially if we were in the hinterlands. Live Aid was transformative because technology allowed us to see our people.
I read that the LA Olympics was the only Olympics that made money, so let’s get the guy who did the LA Olympics. I got ahold of him and I said, “This is what I want to do. Are there enough satellites?” They said, “Well, there are but many of them belong to the military and there are a lot of secret ones up there.” And then I said, “Can we get them?”
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So never forget what this is. In our world, it’s about this great moment of music when the greatest acts ever did their greatest songs ever and performed way over their norm. And it’s reverberated down through the years.
We — well, he — spoke for some time after this, eventually moving to Live Eight, another global concert event that took place in 2006. He also hinted at more 40th anniversary Live Aid events coming in 2025 plus a celebration of The Boomtown Rats’ 50th anniversary.
Tickets for Just for One Day go on sale Monday, Oct. 7, at 10 a.m. ET.
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Alan Cross is a broadcaster with Q107 and 102.1 the Edge and a commentator for Global News.
Subscribe to Alan’s Ongoing History of New Music Podcast now on Apple Podcast or Google Play
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