By Steven Roberts…….

Irish rock band, the Boomtown Rats will be in Cyprus this week, performing at the 7th annual ‘Rock n’EMU’ event at Eastern Mediterranean University this Friday 21st Apri!. The event will be at the stadium on the University Campus, the general public is invited, and entrance will be free. The event starts at 7:30 PM, and the support act is the local Mağusa Müzik Band.

The Boomtown Rats were originally comprised of six members mostly from the Dun Laoghaire area. They formed in 1975, and had their first chart success with “Looking After no. 1” in 1977, followed by the single “Mary of the 4th Form” which was also from their debut album. The follow up LP “Tonic for the Troops” spawned three single successes, “Like Clockwork”, “She’s so Modern” and “Rat Trap” (which reached number one). In 1979 the band recorded their third album with the single “I Don’t Like Mondays” which probably is remembered as much for its striking video as for the music. The song told a powerful story about a school shooting in America that shocked the world at the time, but sadly has been followed by so many more similar tragedies since.

The band had some success with their next two albums, and associated singles, but did not reach the levels of their earlier triumphs, and they called it a day in 1986.

In the meantime lead singer Bob Geldof achieved worldwide fame (and an honorary Knighthood) for his work on famine relief. Prompted by Miucahel Buerk’s harrowing reports from Ethiopia he got a load of famous musicians together to record the charity single “Do They Know It’s Christmas” at the end of 2004. He then followed this with the idea for the Live Aid concerts in London and Philadelphia in the summer of 2005.

After a couple of one-off gigs and guest performances, the Boomtown Rats reformed in 2013. Bob Geldof said, “Playing again with the Rats and doing those great songs again will be exciting and fresh. We were an amazing band and I just feel it’s the right time to re-Rat, to go back to Boomtown for a visit.”

The current version of the Boomtown Rats comprises four of the original six members, and they have been touring steadily since they re-formed. After Famagusta they will go on to play in England, Austria, Norway, and back home in Ireland.

This is a rare opportunity to see a famous band in North Cyprus, and it would be good to see them play to a packed stadium in Famagusta and to tempt you to join them, we have included below a video showing The Boomtown Rats singing that famous song, I Don’t Like Mondays.