Rats come across Irish Sea and invade Ribchester

Everybody screamed and roared for more
Lodestar Angels shouting "Encore"
Time was the enemy, we had to kill it dead
The clock kept creeping round so we went to bed instead.
Neon Heart

Back in 1977, the Boomtown Rats played their first ever U.K. gig at the Lodestar at Ribchester.

Apparently Geldof, and presumably the rest of the band, stayed at the Victoria Hotel in Clitheroe and charmed the locals in his inimatible manner!

www.oldclitheroe.co.uk/page49.htm

A very little known fact about the Vic is probably the most famous person to stay the night there is no other than 'Sir' Bob Geldof. From the stage 'Sir' Bob gave Clitheroe a right slagging calling it 'a right shithole'.

The First UK Gig?

10 Great Newport Street, London

Having just been signed to their first major recording contract, Dublin's Boomtown Rats, lead by vocalist Bob Geldof, performed for a group of record company employees at Studio 51 in London.

This is where the Ken Coyler Jazz Club (also called Studio 51) used to be - a jazz club that turned R&B and rock & roll through the sixties. The Rolling Stones were regulars at the basement club, and it's where Lennon & McCartney spotted the Stones manager walking outside and asked him for an introduction.

They there and then offered the Stones I Wanna Be Your Man, and it became their first British hit.