In 2025 The Boomtown Rats reformed for a 12-date, 50th anniversary tour of the UK. A two-album compilation on vinyl and CD, The First 50 Years: Songs of Boomtown Glory , was released on 19 September 2025.
Bob Geldof , Gary Roberts , Pete Briquette , and Simon Crowe reunited as The Boomtown Rats in 2013, joined by Alan Dunn (longtime member of Geldof’s band) on keyboards and Darren Beale (who played with Roberts & Crowe in The Rats) on guitar. Bob Geldof said, “Playing again with…
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On 20 September 2011, Gerry Cott guested with Geldof’s band at The Cadogan Hall, London. They played three Boomtown Rats songs prior to the encores. Cott returned to the stage for the final encore playing on two Geldof solo songs.
On 21 June 2009, Geldof, Roberts, and Briquette got together in Dublin to play “Dave”, at a party to celebrate the life of Boomtown Rats’ close friend and saxophone player, “Doctor” Dave MacHale, who had died of cancer in Frankfurt.
In 2008, Garry Roberts and Simon Crowe, who had continued playing together in The Fab Four, with Alan Perman (ex Herman’s Hermits ) and Bob Doyle (who once auditioned unsuccessfully for E.L.O. ), and The Velcro Flies, with Steve (Dusty) Hill and Gavin Petrie, got together as “The Rats”, playing…
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In 2005, the band’s albums were all remastered and re-released and a ‘ Best Of ‘ compilation was released, along with two DVDs. Briquette mixed the live DVD and Francesco Cameli mixed the extra tracks for the re-release of the Boomtown Rats albums at Sphere Studios in London.
After Live Aid, the band was on hiatus while Geldof focused on the Band Aid Trust . The band’s final performance came at Self Aid , a May 1986 concert at the RDS in Dublin, to raise awareness of unemployment in Ireland. Their rendition of “Joey’s on the Street Again”…
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The Boomtown Rats’ involvement with Band Aid (on which they all played) raised their profile again, and in January 1985, a revised version of In the Long Grass was finally released in the U.S. The album made the U.S. chart at No. 188, but the associated singles failed to make…
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A follow-up album entitled In The Long Grass was recorded in 1983, but was initially rejected by the group’s label. By 1984, the band was touring universities after becoming unable to fund the “guarantee” required to book mainstream concert halls. In The Long Grass was finally issued in the UK…
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The band’s fifth album, V Deep , again produced by Visconti, was released in February 1982. A second single from the album “House on Fire” made number 24 in the UK singles chart. A third,”‘Charmed Lives” failed to chart however. In the U.S., the album was initially rejected by their…
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