Bob Geldof hopes Live Aid musical inspires younger generation to take action

TORONTO — Bob Geldof doesn’t think Live Aid — or a global benefit concert of its size — could have the same impact today that it once did, but he hopes a new musical attached to his name might inspire younger people to take his lead in making a difference.

While in Toronto to plug “Just For One Day,” a jukebox musical that revolves around the legendary 1985 multi-city concert he helped organize, the Irish singer-songwriter said times are changing for star-studded benefit concerts.

“I don’t think, because of new technology, that it has the meaning it had before,” he said of Live Aid, the televised event that broadcasted on MuchMusic, MTV and an array of other channels nearly 40 years ago.

“But what I’m desperate for,” he added, “is that the next generation says: ‘I can do something like this.'”

Geldof said future ideas probably won’t look anything like the massive concert stacked with superstar names. Those days are gone, especially at a time when Taylor Swift, Harry Styles and other stars regularly tour and play at massive music festivals.

Instead, Geldof said he hopes younger generations imagine a more contemporary way to support humanitarian causes and unite people for a single purpose.

That’s where he hopes the musical comes into the mix. It plays at the Ed Mirvish Theatre from Jan. 28 to March 16, 2025.

“Just For One Day” draws on a fictionalized version of the story behind Live Aid, a cultural moment that unfolded on July 13, 1985, when Madonna, Queen, Elton John and other major acts performed to help raise funds and fight famine in Ethiopia.

Forty years later, the event continues to hold meaning for people alive at the time, but not necessarily those who weren’t, suggested the musical’s director Luke Sheppard.

“Growing up, my mum always talked about this as one of the very best days of her life,” said the creator, who previously worked on “& Juliet.”

He said his goal was to recapture some of that passion while making it relevant to a younger generation.

“Just For One Day” centres on a fictionalized Geldof and several subplots drawn from real-life stories the creators unearthed from people involved with the original Live Aid production.

Sheppard said the idea took shape across four or five workshop sessions with other artists. They sang Live Aid songs together, experimented with different scenes and “unpacked it through a contemporary lens.”

It was a “cross-pollination of two different perspectives,” he said.

“What you see today is this amazing friction between (the character of) Bob, who has this extraordinary knowledge of what it meant to be there … and a generation who are coming along today saying, ‘Hey, I know nothing about this music.'”

For its Toronto version, the creators say they’re working on a few ways to introduce Canadian elements.

One proposal they’re considering is a nod to “Tears Are Not Enough,” the 1985 song co-written by David Foster and Bryan Adams around the time of Live Aid to raise more money for famine relief. The studio version was recorded by a supergroup of Canadian musicians, including Gordon Lightfoot, Anne Murray, Corey Hart and Geddy Lee.

Geldof seemed less interested in putting that song into the show, noting that he suggested Neil Young’s “Only Love Can Break Your Heart” instead.

And while he and the director often disagree, they emphasized that in their differences they’ve found a common purpose in making the world remember the power of holding court with a global audience.

“(The musical) tells you that you can do this stuff,” Geldof said.

“It doesn’t have to be pop. (But with collective effort) the needle moves, the globe tips a tiny little fraction on its axis.”

Adds Sheppard of keeping Live Aid in the conversation: “If you don’t talk about it, then how is a new generation meant to learn and move forward?

“We might not do it in the same way, but it is about learning how to do something.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 27, 2024.

David Friend, The Canadian Press