Bob Geldof is coming to Frome!

ROCK star and activist, Bob Geldof, is coming to Frome’s Cheese and Grain on 26th September. Following the release of his new studio album ‘How To Compose Popular Songs That Will Sell’, Bob Geldof is undertaking a few shows to perform tracks from the album and hits of The Boomtown Rats.
The Irish singer, songwriter, author, occasional actor and political activist rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Irish rock band The Boomtown Rats in the late 1970s and early 1980s alongside the punk rock movement. The band had hits with his compositions ‘Rat Trap’ and ‘I Don’t Like Mondays.’ He co-wrote ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’, one of the best-selling singles of all time. He starred as Pink in Pink Floyd’s 1982 film ‘Pink Floyd the Wall.’ Bob Geldof is widely recognised for his activism, especially anti-poverty efforts concerning Africa. In 1984, he and Midge Ure founded the charity supergroup Band Aid to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia. They went on to organise the charity super-concert Live Aid the following year and the Live 8 concerts in 2005. Bob Geldof currently serves as an adviser to the ONE Campaign, founded by fellow Irish humanitarian Bono. A single father, he has also been outspoken for the fathers’ rights movement. Among numerous other awards and nominations, he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, granted an honorary knighthood by the Queen, and is a recipient of the ‘Man of Peace’ title which recognises individuals who have made “an outstanding contribution to international social justice and peace.” In 1975 Bob Geldof became the lead singer of the band The Boomtown Rats, a rock group closely linked with the punk movement. In 1978, The Boomtown Rats had their first No. 1 single in the UK with ‘Rat Trap’, which was the first new wave chart-topper in Britain. In 1979, the group gained international renown with their second UK No. 1, ‘I Don’t Like Mondays.’ This was equally successful, as well as controversial. Bob Geldof left The Boomtown Rats in 1986 to launch a solo career and publish his autobiography, ‘Is That It? His first solo records spawned the hit singles ‘This Is the World Calling’ (co-written with Dave Stewart of Eurythmics) and ‘The Great Song of Indifference.’ He also occasionally performed with other artists, such as David Gilmour of Pink Floyd and Thin Lizzy. A performance of ‘Comfortably Numb’ with David Gilmour is documented in the 2002 DVD David Gilmour in Concert. In 1992, he performed at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert with the surviving members of Queen at the old Wembley Stadium, singing a song he had co-written with Mercury, called ‘Too Late God.’ Along with U2′s Bono, he has devoted much time since 2000 to campaigning for debt relief for developing countries. His commitments in this field, including the organization of the Live 8 concerts, kept him from producing any more musical output since 2001′s ‘Sex, Age & Death’ album. Bob Geldof’s new album ‘How To Compose Popular Songs That Will Sell’ is on the Mercury Record label. It is his fifth album as a solo artist (his eleventh if you include his work in The Boomtown Rats). The album features 14 new Geldof compositions recorded with his band in his home and in various friends’ studios and produced by his longtime collaborator Pete Briquette. Bob Geldof’s appearance at the Cheese and Grain will be on Wednesday 26th September, doors open at 8.00pm. Earlybird tickets are £19 each – a saving of over 25%. Standard advance tickets are £24. The box office hotline is 01373 455420.