Vivienne Kennedy reviews Boomtown Rats at Bristol O2 Academy
If I Don't Like Mondays was a place rather than a song it would be Pisa...let me explain myself:
A few years ago I turned around a corner in the Italian city of Pisa and caught my first glimpse of the Leaning Tower, in that instant I realised that I'd always wanted to be there. I had a similar feeling halfway through the Boomtown Rats gig at Bristol's O2 Academy last night - I Don't Like Mondays is my favourite song and I always knew that Bob Geldof and the Boomtown Rats singing it live would be special, but it was only when I heard those first few keyboard notes that I realised just how much I've always wanted to hear it; 12 hours later I am still pinching myself to make sure it wasn't a dream.
For me that number and Rat Trap, which followed shortly after, were the highlights of the band's 90 minute set but I enjoyed it all and couldn't help being impressed by Bob Geldof's amazingly energetic performance, it's like he's eaten all the Shredded Wheat...the man's in his 60s for goodness sake!
As well as the music I also enjoyed listening to Geldof talk, he explained why he wears his now famous faux snakeskin suit at gigs, spinning a tale about enlisting guitarist Garry Roberts's help when he needed to recapture the anger of his youth in order to perform in the way that he wanted to, and later spoke about a period in which the band found themselves banned from their native Ireland before launching into Banana Republic, reggae flavoured and another of my favourite Rat tracks.
The hits are more than 30 years old but they don't sound in the least bit dated and the lyrics are still relevant particularly in the case of Someone's Looking At You, written about surveillance in 1979 when Geldof can't possibly have imagined how much we'd find ourselves watched now when there are cameras on every street and we all voluntarily carry devices that track our every move. "Nothing changes" was definitely the theme of the night.
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Vivienne Kennedy reviews Boomtown Rats at Bristol O2 Academy
If I Don't Like Mondays was a place rather than a song it would be Pisa...let me explain myself:
A few years ago I turned around a corner in the Italian city of Pisa and caught my first glimpse of the Leaning Tower, in that instant I realised that I'd always wanted to be there. I had a similar feeling halfway through the Boomtown Rats gig at Bristol's O2 Academy last night - I Don't Like Mondays is my favourite song and I always knew that Bob Geldof and the Boomtown Rats singing it live would be special, but it was only when I heard those first few keyboard notes that I realised just how much I've always wanted to hear it; 12 hours later I am still pinching myself to make sure it wasn't a dream.
For me that number and Rat Trap, which followed shortly after, were the highlights of the band's 90 minute set but I enjoyed it all and couldn't help being impressed by Bob Geldof's amazingly energetic performance, it's like he's eaten all the Shredded Wheat...the man's in his 60s for goodness sake!
As well as the music I also enjoyed listening to Geldof talk, he explained why he wears his now famous faux snakeskin suit at gigs, spinning a tale about enlisting guitarist Garry Roberts's help when he needed to recapture the anger of his youth in order to perform in the way that he wanted to, and later spoke about a period in which the band found themselves banned from their native Ireland before launching into Banana Republic, reggae flavoured and another of my favourite Rat tracks.
The hits are more than 30 years old but they don't sound in the least bit dated and the lyrics are still relevant particularly in the case of Someone's Looking At You, written about surveillance in 1979 when Geldof can't possibly have imagined how much we'd find ourselves watched now when there are cameras on every street and we all voluntarily carry devices that track our every move. "Nothing changes" was definitely the theme of the night.
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