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Rank #268

art punk, new romantic, new wave

Boomtown Rats

Members have logged Boomtown Rats 10 times.

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Voices from the floor

Fan reviews

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  • A guest 100% at King's Hall Stoke, Stoke On Trent on Thu, 13 May 1982

    I was there along with my best mate Dude who has since died, and Bill. Dude and I were at the Fine Art of Surfacing gig at Trentham Gardens back in The Rats heyday of 1989 along with Matt who has also since died. Bob, if you ever read this, you were a great influence and inspiration to get out of the Rat Trap stalking our young lives at the time.
    A small, intimate gig we were able to interact with the band - a brilliant concert! I remember asking Bob to play Joey's on the street. He refused and starred at me saying "No" we ended up staring each other out a which point the riff started. My favorite track!! Great memories and I have Bob's plus I think 3 otherband member's autographs on a scrap of paper which I must dig out of the loft. The next day, I made an excuse and got out of work at Keele Uni to get the promo poster from Mike Lloyd Music in Newcastle. Still in the loft!!
    The Rats - my all time favorite band! But we bin caught......................

    1

  • A guest 60% at Sports Centre, Bracknell on Sat, 02 Dec 1978

    I was 17 at the time and was there with my mate Sharon, we arrived really early and they were only letting people in who were playing sport so we pretended we were gonna play badminton, went to the desk and paid for a session lol. Waited in the loos for a bit, came out to see through the windows hundreds queuing outside. We casually walked past and went up to the bar but just as we opened the door the band were coming out, so we stood on the stairs to let them pass. We didint know what to say to them so i asked the guy with the jammies on for a light trying to be all cool. We then sneaked into the hall and watched them tuning up, when the hoards of people started flooding in we legged it to the front. I remember Rat Trap was no 1 at the time, all very exciting back then and still a great memory of the 70s my favourite era.

    1

  • A guest 100% at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff on Wed, 31 Oct 1979

    I was there ... I was 27 ... What a great time had by all. A concert that will stay with me for ever .. I am now 71 years of age.

    1

  • A guest 100% at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff on Wed, 31 Oct 1979

    Attended with my then boyfriend and started out standing in the middle. Caught up in the atmosphere I ended the night pogoing hand in hand with a completely different lad at the front. I looked up and discovered he was a lad from the year above me in school. We'd both looked a bit sheepish and made our separate ways to find who we'd come with... Missed the last bus so we had to catch the "employees" bus and walk the last 2 miles. Just to add insult to injury my Dad gave the boyfriend an ear bashing for brining me home late. Great night. Awesome gig. But the relationshop was doomed!

    1

  • A guest 100% at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff on Wed, 31 Oct 1979

    I'm from N.ireland and was undergoing training at RAF St. Athens. I remember a mate and I bought tickets from a ticket tout outside the venue. My second concert after Darts at Portrush. I was only eighteen. Anyway, it was epic. Fingers was drinking beer from a half pint can which he passed out to the crowd and I got to drink from it. Can you imagine! The stage as I remember was set up with scaffolding with the members at different levels. Bought a tee shirt. Fine Art Of Surfacing. Wore it to death. Great night. It's a Rat trap Cardiff and you're been caught.

    1

  • KobeSamurai was there at Odeon Birmingham, Birmingham on Sat, 01 May 1982

    My last time seeing the Rats before I left the country to travel the world... I think I queued all night to get a front row ticket!

    1

  • KobeSamurai was there 100% at Barbarella's, Birmingham on Fri, 02 Sep 1977

    My first visit to Barbarella's, after seeing the Rats at the Town Hall in June. I remember Bob Geldof smashed his hand against the low ceiling of the stage and was bleeding everywhere!

    1

  • KobeSamurai was there 80% at Birmingham Town Hall, Birmingham on Fri, 17 Jun 1977

    The band supported Tom Petty &the Heartbreakers this time... I sat with them in the audience after their set and we became firm friends, me watching them 13 times over the next three years! What an eye-opener this one was for me! (I have a recording of it, too!).

    1

  • KobeSamurai was there 80% at Odeon Birmingham, Birmingham on Tue, 27 Jun 1978

    One of the 13 (!) times I saw the Rats between 1977 and 1980 or so. After meeting them at their first gig in Birmingham in June 1977, I had to keep watching them :-) There's a picture of me in the Birmingham Evening Mail on the front row at one of these Odeon concerts! Probably this one?

    1

Scored by the people who were there

Rated concerts

View all 10 →
Highest rated · No. 1 of 10
Sophia Gardens in Cardiff, UK
Wed, 31 Oct 1979 - 100% · 3 ratings
Crowd favorite No. 3094612
  1. 01
    Sophia Gardens in Cardiff, UK Wed, 31 Oct 1979 · 3 ratings
    100
  2. 02
    King's Hall Stoke in Stoke On Trent, UK Thu, 13 May 1982 · 1 rating
    100
  3. 03
    Odeon Birmingham in Birmingham, UK Wed, 07 Jan 1981 · 1 rating
    100
  4. 04
    Odeon Birmingham in Birmingham, UK Sun, 21 Oct 1979 · 1 rating
    100
  5. 05
    Odeon Birmingham in Birmingham, UK Fri, 19 Oct 1979 · 1 rating
    100
  6. 06
    Barbarella's in Birmingham, UK Fri, 02 Sep 1977 · 1 rating
    100
  7. 07
    Odeon Birmingham in Birmingham, UK Tue, 27 Jun 1978 · 1 rating
    80
  8. 08
    Barbarella's in Birmingham, UK Sat, 03 Sep 1977 · 1 rating
    80
  9. 09
    Birmingham Town Hall in Birmingham, UK Fri, 17 Jun 1977 · 1 rating
    80
  10. 10
    Sports Centre in Bracknell, UK Sat, 02 Dec 1978 · 1 rating
    60

Where the music took them

Tour passport

Statistics

394 concerts tracked
Played in 19 countries - show on map
Played in 189 cities
First concert · 06.05.1977 - 50 years ago
Last concert · 05.09.2026 - 1 month ago
Career span · 11 years

Most played countries

  1. 1 UK 270
  2. 2 US 26
  3. 3 Australia 18
  4. 4 Canada 14
  5. 5 Germany 14
  6. 6 Japan 14
  7. 7 Ireland 11
  8. 8 New Zealand 6
  9. 9 India 4
  10. 10 Portugal 3

Most played cities

  1. 1 London, UK 27
  2. 2 Birmingham, UK 14
  3. 3 Manchester, UK 14
  4. 4 Glasgow, UK 10
  5. 5 Bristol, UK 8
  6. 6 Leeds, UK 7
  7. 7 Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK 7
  8. 8 Edinburgh, UK 6
  9. 9 Leicester, UK 6
  10. 10 Liverpool, UK 6
Past concert Upcoming Density 189 cities in the archive
Concerts 394
Countries 19
Cities 189
Logged 10

Ranked by nights in the room · 2 followers

Biggest fans

No. 1 in the archive
KobeSamurai
8 concerts · since 1977
8 Nights logged

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About Boomtown Rats

Last updated: 7 months ago