Created with the support of Bob Geldof and the Band Aid Charitable Trust, a new album from the cast of Live Aid musical Just For One Day will seek to evoke the spirit of the legendary 1985 charity concerts.
The announcement of Just For One Day - The Live Aid Musical (Original Cast Recording) today (May 1) comes ahead of the musical’s West End opening later this month at London's Shaftesbury Theatre. Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, the co-writers of 1984 Band Aid single Do They Know It's Christmas?, and co-creators of the Live Aid concerts in the UK and US, attended the album at Wembley Stadium, and shared their memories of the iconic July 13, 1985 concert at the original stadium.
“We created a monster,” Midge Ure stated. “And it had to happen.”
Speaking about the forthcoming album, which aims to capture "the passion, power, and urgency that made the 1985 response to the famine in Ethiopia a turning point in music history" and features new recordings of classic anthems from artists who performed at Live Aid, Queen, David Bowie, U2, Elton John, The Police, The Who, Ure's Ultravox and Geldof's Boomtown Rats, producer Jon Bath says, "As a bonafide kid of the ‘80s the chance to make an album that celebrates that extraordinary era of popular music, defined by one Saturday in July 1985 has been a ‘kid in a candy shop’ moment as a producer.
"I hope we’ve done justice to every one of these iconic songs and can’t wait for listeners to have the chance to enjoy extraordinary performances by the cast and band of Just For One Day. In Bob’s emphatic words: ‘It better not be shit.’ I firmly believe we’ve lived up to the challenge!”
The tracklist for the album is:
1. Overture
2. Heroes
3. Rat Trap (featuring Craige Els)
4. Drive (featuring Abiona Omonua)
5. Dancing With Tears In My Eyes (featuring Jack Shalloo)
6. Do They Know It’s Christmas? (Feed The World)
7. Radio Ga Ga
8. Stop Your Sobbing (featuring Julie Atherton)
9. We Are The Champions (featuring Collette Guitart & Jo Foster)
10. We Are The World
11. You’re The Best Thing (featuring Emily Ooi)
12. I’m Still Standing (featuring Craige Els & Julie Atherton)
13. Bad
14. Message In A Bottle
15. Pinball Wizard (featuring Joel Montague)
16. Dancing In The Streets (featuring Danielle Steers & Ashley Campbell)
17. Summer of ’69 (featuring Collette Guitart)
18. Blowing In The Wind
19. Reach Out And Touch (Somebody’s Hand) (featuring Julie Atherton)
20. In The Air Tonight / We Can’t We Live Together (featuring James Hameed, Danielle Steers & Ashley Campbell)
21. We Will Rock You / King Of Rock (featuring Olly Dobson & Tamara Taye) 22. Rockin’ All Over The World (featuring Olly Dobson)
23. Vienna (featuring Jack Shalloo)
24. I Don’t Like Mondays (featuring Craige Els)
25. All You Need Is Love (featuring Jason Battersby)
26. Against All Odds (Take A Look At Me Now) (featuring Joel Montague)
27. Rebel Rebel / Don’t You (Forget About Me) / Into The Grove (featuring Jo Foster, Rhys Wilkinson and Tamara Taye)
28. Bohemian Rhapsody (featuring Freddie Love)
29. My Generation (featuring Naomi Katiyo)
30. Let It Be
Just For One Day - The Live Aid Musical (Original Cast Recording) will be released on July 11, and can be pre-ordered now.
At the album launch, Bob Geldof admitted that a concert similar to Live Aid would be almost impossible to pull off in 2025.
“The problem is, do people have the bandwidth?” he asked. “They’re so exhausted with the horror of Gaza and the terror of Ukraine and the American political situation that it’s hard to draw attention to those who through no fault of their own are dying right now.”
Just For One Day: The Live Aid Musical will open at London's Shaftesbury Theatre on May 15.
