Jules wrote:

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Bump, ArrGee any chance of adding a sticky to this? Thanks.

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 Yes. I got my eticket for the Brum gig yesterday from ticketWeb UK. No waiting for tickets, just print off the eticket with it's unique barcode. Total cost less than £30. We are certainly not being ripped off, so it's nice to give credit to promoters sometimes/

Some forums called a sticky 'pinned' as in pinned item.

noelindublin wrote:

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Got a very good deal at the Britannia Hotel, on New st, so can't get lost. Very near venue and overall package ie flight/hotel and ticket was not too costly.  

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Venue doesn't look too far from New Street.  I can get in for 5pm, and the last train to London goes at 23:10.  I am tempted, but they will only ruin it by playing Having My Picture Taken ahead of Never Bite The Hand That Feeds

Jules wrote:

Don't let that stop you, ArrGee. See you there Noël. Meet up above.

I suppose I could leave when they ask everyone to get their mobiles out.  Tempted but thinking about it I'll pass, don't really fancy getting home from Kings Cross at 1.30am.

noelindublin wrote:

You'll have to wait for the High Speed 2 rail project.

Do you think the Rats will still be touring?  

Happy with the current speed and the fare is reasonable at less than £20 return, it's just that after 12.30am I have no prospect of getting home from central London, so a train arriving at Euston at 1.15 am or 12.45am makes little difference.   Would have to spend £50 for a taxi...

Hope its a good one tonight for all those going.

I'm just spinning A Tonic For The Troops in prep for tomorrow night. What a fantastic album this is. I thought the same when I first bought it in the summer of 1978...... at the tender age of 16!

Enjoy the gig U will have a great time They have been on great form

Those are excellent photos Jules....Bob obviously thinks a lot of you and your commitment and loyalty to him. Thanks for sharing.

Nice one

Birmingham Gig Review

For me this gig was better than the Roundhouse in London. The sound was better,and they seemed to have made an effort with the stage lighting too, which might have been lacking at some of the other gigs. Even the strobe attacks were bearable,  in the name of rock and roll, of course.

Bob was in fine fettle in terms of audience engagement. He proceeded to slag off the Brummies fashion sense to the effect that they were still wearing flares, and next said that the city had 'two s*** football teams'. Groans from the crowd, though maybe not from Albion or Wolves fans!

The overalll performance was excellent. Geldof and the rest gave everything they could, no complacency or lack of total commitment. The Academy had that sort of down at heall look, but then who  wants gleaming corporate rock venues with sponsors logos all over the place? As full as makes no difference too, with a majority of 40 and 50 somethings, though the was still a decent younger lot there too.

All the songs sounded good, even Banana Republic was pretty decent, as it's not my favourite live song. Only disappointment was Geldof's insistence of prolonging the na na na's at the end of Diamond Smiles for what seemed like an eternity. Do we really need to sing na na  na for 5 minutes- it just trivialised the story in the song, and sounds a bit childish.

Never Bite got another run out, and new song The Boomtown Rats went down well, sounding decent enough live. This Brum crowd was the best behaved yet, hardly any camera phones where I was standing, maybe that's just the luck of the draw.  Everyone around me seemed to know all the songs, but the all just stood and watched the gig like an audience should.No annoying drunks or men (and women!) behaving badly.

Overall a great night,and leaves you wanting more. Spoke to Suss in the pub and we agreed that the big gigs like London or Dublin might not necessarily be the best. He particularly like the Bristol show. For me Brum was  way up there, and it just goes to show that even seeing the same band seven times  can still surprise me. Had a good walk around Birmingham on Thursday,still glowing from the Rats performance.

ArrGee wrote:

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noelindublin wrote:

Spoke to Suss in the pub and we agreed that the big gigs like London or Dublin might not necessarily be the best.

For me, Cork was the best.  And that may have been the biggest headliner.  The others I attended were all very good, but that evening they seemed to pull out all the stops.

 

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 It's an interesting thing that the best gig may not be the big city 'headliner', so those going to Dundee or Aberdeen might be in for a very good time. 

Again I though Birmingham was better than London, but for a whole host of factors, not just the on stage performance. No annoying people near me helped a lot.

ps this is not a reference to any forum members- I was just in a very good position and everyone around me was very civilised.London had it's share of nutters, where I was standing.

Just in case anyone's interested there's a set list up for grabs

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Boomtown-Rats-Setlist-From-Birmingham-Date-Bob-Geldof-Bruce-Springsteen-/231094055306?pt=UK_Music_Music_Memorabilia_LE&hash=item35ce47718a

Who knows what it has to do with Springsteen? 

Got to be honest; having seen people clamour for these, whom I suspect more often than not are genuine fans, it does kind of p!ss me off that someone grabs one only to make an immediate profit on it...