Bob Geldof was left 'mortified' when he read the script for the Live Aid musical
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 .
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Perth Now
2 days ago
- Perth Now
Bob Geoldof praises Paula Yates for key role in Live Aid
Bob Geldof has praised his late ex-wife Paula Yates for being instrumental in Live Aid. The Boomtown Rats frontman assembled a host of famous performers at the time for 1984's Band Aid charity single Do They Know It's Christmas?, which then led to the huge global concert series the following summer, but he admitted he wouldn't have been able to bring the line-up together without the help of his then-partner, who was co-host of music show The Tube. Speaking in upcoming documentary Live Aid At 40: When Rock 'n' Roll Took On The World, Bob said: 'All I had the power to do was write tunes. But the Boomtown Rats were not guaranteed to have hits any more. All these new guys had come along with beautiful suits and coiffed hair. 'And I understood this new thing because my wife had befriended all these people on the show that she was host of, The Tube. 'So I called Paula and I asked who was on the show that night and she said, 'Ultravox'. I said, 'Put Midge Ure on' and he just said, 'What do you want to do?'.' And even setting up an initiative to ease Ethiopian famine was the brainchild of Paula when she and Bob were watching an infamous news report on the situation with their daughter Fifi, who was two at the time. Bob, now 73, said: "My partner Paula couldn't stand watching it, she didn't want our child to watch it. She clearly associated what she was seeing with our child. She just grabbed her and went upstairs, but I stayed, transfixed. 'I came down the next morning and there was a green bowl on the table in the kitchen, and Paula had put a note in there saying, 'Anyone who comes to this house must put a pound or five pounds into this bowl'. I thought, 'That's not adequate'.' Several of the musicians who took part in Band Aid praised Paula' - who died in 2000 aged 41 - for her calming presence during recording. U2's Bono said: 'There was a lot of male egos in the room, not enough women.' Gary Kemp noted: 'Paula Yates was really the lovely glue, carrying her child around, Fifi, and their dog, Growler. They're a great family.' And Midge added: 'Everybody knew Paula, we all knew Bob through Paula. 'She was funny and witty and highly intelligent, and she kept everyone entertained, walking around chatting to them.' Live Aid At 40: When Rock 'n' Roll Took On The World airs on BBC Two next week.
Perth Now
2 days ago
- Perth Now
Sir Brian May doesn't believe claims that Queen bandmate Freddie Mercury had a secret lovechild
Sir Brian May doesn't believe that his Queen bandmate Freddie Mercury has a secret daughter. A new biography has sensationally claimed that the late music icon fathered a child following an affair with a close friend's wife in 1976 - with the revelation being kept a closely guarded secret amongst his inner circle - but Brian's wife Anita Dobson has revealed that the guitarist is unconvinced about the revelation. Recalling when she heard about the claims, Anita told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "I went, 'What?'. I thought, 'No?'. I said to Brian, 'Do you know about this?'. He said, 'Do you believe this?'. The former EastEnders actress thinks that Freddie - who passed away in 1991 from AIDS complications - was too big a star for the secret to be kept under wraps for so long. Anita, 76, said: "He's iconic. It seems inconceivable he would have a child with someone we don't know about. Where is she - step forward. If she exists." Biographer Lesley-Ann Jones, who has penned the book Love, Freddie, insists that she has DNA proof that the 48-year-old woman is the child of the Bohemian Rhapsody singer and claims that she has always known the identity of her famous father - even handing over 17 of his journals that were used in the writing of the biography. The book - which will be released in September - features a handwritten letter from the woman, known only as B. She wrote: "Freddie Mercury was and is my father. We had a very close and loving relationship from the moment I was born and throughout the final 15 years of his life. Those who have been aware of my existence kept his greatest secret out of loyalty." Jones has hit back at those doubting the biography's claims and insists that the necessary research was conducted before publication. The writer said: "To those 'demanding' to see proof of a DNA test, rest assured the requisite verification was obtained, legal teams have been involved." She added: "To those insisting Freddie's diaries were faked with AI, that his daughter 'doesn't exist': wait and see." Jones explained that her "instinct was to doubt everything" when she was first contacted by Freddie's daughter - who lives in Europe and works as a medical professional - but is certain that the woman is telling the truth. She told the Daily Mail newspaper: "My instinct was to doubt everything, but I am absolutely sure she is not a fantasist."
Sydney Morning Herald
2 days ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Australian collector buys Princess Diana's ‘caring dress' for $520,000
An Australian collector of Princess Diana memorabilia has purchased the iconic 'caring dress' at auction for US$520,000 (approximately AU$794,000), 37 years after the purchaser met the princess wearing the dress. Renae Plant – who manages an archive of 2700 Diana pieces as well as the virtual Princess Diana Museum – fell to the floor crying after placing the final US$400,000 bid (plus US$120,000 in fees) for the Bellville Sassoon dress designed for then-prince Charles and Diana's 1988 tour of Australia to mark the bicentenary. The floral day dress was expected to sell for between US$200,000 and US$300,000 according to pre-auction documents. It received its nickname after Diana wore it repeatedly to visit hospitals across the world, including in Nigeria, Brazil and Spain, says designer David Sassoon. On the website for The Princess Diana Museum, Plant says she met the royal couple as a teenager during their 1983 and 1988 tours, and shook hands with the princess while she was wearing the dress at St Andrew's Cathedral in Sydney. 'When Diana saw me she reached up over the crowd and shook my hand!! As you can imagine, that was a dream come true, and definitely the beginning of a long journey … a lifelong passion for the Princess,' Plant wrote. 'Over the years, people have asked why Diana is so important to me. Here's why: Diana stood for change … She was the first royal to remove her gloves and shake the public's hands. That was huge. She brought much-needed attention and sympathy to the AIDS crisis, helping to diminish the fear and stigma associated with the disease … I can think of no one who has the same positive effect on the world that Diana did during the short time she was alive.' Plant also operates the Princess and the Platypus Foundation – named after a ceramic platypus she says Diana dropped in 1983, which Plant still has today – a charity that raises money to acquire and maintain pieces for the museum, and donate to charities in Diana's honour. Earlier in June, the museum's Instagram page posted a fundraising callout to raise money for the dress.
