The breathless tagline invites us to “relive the day when music brought the world together” and the production’s tone seems set. Taking us behind the scenes of the benefit concert, Live Aid, staged in 1985 and viewed by 1.5 billion people, its tornado of sound is certainly stadium quality. An ensemble of singers pound out 80s classics with vigour. The band is belting. But where is the story, surprise, character study and ethical debate on such celebrity endorsed acts of “charidy”? We may as well be listening to the compilation tape, Now That’s What I Call Music 1985 – or Heart FM on full blast.
Directed by Luke Sheppard, a framing device contrives to secure cross-generational bums on seats, it seems. Eighties kid Suzanne (played by Hope Kenna and Jackie Clune), takes a stroll down memory lane alongside Gen Z’er, Jemma (Naomi Katiyo) who is curious to know the concert’s contemporary relevance. Cue homily upon cliche in John O’Farrell’s book, in which short, trite, snatches of dialogue lead to the next booming number.
