Godiva meet up this Friday

Jules · The biggest Geldof fan in the world, bar none!

Godiva meet up this Friday

noelindublin · Loudmouth

Am due into Birmingham International at 2.30. Hotel is in Coventry city centre. Hope to make it out to the Burnt Post around 5 as I want to do some shopping and check into hotel before I venture out. If I can't make it to the pub then see you down the front in the park. smile

PS Weather for Coventry/Warwickshire for Friday is good with a few light showers.

Jules · The biggest Geldof fan in the world, bar none!

Look forward to seeing you again on Friday. Weather doesn't sound too bad at all.

JoanOfArc · The Fine Art of Surfacing

i'll be arriving at the hotel about 3-3.30ish I expect........ rats on at 9.15pm which means they'll not be playing any more than 1 hour and 15 mins. so I shall be on the coca colas or red bulls til much later on. cafffiene being my preferred choice of drug. and a good meal in the pub sounds a sensible idea.

I've booked the hotel for Saturday night too. I guess all you guys will be gone on Saturday?

I'll be mooching about on my own. thought I'd go to Birmingham on the sat and check out the museum there and do Coventry museum on the sunday.

that's the plan anyway...... take some books and do some reading too maybe.

see you all later x

Jules · The biggest Geldof fan in the world, bar none!

See you in the pub later. My mobile is still the same no. Irene is around for a bit the morning.

Jules · The biggest Geldof fan in the world, bar none!

I think your number must've been on my old phone. It's not on this one.

manatthetop · In the Long Grass

Enjoy the show All you Rat lover's

Mark L · Loudmouth

Yes, hope you all enjoyed it. Look forward to hearing about it.

Mike menzies · V Deep

Got it on bbciplayer to listen to managed to download it this morning hopefully will be a good show

suss · House on Fire

Best gig in a while for my money, or not in this case. Maybe that was a factor, big crowd, free entertainment, no pressure to deliver or enjoy from respective sides of the barrier, which all added up to a relaxed good humoured gig, with the notable exception of two girls down the front re-enacting Ali v Foreman early on. Maybe one claimed to love BG more than the other?

Bob was joking with crowd more than usual, singling out a few for gentle abuse, and no one let a false start where video countdown soundtrack failed bother them. Sound from stage was in fact amazing (as it was for Space who did a great job getting crowd in the mood). Perfect balance of loud and clear guitars but never drowning out the rest.

Seemed like far more than usual were fans who knew words etc. In the beginning, right up to end, there was dancing, songs and smiles.

Set list slightly truncated (10.30 curfew?) and from memory was:-

Eva Braun, Clockwork, Neon Heart, Do You In, SLAY, Banana Republic, She's So Modern, Mondays, Close as you'll ever be, Mary, No 1 and Rat Trap to close.

Only minor niggle was the urgency of security to get crowd out of the enclosure, even hassling people waiting for merch. Obviously not a public park for event purposes after all.

Even the rain held off, for a second week running.

Mike menzies · V Deep

What merchant was on sale ? Anything interesting ? Just curious ( just received my she's so modern old gold edition with Mary on beside will have a rats fest later today

suss · House on Fire

White t-shirts with the severed head pic still on sale, and probably another rats t which escapes me, but also now new purple ladies fit t-shirts (classic logo) and black (or very dark something) hoodies with same logo on back plus BTR Ars Over Tit on left front.

Still got signed Germany Live DVD/CD on sale too.

Mike menzies · V Deep

Cheers suss recently bought a tonic t shirt off eBay & also have black lookin after no1 tshirt & somewhere an old v deep tour t shirt ( probably won't fit me now as I'm older & wider) but kept it anyway regards mike

Jules · The biggest Geldof fan in the world, bar none!

Some photos www.facebook.com/thehippyangel/media_set

I bought a Ladies tshirt from merch. it's a size large, but I don't think it will fit and I've lost about 1/2 a stone !!!

noelindublin · Loudmouth

I'm with Suss on this one. A fantastic performance, better than I could have expected. Geldof on top form, pulling out something special. Huge crowd, everyone seemed to know the songs. Great banter from Bob :' Coventry is ... somewhere in the middle of England...'(obviously was listening during geography class at Blackrock).

Words can never really do a good gig justice.I saw so many younger people in the twenties and thirties and even younger singing along to the songs, even the album tracks from the debut album. One guy in front of me, must have been about 25 seemed to be totally au fait with every song and was totally engrossed.The audience was full of women of un age certain who seemed to have ' a thing' about Bob. Men stood back in admiration as the beer more than flowed and there was a certain edge to the gig with some getting a bit over enthusiastic.

Highlights included Like Clockwork, Mary of the Fourth Form/Boom Boom, Someones Looking At You, Close As You'll Ever Be( which had a new(?) verse which I couldn't make out.

Support band Space surprised me. We just caught the last half dozen songs but they seemed pretty impressive. Singer looked pretty much like Captain Beefheart, always a good thing. We had an inflatable Lady Godiva doll bounding around in the audience(well one local called her Godiva) during the madcap Liverpudlians set, setting the mood for the rest of the night.

I'm glad I went and even gladder to have witnessed the Rats and Geldof in such fine form.

-- Edited by noelindublin on Monday 4th of July 2016 12:28:19 PM

noelindublin · Loudmouth

JoanOfArc wrote:
i'll be arriving at the hotel about 3-3.30ish I expect........ rats on at 9.15pm which means they'll not be playing any more than 1 hour and 15 mins. so I shall be on the coca colas or red bulls til much later on. cafffiene being my preferred choice of drug. and a good meal in the pub sounds a sensible idea.

I've booked the hotel for Saturday night too. I guess all you guys will be gone on Saturday?

I'll be mooching about on my own. thought I'd go to Birmingham on the sat and check out the museum there and do Coventry museum on the sunday.

that's the plan anyway...... take some books and do some reading too maybe.

see you all later x

I spent Saturday in Coventry, flying back from Birmingham at 7pm. I love history so went to see Holy Trinity medieval church, ruins of Coventry Cathedral, the Herbert Museum and Gallery.Also went to see the Spon St, the medieval street near the city centre. Coventry was a very important historic city and there are great exhibits in the Herbert museum about the city's past.Lots of stuff too there about Lady Godiva and the Lady Godiva parade which goes back to the 16th century.

Hadn't time to see St Marys Guildhall, again a great historic building.Unfortunately the heavy bombing during WW2 means that lots of ugly modern buildings have replaced the earlier ones.

Mark L · Loudmouth

Sounds like a good time was had by all. The local paper's review is positive but says that the band 'aired tracks from all 6 studio albums'. I suspect lazy journalism especially after reading Suss's post but it would be good to hear later tracks were aired. If not now, in the future. There was so much more to the Rats than the first 3 albums and Banana Republic.

And where is studio album 7?

noelindublin · Loudmouth

Mark L wrote:
Sounds like a good time was had by all. The local paper's review is positive but says that the band 'aired tracks from all 6 studio albums'. I suspect lazy journalism especially after reading Suss's post but it would be good to hear later tracks were aired. If not now, in the future. There was so much more to the Rats than the first 3 albums and Banana Republic.
And where is studio album 7?

The Coventry Telegraph gave it a good review. I presume that's the one you are talking about. The set length time was just right.Sometimes an encore seems a bit much, even though it's genuinely wanted by the audience. Leave them wanting more, as the old motto goes.

Bob dedicated Shes Gonna Do You In to Teresa May. I was just thinking about how great gigs just vanish into the night air.Kinda sad that that energy cannot be bottled and the feeling ever really recaptured once the band leave the stage and the lights come on. It will certainly stick in my mind as one of the best, and it's always good when you are a bit jaded and not fully sure if you are doing the right thing by going.O ye of little faith etc........ smile

Spoke to Wes who knows Bob.Said that Bob didn't seem keen on writing new songs. That's how it stands at the moment, though who knows what will happen? Once Geldof decides to do something he tends to go full tilt, so we can only hope the Rats get first choice of any new songs he may write into the future.

Mark L · Loudmouth

Thanks Noel.

daggerrat · Never In A Million Years

Sounds like a great gig, any of you guys going to Brentwood sunday week? Beer and Rats sounds like a match made in heaven to me ,

suss · House on Fire

Will be there, but driving home so limited beers Shame it's a Sunday.

Will look out for you. Ron going?

daggerrat · Never In A Million Years

I spoke to him last week he doesn't have a ticket as yet but i think that he may well e there. Should be a good night, i went a few years ago i think that it may had been the first one , Pete Barton and some over guy shared the vocal duties it was still great .

I only live about 25 miles away in Braintree and the Mrs is happy to drop me off and pour me back in to the car.

See you there, will be supping ale whilst Messrs Hadley and Fry strut their stuff

suss · House on Fire

Nice one.

I went to that Barton one as well. The guest vocalist was an old school mate of Garry and Simon called Mike Odlum (Charlie to them for some reason). Little did we know Pete Barton was lining up potential replacement for himself. Mike went on to take centre stage at Varsity Wolverhampton and Herentals Belgium gig later that summer, then Bob Bradbury stepped in to take reins until reunion as we know. Pete Barton did do one more gig in between (Tabernacle Junction Yeovil) as Bob B was indisposed.

The rest as they say is history

See you there

daggerrat · Never In A Million Years

Rons been in contact.

He is gonna make it

See you there