Red Bus Londinium Life

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Just For One Day transferring from the Old Vic and now playing at the Shaftesbury Theatre revisits the seminal Live Aid fundraising concert of 1985 as it approaches its 40th anniversary. It is a lively, loud look at Bob Geldof and the Live Aid concerts that boasts thrilling music and manages to avoid hagiography. (As Craige Els says in his reprisal of the Bob Geldof role, “I’m no f-ing hero.“)

In 1984, shocking famine footage from Ethiopia propelled Geldof into action, leading to first a Christmas single and then the two-continent concert, Live Aid, chock full of star singers and watched by around 1.5 billion viewers across approximately 100 countries. Thrown together in weeks and held together by a mixture of hope, faith, fibs and a generous helping of the F-word, the concert was produced at the very limits of the then current technology.

In 1985, the album and concert brought a heady euphoria that music could “unite the world” and a naïve belief that famine issues could be solved by single charity efforts from the West. With the passage of time, the idea of solving problems simply by sending money, alongside some of the lyrics of Geldof’s Christmas song (Would anyone now write, “Tonight thank God it’s them, instead of you”?) seem impossibly problematic and imperialistic.

It is to the show’s credit that it tries to explore these issues though these efforts are at times a little clumsy. Rhianne-Louise McCaulsky, playing her role on the ground in Ethiopia, powerfully and eloquently cuts down some of Geldof’s more idealistic solutions. She explains the food he has sent is sitting useless in warehouses as cartels prevent its distribution or inflate its prices.

Mother /daughter pair (Melissa Jacques and Fayth Ifil) are given a rather more implausible script to deal with – as Jacques tries to tutor Ifil on the history of Live Aid ahead of her heading off to university. (Trust me – as a parent of two university students – you would never be sending them off with any of your treasured possesions and the eve of Freshers week is not the time for a deep family chat).

American historian Barbara Tuchman once said, “Nothing is more unfair than to judge the men of the past by the ideas of the present”. After providing a somewhat critical lens, the musical makes clear, and I believe rightly so, that what was achieved by Geldof and his team was ground-breaking and came from an authentically heartfelt desire to help. It seems clear that a different approach would be taken if they were to start their efforts now. It is worth recognising that the Band Aid Charitable Trust still exists with the same six unpaid trustees it has had for forty years. The concert may have passed but their engagement and support for poverty issues in Ethiopia and the surrounding areas has remained. This new play itself has raised nearly £1 million pounds.

The music, perhaps unsurprisingly, is a strength of the show and it is a wise choice to not try and play the songs as cover versions but rework them into different formats – many as ensemble numbers which drive the story along. The cast and band (led by Patrick Hurley) were uniformly strong and choreographer Ebony Molina has woven magic to help some well trodden pieces feel exciting and new.

Lighting design (Howard Hudson) brings the exciting glare of concert lights, the tremendous poignancy of a single spot on Geldof as he talked after he’d visited an Ethiopian hospital tent and the rich orange hues of the African desert. The weaving in of original Wembley footage, newspapers and TV shows into the video projection (Andrezj Goulding) helps to firmly set the action in the 80s.

A highlight at the Old Vic was the rap battle composed by Bob Geldof and performed by the stage Geldof (Craige Els) and Margaret Thatcher (Julie Atherton). With Els and Atherton reprising their roles at the Shaftesbury, it is a treat all over again.

Overall, I found this to be a thoughtful and immensely enjoyable tribute to the passionate 1985 vision of using music as a force in the fight against famine.

[Thank you to London Box Office who provided gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review. You can buy tickets through them for Just For One Day here.]