Sunday, November 29, 2009

Year of the Rat Tour 2009

Wednesday 2nd December 2009 Cleethorps Beachcomber with local support
Thursday 3rd December 2009 Homfirth Picture Dome with local support
Friday 4th December 2009 DNE Club Wakefield with special guests China Crisis

Saturday 5th December 2009 The Mick Jagger Centre, Dartford. with special guests Eddie and the Hot Rods
Sunday 6th December 2009 Whithaven Civic Hall, with special guest, Dave Sharp from The Alarm
Wednesday 9th December 2009 Key Street, Clitheroe. with special guest, Dave Sharp from The Alarm
Tuesday 8th Thursday 10th December 2009 The New Tavern, Wigan, with special guest, Dave Sharp from The Alarm
Thursday 10th December 2009 Rock City, Nottingham. with special guests China Crisis
Friday 11th December 2009 Victoria Hotel, Largs
Saturday 12th December 2009 The Roadhouse Birmingham, with special guest, Dave Sharp from The Alarm
Sunday 13th December 2009 Ropetackle Centre. Shoreham with special guest, Dave Sharp from The Alarm
Wednesday 16th December 2009 Norwich Waterfront as special guests of The Blockheads also featuring Dave Sharp from The Alarm
Thursday 17th December 2009 Electric Ballroom, London as special guests of The Blockheads and Eddie and The Hot Rods
Friday 18th December 2009 TJ's Newport with local support
Saturday 19th December 2009 The Lights. Andover with special guest, Dave Sharp from The Alarm
Saturday 19th December 2009 Pigs Nose Inn, East Prawl. Devon with local support
Sunday 20th December 2009 Mr Kyps. Poole, with special guest, Dave Sharp from The Alarm
Monday 21st December 2009 The Tunnels, Bristol as special guests of The Blockheads also featuring Dave Sharp from The Alarm
Tuesday 22nd December 2009 Oran Mor, Glasgow. Scotland. With Special Guests Eddie and The Hot Rods
Wednesday 23rd December 2009 Move Music Venue, Galashiels. Scotland. With Special Guests Eddie and The Hot Rods Sham 69



Summer Tour 2008

Saturday 26th July 2008- Pigs Nose Inn, East Prawl, Devon
Monday 4th August 2008 - Key Street Music Bar, Clitheroe
Wednesday 6th August 2008- The Robin, Bilston, Wolverhampton, WV14 7LJ
Thursday 7th August 2008 (+ THE VIBRATORS) 100 Club, 100 Oxford Street, London W1
Friday 8th August 2008- Rebellion Festival, Empress Ballroom, The Winter Gardens, Church Street, Blackpool. On stage 10.20pm
Saturday 9th August 2008- The M Club, Crewe. POSTPONED to Friday 23rd January
Saturday 15th November 2008 Charter Hall, Market Street, Okehampton. with special guest Andy Watts from The Seahorses
Wednesday 17th December 2008 Swansea Sin City with Eddie and The Hot Rods RESCHEDULED to 3rd February 2008

January 2009

Thursday 15th Key Street, Clitheroe TBC
Friday 16th
The Cluney Newcastle with special guest Andy Watts from The Seahorses

Saturday 17th Theatre Royal Wakefield with special guest Blackheart Andy Watts from The Seahorses
Wednesday 21st
Leeds Irish Centre with special guest Andy Watts from The Seahorses

Thursday 22nd Corn Exchange, Bedford. with special guest Andy Watts from The Seahorses
Friday 23rd M Club Crewe with special guest Andy Watts from The Seahorses
Saturday 24th
Corn Exchange, Newbury. with special guest Andy Watts from The Seahorses

Sunday 25th Rock n Blues Festival, Skegness with Eddie and The Hot Rods, Dr Feelgood, Wilko Johnson,The Hamsters etc

Strictly speaking the year of the Rat ended on 25th January 2009


Monday 26th Exmouth Pavillion with special guest Andy Watts from The Seahorses
Tuesday 27th The Musician, Leicester with special guest Andy Watts from The Seahorses
Wednesday 28th
The Arts Complex, Solihull with special guest Andy Watts from The Seahorses.
Thursday 29th The Playhouse Alnwick with special guest Andy Watts from The Seahorses
Friday 30th The Buccleuch Centre, Langholm, with special guest Andy Watts from The Seahorses
Saturday 31st The Platform Morcambe with special guest Andy Watts from The Seahorses

February 2009

Sunday 1st Martletts Hall, Burgess Hill. with special guest Dave Sharp from The Alarm
Tuesday 3rd Swansea Sin City with Eddie and The Hot Rods
Wednesday 4th Huntingdon Hall Worcester with special guest Dave Sharp from The Alarm
Thursday 5th
The Castle Wellinborough with special guest Dave Sharp from The Alarm

Tuesday 10th
Baby Blue Club, The Albert Dock, Liverpool with special guest Dave Sharp from The Alarm
Thursday 12th
Ashcroft Theatre, Croydon with special guest Dave Sharp from The Alarm.

Friday 13th The Brook Southampton with special guest Dave Sharp from The Alarm
Saturday 14th The Playhouse, Harlow with special guest Dave Sharp from The Alarm
Sunday 15th The Robin Bilston with special guest Dave Sharp from The Alarm


Friday 17th April 2009 SPIRIT OF 77 FESTIVAL West Coast Bar, King Street, Margate. £13.50 http://www.westcoastlive.co.uk/
Saturday 18th April 2009 Hailsham Pavilion with support
Thursday 23rd
April 2009 Rothes Hall, Glenrothes. Fife. Scotland with support tba

Friday 24th April 2009 Motor Cycle News (MCN) Festival. Skegness
Saturday 25th April 2009 Didcot Arts Centre
Monday 25th May 2009
Darwen Town Festival (Free Festival)
Saturday 13th June 2009 South Shields Ampitheatre (Free Festival)



Saturday 27th June 2009 PARTY ON THE FARM - Edolphs Farm, Charlwood. Surrey RH6 0EB http://www.theratsatedolphs.co.uk/ £20

Tuesday 4th August 2009 Ypres Town Festival. Belgium



Boomtown Rats @ Ieper


Boomtown Rats @ Ieper



Wednesday 30th September 2009 Monte Carlo, Monaco Le Moods with special guests The Damned From The Jam
Thursday 1st October 2009 Paris with special guests The Damned From The Jam

8 comments:

Neasan said...

London too:
http://www.stargreen.com/artist/?THE_BOOMTOWN_RATS_

Anonymous said...

they cancel more gigs than Geldof does how many more will go.They sold over 220 tickets at Bedford which is nearly half the venue so its nothing to do with sales.It's more than likely greed by their agent as Bedford only do % deals of the door, they should get a new one.You critised Gldof about cancelling shows why are you not up in arms over this as well?.I've read your comments on both of those forums it's very clear your biased towards the Rats which is yor choice but you open yourself up for critism by not reacting the same way you hve with Geldof play the game fairly.

ArrGee said...

They haven't cancelled as many gigs as Geldof (yet).

I don't know the details of how many tickets were sold for Bedford, but if it is 220 then they should have played. However, from what I understand there were far fewer tickets sold.

I did criticise Geldof for cancelling shows, but if you check the forum post Cancelled Concerts , I would suggest my initial tone was very moderate. I was provoked to a more extreme reaction by having these posts removed see Why have all the cancelled concerts threads gone? .

As for the cancellations, I have marked all the cancellations on this blog and also in the forum. I'm not hiding anything.

I will confess to a bias towards The Rats rather than Geldof at present, but I would not agree that I have reacted differently. The situation with Geldof developed over time, and should the Rats continue to cancel then I probably would be more up in arms.

It is hard to criticise them on the cancellations as they set up this tour without any real knowledge of how much interest there would be, and given that they played Wakefield to a very small crowd, I don't think they cancelled the other gigs on a whim.

Much of the criticism of Geldof centred on
i) high ticket prices [not an issue with The Rats]
ii) Large Venues [maybe The Rats overstretched themselves here, but the venues were still moderate in comparison to Geldof]
iii) the attitude of his management [Again the Rats could be more open about why the concerts were cancelled on the listings, but last year they did give an explanation of what happened with the cancelled Crewe gig, which is due to take place tomorrow]

I don't believe I should react in the same way as the circumstances are different, but accept your comments are a perfectly valid viewpoint.

"Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative" :-) Oscar Wilde (though I do believe Geldof used this quote in a debate once upon a time)

Anonymous said...

fair enough i like costructive answers and you put some valid points.It is a fact 220 tickets were sold for Bedford and that could be seen on ther website with their seating plan showing sold and usold seats.Taking you point of not knowing the exact reason for cancellations can be frustating but why would any management give anyone a reason. They would only do that if it was them that cancelled if no reason was given by them it is then quite obvious it was at the venue end, so why would the artist or management be held resposible?.Years ago i worked in the business at the bottom end and gigs were pulled by venues if 1, they hadn't sold enough seats to make it pay(rare but did happen) 2.It was in their interest to pay an artist a cancelation fee than a full fee(usually 50%) as they lost less money
Most venues don't pull gigs outside promotors do or a classic is a promotor pleads poverty and trys to get the artist to do the gig for less at the last minute forcing the artist to cancel(hapened on at least 3 occasions in the venue i worked at).
Ticket prices are decided by the promotor not the artist he doesn't have a say in it usually unless he or management has privately booked the theatre.Standard theatre practice is a graded pricing system of £20,£18 then £15(it was a few years back) if an artist booked it then they had adhere to their pricing.Outside promotors did their own pricing so you really shoud aim your critism in that direction not the artist.I hope to contnue this debate further.

ArrGee said...

I did check their website yesterday and every seat bar two seats on the three levels (stalls/tiered/circle) had gone.

But the day before according to another forum member there were plenty of seats. I don't know how many tickets were sold, but I suspect it wasn't over 200.

Given that Peter Barton himself arranges these concerts through RAM; The Rats, unusually, are the promoter, agent, management and artist.

The nature of the venues that have been booked suggest to me that low ticket sales were the reason for the cancellations.

I would be quite happy to continue the debate, but would suggest that the forums (either http://www.activeboard.com/forum.spark?forumID=48603 OR www.boomtownrats.co.uk) rather than this blog would be a more appropriate place. Might even engage a few others in the debate.

Anonymous said...

A phone call to Bedford actually clears up a point,in fact only 20 were sold and their seating plan was incorrect.Very poor then really and the agent/nmanager clearly to blame if they booked it. The name Peter Barton does ring a bell he was always putting togther 60's bands that had 1 or maybe 2 ex members still around seas now he must of moved onto 70's bands.
I see another cancelled tonight this definatly puts them ahead of Geldof in cancellations,i remember Geldof being booked into play Barnstable a while back that was cancelled it turned out his proper agent hadn't even heard of the venue and an ex promotor had booked it without ever asking apparntly the same one who booked him into somewhere in London and Dartford.
Based on you reply that of nature of venues then Geldof has exactly the same right to cancel(if indeed it was him) due to low ticket sales just as much as the Rats do so your argument of different circumstances doesn't stand up they are the same ircumstances just different size venues/places.I still firmly believe that he hasn't actually cancelled most of his shows and that it is more than likely the venu/promotor side that has.
You are not the only one on your forums who critise without full knowledge and some a far more hypocritical than youself.I'm very surprised at 1 or 2 who were extremely vindictive towards the cancelled Geldof shows how they have not jumped up and down at the Rats cancellations.I think there was 1 of them who went to Italy when he cancelled who was then bought a flight ticket back out there to a special show still turned round and knocked him that person is unreal and ungrateful.

ArrGee said...

There are a number of concerts that Geldof has had cancelled/postponed over a number of years. There are a number that Geldof had not commited to and there is no criticism of him for cancelling those.

If you read the posts on cancelled concerts in the forum I believe that a lot of the points you have made have been made, a lot by me. I also believe many of the posts were constructive. Only when Geldof's management started to censor the comments did people start to vent as they believed they were hiding something.

Also with regard to those who were upset by the Geldof cancellations, there are a number of people who didn't really like the Boomtown Rats, yet do like Geldof's solo work. Also there are some Boomtown Rats fans who don't really consider this incarnation a proper reunion so would probably be quite pleased with the outcome.

I think it's a shame that both Geldof and the Rats have a hard time selling tickets as they both put on very good live shows, and I would see either act if they played in London or Dublin (where I increasingly am spending my time). Obviously I'd like Geldof to play less solo material, but I don't hold it against him that he does play his solo work.

ArrGee said...

Saturday 13th June 2009 Southshields Ampitheatre (Free Festival) with special guest, Dave Sharp from The Alarm
Saturday 27th June 2009 Edolphs Farm, Charlwood. Surrey
Tuesday 4th August 2009 Ypres Town Festival. Belgium

Wednesday 30th September 2009 Monte Carlo, Monaco Le Moods with special guests The Damned
Thursday 1st October Paris with special guests The Damned


Wednesday 2nd December 2009 Cleethorps Beachcomber with local support

Thursday 3rd December 2009 Homfirth Picture Dome with local support

Friday 4th December 2009 DNE Club Wakefield with special guests China Crisis

Saturday 5th December 2009 The Mick Jagger Centre, Dartford. with special guests Eddie and the Hot Rods

Tuesday 8th December 2009 The New Tavern, Wigan, with special guest, Dave Sharp from The Alarm
Thursday 17th Brighton Concorde with special guest UK Subs tba

Saturday 19th December 2009 The Lights. Andover