Words and pictures by Rhona Murphy.
The Boomtown Rats celebrated their 50th birthday plus 1 day at a sold out gig in Southampton and the vibe was one of excitement and nostalgia in equal parts from the crowd who formed the most well behaved queue/not queue I’ve ever seen at this venue (1/11/2025).
One reason for that is it was a seated gig so there was no point in rushing through the doors and I was interested to see how this would work for such a lively band, who thrive off the feedback from the audience. I needn’t have worried as it quickly turned into a standing gig when the Rats took to the stage but more on that later.
The Boomtown Rats still boasts three of its original members in Bob Geldof, Pete Briquette and Simon Crowe plus the newest members Alan Dunn, Darren Beale and Paul Cuddeford who make up the current band. Having played their first gig in 1975 and subsequently storming the UK music scene with powerful songs and bags of attitude it’s not surprising that the Rats found themselves looking out at an audience of people who would have enjoyed this band in their teenage years but there were also plenty of younger people who were just as enthusiastic and excited as the older fans.
First up on the stage was Professional, a London based rock band with an upcoming debut album ‘This Is The Sound’ due to be released in 2026. Professional have had some great support slots and played on the same stages as Marky Ramone, The Levellers and The Luka State amongst others and they looked perfectly at home on the big Guildhall stage as they warmed up the (at this point) seated crowd.
Professional was a fabulous choice of support band as they complemented the style and attitude of the Rats with fast, gutsy tunes and dialogue on the state of the world including the line from the Croatian born lead singer Mani “I lie so much I could be a politician”. They engaged the crowd with a singalong and stormed through their setlist, reminding the us all that they are a new and independent band and encouraging everyone to buy the new album. I will definitely be looking for some live dates from them as they are a ‘must see again’ band for me.
The chatter grew louder in the changeover between bands and the number of Boomtown Rats tee shirts increased to cult-like uniformity before a documentary was screened, taking us through the Rats’ journey over the last 25 year (plus a day). This started with the original band called The Nightlife Thugs before changing name to The Boomtown Rats after Geldof found inspiration in Woody Guthrie’s autobiography featuring a boy gang calling itself The Boomtown Rats. We were talked through the background behind ‘I Don’t Like Mondays’ which was written about the 1979 San Diego school shooting by a sixteen year old school girl who gave the reason for the atrocity as “I don’t like Mondays”. A stark message that school shooting massacres are not just a feature in the modern day USA and also a reminder that behind every Boomtown Rats song there’s a story with clever, inciteful lyrics and absolutely no fear in bringing these subjects to the table.
The Rats took to the stage with Geldof bounding to the mic with energy that would be admirable in a man 30 years his junior. ‘Rat Trap’ was the first song and the crowd was on its feet. I challenge anyone to identify a more engaging and charismatic frontman and Geldof kept this up throughout the entire set.
‘(I Never Loved) Eva Braun’ followed and Geldof continued to work every inch of the stage at speed. Strangely it never felt like Geldof and backing band, it always felt like the Rats played as one entity each and every member having his own moments and being celebrated by Geldof.
There was a brief break in the setlist for an audience ‘Happy Birthday’ singalong and some Geldof harmonica lead action before the show came to the end with Geldof taking every opportunity to pontificate on the current atrocities in the world with profanity lead passion in everything he said.
The Rats played 13 tracks with a short film to start with and some video clips to end and it felt like all of us in the crowd had joined Geldof on that journey from 1975 to where we are now. The Boomtown Rats were as provocative as they ever were but they did it with great tunes and Geldof has such charisma that even when he went into preach mode it didn’t feel like we were being patronised somehow! I don’t know how he does this but based on this performance Geldof should be running the world.
The 50th birthday tour continues with dates in Manchester, Gateshead, York and Liverpool.
Boomtown Rats setlist:
Rat Trap
(I Never Loved) Eva Braun
Like Clockwork
Neon Heart
(She’s Gonna) Do You In
Monster Monkeys
Someone’s Looking At You
I Don’t Like Mondays
Against The World
She’s So Modern
Banana Republic
Diamond Smiles
The Boomtown Rats
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