Boomtown Rats @ The Roundhouse

[kincajou]

I know they've always been a bit of a 'marmite' band but I've always quite liked the Rats although their latter output was not up to much and I admire Geldof's honesty even if I don't agree with all he says. So I was looking forward to seeing their first tour for 27 years, taking in their Roundhouse gig last Saturday.

I caught the end of the support, a singer/songwriter with an acoustic guitar, my least favourite type of music, except C&W. True to my expectations, he was shit! Finished with The Clash's 'White Riot'. Embarrassing, and by all acounts from people who'd endured his whole set, I hadn't missed much.

And so to the Boomtown Rats (well 4 of the original 6, with a 5th coming on to do a couple at the end. Only Jonny Fingers, the keyboardist who wore pyjamas, was missing). There were plenty of Rats die-hards in the audience, lapping up every note & word.

I came away feeling a bit short-changed to be honest. No doubting Geldof continues to be a good showman and most of his between-song banter was engaging, crude and amusing. No doubting the band have a pretty good back catalogue, mostly singles, from which to choose. Highlights were Modern Girl, Lookin' After no.1, Like Clockwork and the main-set ender, Rat Trap, Why? Because they were played without any frills. What irritated me about the majority of the songs they played was all the superfluous noodling mid-song. Changing the tempo, adding in bits'n'pieces, taking it down, bit of chat, building it back up and finishing with the proper ending.

It's showing off. It's boring. Mary Of the 4th Form for example became 10 minutes long, with about 4 minutes of the actual song, half either side of 6 minutes of pointlessness. It even morphed into John Lee Hooker's 'Boom Boom' at one point, a great song in itself, but in the middle of Mary of the 4th form?? The occasional song like that I could accept, but 3/4 of the set?! So songs that that should have ended with the crowd going mad were greeted with a bit of cheering & polite applause, momentum having been lost. When they stuck to the original arrangements, like in Rat Trap, they were excellent.

Whilst I'm glad I saw them (I'd not seen them before), I wouldn't go again. A shame as it could have been so much better.

Less is more, Bob!

[Five Minutes]

Thanks for thev review, I've a ticket to see them on Friday.

[gjinblack]

Nice review. I think I would have been annoyed by the dragging out of the songs too. Especially Mary of the 4th Form, a song that has to be crashed
Through if ever there was one.
I saw The Police on tv once dragging out their songs by repeating the song title over and over again in the middle. I was never a big fan but this
finished them for me.

[elvisintheclouds]

Great review, cheers.

[Alexinblack]

Great review mate, not a massive Boomtown Rats fan I remember my Dad seeing them in last 70s.

[mctownie]

Thanks for the review. I will also be at the Manchester Academy on Friday night.

I was a massive fan for about 2/3 years of the Rats before getting heavily into the Stranglers and remember seeing them at the same time as The Stranglers in 85 before the Rats demise. That was an expensive fortnight of about 8 gigs with The Stranglers outperforming them but I also liked Geldof and his antics and think the album he did with the Irish lads - Vegetarians of Love was excellent. The bass player Pete Briquette also played with that band.

Ive got the feeling they will be ok but not great from some of the utube clips & reviews ive seen.

Will put my thoughts on here

[clutchingmyteddybear]

Got tickets for Birmingham. I hope they don't go all prog rock on the songs. The great thing about them was they produced short energy filled pop songs. Saw them in 78 in Wolverhampton and they were excellent.

[Five Minutes]

Well I thought they were bloody good last night, most enjoyable.

[ThruBeingCool]

Great review. I was almost tempted then saw that live gig from 1982..83...84...? That was on one of the freebie channels. They were pretty awful even back in the day. Apart from Looking After No 1... And the odd track off 'Tonic For The Troops'. IMHO.

[Alexinblack]

Well I thought they were bloody good last night, most enjoyable.

Glad you enjoyed it.

[ThruBeingCool]

Well I thought they were bloody good last night, most enjoyable.

Glad you enjoyed it.

Yes, I'm happy about that too.

[Toiler On The Sea]

Yes, I'm happy about that too.

NURSE!!!!!!!!