Before Bob Geldof initiated the Live Aid global event, he headed the Irish band The Boomtown Rats who achieved some nominal success and radio airplay with the song “I Don’t Like Mondays” which was a line quoted by a child who had committed a school shooting after being asked why she did it.

I have a vague recollection sitting in the loge of The Palladium this particular evening with my friend Mike and his girlfriend Andrea and I either won the tickets somehow or the tickets were ridiculously cheap dince The Boomrown Rats were attempting to get some traction in the United States that never really ended up happening. As I recall Gelfof was a pretty dynamic frontman and the Rats rocked pretty good but they ended up being a primarily English phenomenon and never really took off in the States. Bob Geldof, now Sir Bob Geldof, is better known for putting together the Live Aid concert and the collaborative “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” song for hunger relief but on a Saturday night in May, 1979 he was just a singer in a rock and roll band.

The Fine Art of Surfacing

Rock on!

GQ