Speaking earlier this year, The Who’s guitarist Pete Townshend suggested that their performance at Live Aid in 1985 may not have been their best.
“Our timing was terrible,” he told Rolling Stone. “When we did Live Aid, we could barely fuckin’ play.”
Which is perhaps why, 40 years on, Townshend now says that he prefers Just For One Day - The Live Aid Musical to the gig that it’s based on.
His comments come as a new version of The Who’s classic Pinball Wizard is released as the latest single from the show’s soundtrack. But this is sung not by an actor playing Roger Daltrey, the band’s frontman, but Joel Montague, who takes the role of legendary music industry figure and Live Aid co-creator Harvey Goldsmith.
“I love the show - I love the show more than I did the gig,” says Townshend. “I went to the opening and was surprised by the version of My Generation. But not as big as the surprise that I got when Pinball Wizard was the song that they attributed to Harvey Goldsmith!”
Of his part in the show being built up to include a song, Goldsmith said: “It’s an honour to see my character sing a classic track by Pete Townshend, one of rock’s great songwriters - and there’s no harm in musical geniuses getting a shock every once in a while!”
Just For One Day doesn’t attempt to recreate the events of 13 July 1985 specifically, but uses music associated with Live Aid to tell the story of how the gig came together. It’s currently playing at London’s Shaftesbury Theatre, and will mark the 40th anniversary of Live Aid on 13 July 2025 with a special gala performance and afterparty at KOKO, Camden.
Just For One Day - The Live Aid Musical (Original Cast Recording) is out on July 11, and features songs by artists including Queen, David Bowie, Ultravox, Boomtown Rats, U2, Elton John, The Police, The Who, Madonna, Phil Collins and Bob Dylan.
10% of all ticket sales for Just For One Day - The Live Aid Musical will go directly to the Band Aid Charitable Trust.
