A tantalising reminder of how good they were was served up last year when guitarist Garry Roberts and drummer Simon Crowe brought The Rats to The Sage Gateshead as part of the Class of 77 tour.The main thing missing that night was singer Bob Geldof, but a few months ago, he and bass player Pete Briquette agreed to reunite with their old bandmates for this tour, to promote the new best of Back To Boomtown.
...the Rats showed that they were never really a punk band, and their roots lay in good old stomping R&B. Most were there to see if Geldof still had the stage presence that made him one of the most compelling frontmen of the punk/new wave generation. Even at 62, dressed in a pretend snakeskin suit, and with his unruly mane now grey, he was mesmerising.
