| Just For One Day | |
|---|---|
| The Live Aid Musical | |
 Original Old Vic production poster | |
| Music | Various |
| Lyrics | Various |
| Book | John O'Farrell |
| Basis | Live Aid |
| Premiere | 13 February 2024: The Old Vic, London |
| Productions | 2024 London |
Just For One Day is a jukebox musical written by John O'Farrell, based on the story of the 1985 benefit concert Live Aid. The musical is named after a line in David Bowie's song "Heroes", which he performed at the event.
Just For One Day received its world premiere at The Old Vic in London, and was directed by Luke Shepard, choreography by Ebony Molina, and set design by Soutra Gilmour. [1] Performances began on 26 January 2024, in previews, with an official opening night on 13 February 2024. The production closed on 30 March 2024. The musical was the Old Vic's fastest-selling production and was sold out during the show's nine-week run. [2]
The musical was produced by Bob Geldof and Band Aid's permission. [3]
The show is scheduled to have its North American premiere at the Ed Mirvish Theatre, in Toronto. [4] The musical will begin performances on 28 January 2025 and close on 16 March 2025. [2]
The musical features songs by artists featured at the Live Aid concert, such as
| Character | London [5] |
|---|---|
| 2024 | |
| Margaret | Julie Atherton |
| David | Jason Battersby |
| Adwoa | Cassiopeia Berkeley-Agyepong |
| Jim | Ashley Campbell |
| Suzanne 2024 | Jackie Clune |
| John | Olly Dobson |
| Tim | Joe Edgar |
| Bob | Craige Els |
| Bella | Kerry Enright |
| Bernie | Jo Foster |
| Maria | Collette Guitart |
| Suzanne 1985 | Hope Kenna |
| Khalil | James Hameed |
| Jemma | Naomi Katiyo |
| Kai | AJ Lewis |
| Skye | Freddie Love |
| Cover Bob | Eddie Mann |
| Harvey | Joel Montague |
| Paige | Rachel Moran |
| Amara | Abiona Omonua |
| Ellie | Emily Ooi |
| Midge | Jack Shalloo |
| Marsha | Danielle Steers |
| Alicia | Tamara Tare |
| Roger | Rhys Wilkinson |
| Malcolm | Dyd Wynford |
The original London production received mixed reviews. The show's performers, band and song arrangements were almost universally praised, while the dialogue, character development and what some reviewers felt was a 'white saviour' sentiment were criticised. The Guardian gave two stars out of five; it criticised the show's "pancake flat characters" and "white saviour stereotypes". [6] The Daily Telegraph gave four stars out of five and described the show as; "this rip-roaring, nostalgia-stirring new juke-box musical". [7] City a.m. gave two stars out of five. It praised the show's performers and production but criticised it as a; "Shockingly tone deaf Live Aid musical". [8] The Times gave three stars out of five, praising the show's live band but criticising the "wooden script" and "gauche celebration". [9] The London Evening Standard gave three stars out of five; it praised the show band and singing performances and, like the Guardian, criticised the show's; "corny dialogue" and "white saviourism". [10] The Independent gave three stars and described the show as; "This Live Aid musical is Bob Geldof’s tribute to... himself". [11] The New Statesman criticised the show's; "sanctimony and second-rate songs". The Financial Times gave three stars; it praised the show's arrangement and delivery of musical numbers, and also the choreography. It also noted that; "as drama it struggles" with the script; "awkward and heavy". [12]
| Year | Award | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Laurence Olivier Award [13] | Outstanding Musical Contribution (Musical Supervision, Arrangements & Orchestrations) | Matt Brind | Nominated |
Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner, known as Sting, is an English musician, activist and actor. He was the frontman, songwriter and bassist for new wave band the Police from 1977 until their breakup in 1986. He launched a solo career in 1985 and has included elements of rock, jazz, reggae, classical, new-age, and worldbeat in his music.
Band Aid was the collective name of a charity supergroup featuring mainly British and Irish musicians and recording artists. It was founded in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise money for anti-famine efforts in Ethiopia by releasing the song "Do They Know It's Christmas?" for the Christmas market that year. On 25 November 1984, the song was recorded at Sarm West Studios in Notting Hill, London, and was released in the UK on Monday 3 December. The single surpassed the hopes of the producers to become the Christmas number one on that release. Three re-recordings of the song to raise further money for charity also topped the charts, first the Band Aid II version in 1989 and the Band Aid 20 version in 2004 and finally the Band Aid 30 version in 2014. The original was produced by Ure. The 12" version was mixed by Trevor Horn.
Live Aid was a multi-venue benefit concert held on Saturday 13 July 1985, as well as a music-based fundraising initiative. The original event was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise further funds for relief of the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia, a movement that started with the release of the successful charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?" in December 1984. Billed as the "global jukebox", Live Aid was held simultaneously at Wembley Stadium in London, attended by about 72,000 people, and John F. Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, attended by 89,484 people.
Robert Frederick Zenon Geldof is an Irish singer-songwriter and political activist. He rose to prominence in the late 1970s as the lead singer of the Irish rock band the Boomtown Rats, who achieved popularity as part of the punk rock movement. The band had UK number one hits with his co-compositions "Rat Trap" and "I Don't Like Mondays". Geldof starred as Pink in Pink Floyd's 1982 film Pink Floyd – The Wall. As a fundraiser, Geldof organised the charity supergroup Band Aid and the concerts Live Aid and Live 8, and co-wrote "Do They Know It's Christmas?", one of the best-selling singles to date.
Paula Elizabeth Yates was a British television presenter and writer. Yates is best known for her work on two television programmes, The Tube and The Big Breakfast. She was subjected to intense media attention and scrutiny, owing to her popularity and her relationships with musicians Bob Geldof and Michael Hutchence.
The Boomtown Rats are an Irish new wave band originally formed in Dublin in 1975. Between 1977 and 1985, they had a series of Irish and UK hits including "Like Clockwork", "Rat Trap", "I Don't Like Mondays" and "Banana Republic". The original line-up comprised six musicians; five from Dún Laoghaire in County Dublin; Gerry Cott, Simon Crowe (drums), Johnnie Fingers (keyboards), Bob Geldof (vocals) and Garry Roberts, plus Fingers' cousin Pete Briquette (bass). The Boomtown Rats broke up in 1986, but reformed in 2013, without Fingers or Cott. Garry Roberts died in 2022. The band's fame and notability have been overshadowed by the charity work of frontman Bob Geldof, a former journalist with the New Musical Express.
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"Do They Know It's Christmas?" is a charity song written in 1984 by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise money for the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. It was first recorded by Band Aid, a supergroup assembled by Geldof and Ure consisting of popular British and Irish musical acts. It was recorded in a single day at Sarm West Studios in Notting Hill, London, in November 1984.
David Hepworth is a British music journalist, writer, television presenter, and publishing industry analyst. He was instrumental in the foundation of a number of popular magazines in the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. Along with the journalist, editor and broadcaster Mark Ellen, he turned the pop magazine Smash Hits into one of the most popular UK music magazines of the 1980s. A presenter of The Old Grey Whistle Test in the 1980s, he co-presented the BBC broadcast of Live Aid in 1985.
Pink Floyd The Wall is a 1982 British live action/adult animated surrealist musical drama film directed by Alan Parker, based on Pink Floyd's 1979 album The Wall. The screenplay was written by Pink Floyd vocalist and bassist Roger Waters. The Boomtown Rats vocalist Bob Geldof made his film debut as rock star Pink, who, driven to neurosis by the pressures of stardom and traumatic events in his life, constructs an emotional and mental wall to protect himself. However, this coping mechanism eventually backfires, and Pink demands to be set free.
Live 8 was a string of benefit concerts that took place on 2 July 2005, in the G8 states and in South Africa. They were timed to precede the G8 conference and summit held at the Gleneagles Hotel in Auchterarder, Scotland, from 6–8 July 2005. Both events also coincided with the 20th anniversary of Live Aid. Run in support of the aims of the UK's Make Poverty History campaign and the Global Call to Action Against Poverty, ten simultaneous concerts were held on 2 July and one on 6 July. On 7 July, the G8 leaders pledged to double 2004 levels of aid to poor nations from US$25 billion to US$50 billion by 2010. Half of the money was to go to Africa. More than 1,000 musicians performed at the concerts, which were broadcast on 182 television networks and 2,000 radio networks.
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"I Don't Like Mondays" is a song by Irish new wave group the Boomtown Rats about the Cleveland Elementary School shooting in San Diego. It was released in 1979 as the lead single from their third album, The Fine Art of Surfacing. The song was a number-one single in the UK Singles Chart for four weeks during the summer of 1979, and ranks as the sixth-biggest hit of the UK in 1979. Written by Bob Geldof and Johnnie Fingers, the piano ballad was the band's second single to reach number one on the UK chart.
Oz for Africa was an Australian concert held on 13 July 1985 at the Sydney Entertainment Centre. It was organised by Bill Gordon who also organised the EAT Concert held at the Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne at the end of January 1985. That event was televised nationally on Channel Nine. Over $1million was raised in the accompanying telethon. Gordon organised for all proceeds to go to the Red Cross. During the 10 hour event live satellite hook ups between Melbourne, Los Angeles and London included interviews with Geldof and many of the stars of the hit songs "We Are the World" & "Feed the World". The Oz for Africa concert was broadcast locally and internationally as part of the worldwide Live Aid performances to raise money for famine relief in Africa. The concert featured 17 bands performing some of their best-known songs.
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