Thursday 31st October 2013 - 02 Academy, Leeds, UK

Early start in Leeds due to a 10pm curfew.  Whatever happened to my rock 'n' roll?

They played.


Eva Braun
Like Clockwork
Neon Heart
She's Gonna Do You In
Someone's Looking
Joey's On The Street Again
Banana Republic
I Don't Like Mondays
She's So Modern
Close As You'll Ever Be
When The Night Comes
Mary of the Fourth Form
Looking After Number One
Rat Trap



Encore


Never Bite The Hand That Feeds
Diamond Smiles
The Boomtown Rats

Support : Patrik Fitzgerald

Tuesday 29th October 2013 - Rock City, Nottingham, UK

Very little to add to this, nothing too unexpected in the set, but a wild and enthusiastic audience and a great review in the Nottingham Post

Reunion tours are always risky propositions, but as this unexpectedly thrilling show demonstrated, The Boomtown Rats have absolutely made the right call.

They played.

• Eva Braun
• Like Clockwork
• Neon Heart
• She's Gonna Do You In 
• Someone's Looking 
• Joey's On The Street Again 
• Banana Republic 
• I Don't Like Mondays 
• She's So Modern
• Close As You'll Ever Be 
• When The Night Comes 
• Mary of the Fourth Form 
• Looking After Number One
• Rat Trap

Encore

• Never Bite The Hand That Feeds
• Diamond Smiles 
• The Boomtown Rats

Support: Patrik Fitzgerald

Monday 28th October 2013 - 02 Academy, Bristol, UK

Another big crowd and another little surprise.  In tribute to the late Lou Reed they played White Light/White Heat.  Also a welcome return of Never Bite The Hand That Feeds to the set.

Bristol Post ..we Bristolians were treated to a superb live show, which included a cover of White Heat/White Light in tribute to the late, great Lou Reed.   You could question the motives for coming out on tour after all this time, but why bother? For those who turned out it felt good, really good. And that is the point, right?

They played.

• Eva Braun
• Like Clockwork
• Neon Heart
• She's Gonna Do You In 
• Someone's Looking 
• Joey's On The Street Again 
• Banana Republic 
• She's So Modern 
• I Don't Like Mondays 
• Close As You'll Ever Be 
• When The Night Comes 
• Mary of the Fourth Form 
• Looking After Number One
• Rat Trap

Encore

• White Light/White Heat
• Never Bite The Hand That Feeds
• Diamond Smiles 
• The Boomtown Rats

Support: Patrik Fitzgerald

Saturday 26th October 2013 - The Roundhouse, London, UK

Another superb show from the Rats.   A very busy Roundhouse, so much so that instead of my usual position about three from the front, there were up to twenty people of so in front.  Still close enough to see everything but with the added improvement of sound and a better overall view of the stage. Plenty of profanity for Geldof and a interesting tale about his fuck off snake skin suit.  Buy the CD if you want to hear it all.

Rat Trap was enhanced with the saxophone hitherto unheard on the UK leg of the tour, I'm not sure what happened in Ireland.  Gerry Cott came onstage for the final two songs of the set (Lookin' After No 1 and Rat Trap).

They played.

• Eva Braun
• Like Clockwork
• Neon Heart
• She's Gonna Do You In 
• Someone's Looking 
• Joey's On The Street Again 
• Banana Republic 
• She's So Modern 
• I Don't Like Mondays 
• Close As You'll Ever Be 
• When The Night Comes 
• Mary of the Fourth Form 
• Looking After Number One
• Rat Trap

Encore

• Having My Picture Taken
• Diamond Smiles 
• The Boomtown Rats

Support: Patrik Fitzgerald

Friday 25th October 2013 - University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK

As I wasn't there and there aren't any reviews yet, a simple set list for now.

They played.

• Eva Braun
• Like Clockwork
• Neon Heart
• She's Gonna Do You In 
• Someone's Looking 
• Joey's On The Street Again 
• Banana Republic 
• She's So Modern 
• I Don't Like Mondays 
• Close As You'll Ever Be 
• When The Night Comes 
• Mary of the Fourth Form 
• Looking After Number One
• Rat Trap

Encore

• Having My Picture Taken
• Diamond Smiles 
• The Boomtown Rats

Support: Patrik Fitzgerald

Wednesday 23rd October 2013 - Corn Exchange, Cambridge, UK

Having missed my out on my trip to Dublin for numerous reasons, I headed up the M11 to Cambridge courtesy of National Express to see the Rats live.  The traffic was wild in Cambridge itself, making me half an hour later than expected.  So I  got my ticket from the box office, grabbed a pint at the bar and headed down the front to catch the end of Patrik Fitzgerald's support slot.  I can't really comment on his set, but from what I saw it was one man, a guitar and a sound box busking.

Anyway to the main event.  The Rats came onto the stage to the recording of the eponymous song and video, and then launched into Eva Braun.  From there on song after song followed with the audience in my section,  pretty much centre stage at the front, lapping it up.  Even in the distant balcony, there was a lot of clapping and cheering throughout the set, however it was pretty hard to see to far back on the flat floor of the Corn Exchange but each song was enthusiastically received so I suspect there were a lot of people behind me.  Less talk than expected between songs from Geldof, and they kept all the songs pretty tight, even with the Mary variation of incorporating Boom Boom and I Wanna Be Your Man.  An absolute barnstorming performance all the way through to the sax-less Rat Trap.

I was anticipating them returning to play Never Bite The Hand That Feeds, which I have never heard live before, but when they came back from the encore and Geldof told everyone to get their fucking cameras out, I knew it wasn't going to happen.   So the Rats rounded off the show with Having My Picture Taken, Diamond Smiles with a small break before closing with the eponymous song and Geldof with a towel over his head concluding a very energetic and engaging performance.

They played.

• Eva Braun
• Like Clockwork
• Neon Heart
• She's Gonna Do You In 
• Someone's Looking 
• Joey's On The Street Again 
• Banana Republic 
• She's So Modern 
• I Don't Like Mondays 
• Close As You'll Ever Be 
• When The Night Comes 
• Mary of the Fourth Form 
• Looking After Number One
• Rat Trap

Encore

• Having My Picture Taken
• Diamond Smiles 
• The Boomtown Rats

Support: Patrik Fitzgerald

Tuesday 22nd October 2013 - 02 Academy, Bournemouth. UK

First date on the mainland, same set as Belfast, but with the return of the video screen.

They played not necessarily in this order,,,

• Eva Braun
• Like Clockwork
• Neon Heart
• She's Gonna Do You In 
• Someone's Looking 
• Joey's On The Street Again 
• Banana Republic 
• I Don't Like Mondays
• She's So Modern 
• Close As You'll Ever Be 
• When The Night Comes 
• Mary of the Fourth Form 
• Looking After Number One
• Rat Trap

Encore

• Never Bite The Hand That Feeds
• Diamond Smiles 
• The Boomtown Rats

Support : Patrik Fitzgerald

Ratlife EP

Now available from all good (and not so good) download stores and also on Spotify.

Sadly, Back To Boomtown aside, it's a bit of a disappointment. The eponymous song is fine for when the band come on stage, but not particularly impressive on your stereo, whilst Ratlife evoke memories of Randy Crawford's Streetlife, which isn't a good thing, and Ratified, which sounds like a bad Oasis track, has lyrics where are possibly the lamest I have heard for a very long time.

Boomtown Ratified.

Lead me back to boomtown and I'll be ratified. 

Boomtown Ratified.

Oh dear!

For the record, Back To Boomtown  is slightly abridged mix of the album version and appears to be the same as the video mix.

	1. The Boomtown Rats	5:13
	2. Back To Boomtown (The Remix)	4:05
	3. Ratlife	4:47
	4. Ratified	4:12

Friday 18th October 2013 - Ulster Hall, Belfast, UK

Tonight, a slightly abridged set in Northern Ireland.

They played.

• Eva Braun
• Like Clockwork
• Neon Heart
• She's Gonna Do You In 
• Someone's Looking 
• Joey's On The Street Again 
• Banana Republic 
• She's So Modern 
• I Don't Like Mondays 
• Close As You'll Ever Be 
• When The Night Comes 
• Mary of the Fourth Form 
• Looking After Number One
• Rat Trap

Encore

• Never Bite The Hand That Feeds
• Diamond Smiles 
• The Boomtown Rats

Saturday 13th October 2013 - Vicar Street, Dublin, Eire

They played a familiar set list, but with one big surprise towards the end which was to play Never Bite The Hand That Feeds for the first time live.  Possibly ever.  Even Garry Roberts can't remember if they ever played it live before.  Now I regret not going.  Still always the hope it will get aired in Cambridge or London.
Next stop, Belfast. But first another great review.

Fortitude Magazine - Live Boomtown Rats Dublin

Owning the stage in a flamboyant, snakeskin suit, frontman and Irish legend, Bob Geldof ran the stage like he was back in 1975. Erupting straight into ‘Eva Braun’, quickly followed and topped by the upbeat, well-received ’Like Clockwork’, The Rats had a packed Vicar Street alive and screaming lyrics back at them

Wrapping up the night with ‘Rat Trap’ as a “finish”, the band brought a sax player on stage to join Bob, Simon, Pete and Garry, along with the two newbies. As if anyone believed they would leave it there, back they came for ‘Never Bite The Hand That Feeds’ and  ’Diamond Smiles’, which impressively still encaptured the same mass of energy which was present in the very first song.

Doubting that the fans had had enough excitement, they once again reappeared wanting even more, with a second encore, to really conclude their comeback with one mighty bang. Throwing themselves into what can only be described as a chanting, almost heavy cheerleading-like anthem, creatively entitled ‘The Boomtown Rats’, the show ended here. Show, singular- there will be more.

Quite clearly demonstrated on the Vicar Street stage, and according to the man, Bob Geldof himself- “The Boomtown Rats are back in town”

• Eva Braun
• Like Clockwork
• Neon Heart
• She's Gonna Do You In
• Someone's Looking
• Joey's On The Street Again
• Banana Republic
• Having My Picture Taken
• She's So Modern
• I Don't Like Mondays
• Close As You'll Ever Be
• When The Night Comes
• Me & Howard Hughes
• Mary of the Fourth Form
• Looking After Number One
• Rat Trap

Encore

• Never Bite The Hand That Feeds
• Diamond Smiles
• The Boomtown Rats

SUPPORT : The Mighty Stef

Saturday 12th October 2013 - Vicar Street, Dublin, Eire

Due to personal circumstances my seat on Ryanair was left vacant last night, so I have no idea how it went. And I won't be there tonight either.

Never mind my bollocks, here's a four star review from the Daily Telegraph

So it was all the more striking that, despite the songs inevitable dating, the performance itself never felt like an exercise in nostalgia. In recent interviews Geldof has asserted that he is as angry now as the day he stepped off the ferry from Dublin in 1976 and that chip-on-shoulder chutzpah blazed all evening. After all he has been through and achieved, Geldofs ability to tap the inchoate rage of his youth was remarkable.

They played a familiar set list, with no surprises..

• Eva Braun
• Like Clockwork
• Neon Heart
• She's Gonna Do You In
• Someone's Looking
• Joey's On The Street Again
• Banana Republic
• Having My Picture Taken
• She's So Modern
• I Don't Like Mondays
• Close As You'll Ever Be
• When The Night Comes
• Me & Howard Hughes
• Mary of the Fourth Form
• Looking After Number One
• Rat Trap

Encore

• Elephant's Graveyard
• Diamond Smiles
• The Boomtown Rats

SUPPORT : The Mighty Stef

Not just one new Rats CD - Ten!!!

After the new less than inspiring hits CD, there are some genuine treats in store coming this October.

First up, tonight's Vicar Street sell out date will be on CD available as soon as the gig finishes.

And the Roundhouse will also be recorded as well.

And if that's not enough, the six Rats albums are all getting another release, this time as a box set.

Only disappointment is that these are the remastered albums from 2005 rather than the originals, but the box does retail for less than £20, so a great deal if you don't have the albums already.

Back to Boomtown video

Here's the latest video from the band.  A good song as well!

Boomtown Rats night on BBC4 - Sunday 6th October

To celebrate Bobby Boomtown's Sixty Second birthday, they are having a couple of broadcasts of great interest on BBC 4

First up at 9pm...

Mark Lawson talks to Sir Bob Geldof about his life and career. From the formation of the Boomtown Rats in the mid 1970s to his work with Band Aid and Live Aid in the 1980s and his continuing influence on key figures on the world stage, Geldof has been a key figure in music and politics over several decades. In 2013, the Boomtown Rats reunited for the first time in over 25 years and Geldof talks candidly to Mark about his career in music, his activism, his family and his very public personal traumas


http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03ctzdw

But as good as that is, even better they are broadcasting the Rats from 1984 at 10pm!

Pete Drummond introduces a 1984 concert by the Boomtown Rats from Goldiggers in Chippenham.