News: The Boomtown Rats Announce UK Tour

“Ratlife” UK Tour For 2014

Including Date at Bournemouth O2 Academy

After last year’s storming of the Isle of Wight Festival stage an exhilarated Bob Geldof said “It’s weird. I’d forgotten how powerful a band The Rats are!” Others hadn’t. What was only meant to be a brief “re-grouping” turned into a triumphant sell out UK tour, a block-booked 2014 Festival season and now the announcement of “Ratlife” the second half of The Boomtown Rats’ second coming. Taking in the towns missed out on their first jaunt and returning – literally by public demand – to the country’s major cities so thoroughly re-Ratted six months ago.Beyond nostalgia both press and audience agreed that those many classic Ratsongs had indeed stood the test of time morphing from the radical, upstart transgressive rage of the mid-70’s into tunes for the ages with a tragic contemporary resonance. The audience, ranging from the Rats’ contemporaries to the newer, younger curious crowd wondering what the fuss had been about, immediately recognised the timeless frustrations and rage of the Now embodied in the Rats’ tunes and performance. Age had indeed not withered them, but made them more potent. At a time of cookie cutter anodyne musical drivel the visceral Shock of the Old from its original purveyors is one of contemporary music’s great treats and revelations.

“Ratlife” will visit…

October
18th WOLVERHAMPTON Wulfrun Hall
19th NEWCASTLE O2 Academy
20th GLASGOW O2 ABC
22nd SHEFFIELD O2 Academy
23rd LIVERPOOL O2 Academy
25th MANCHESTER Ritz
26th LINCOLN Engine Shed
28th LEAMINGTON SPA Assembly
29th BRISTOL O2 Academy
31st PORTSMOUTH Pyramids Centre

November
1st OXFORD O2 Academy
3rd CAMBRIDGE The Junction
4th LEICESTER O2 Academy
6th BOURNEMOUTH O2 Academy
7th LONDON The Forum

Accompanying the Live Nation promoted tour the Rats will release “Ratlife” – a hits compilation of classic Rats tracks with previously unheard additions.

Formed in 1975 in Dublin The Boomtown Rats exploded out of Ireland in ’76 and their fast, loud, furious music and their fast, loud, furious attitude meant they became part of the burgeoning punk scene. Singer Bob Geldof’s defiant motormouth arrogance and flagrant disrespect for authority endeared him and his band to every youth who felt weighed down by the heavy handed blandishments of church and state. In the UK The Boomtown Rats first toured with the Ramones and Talking Heads rocking and mocking the status quo alongside the Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Jam and The Stranglers. They became one of the biggest bands of the late 70s/80s with a string of top ten hits and platinum albums, earning them Brit Awards, Ivor Novellos and Grammy Awards. Making history as the first Irish band to have a UK no 1 hit with “Rat Trap”, they went on to top the charts in 32 Countries with “I Don’t Like Mondays” and racked up six era-defining albums.

The Boomtown Rats tickets go on-sale 9am on Friday 4th July priced at £25.00 regionally and £28.50 in London (subject to per-ticket charge plus order processing fee) and are available from www.livenation.co.uk or www.ticketmaster.co.uk.