2 dates in Germany off

Derek The Dane · V Deep

2 dates in Germany off

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

Derek The Dane wrote:
.Can anyone confirm anything or why the cancelation?.

Tell me why!

err, they sold no tickets I guess. Seem to be plenty left in Ireland as well. Hopefully enough sold to stage the gigs.

If there is one thing I have learnt over the last 10-15 years is that there is a good chance of Rats and Geldof gigs getting cancelled at the last minute. Fortunately, I have not been affected by this; but in anticpation of issues, I generally paid on the door for the Bradbury Rats and only got tickets for Geldof solo and the reformed Rats just ahead of the dates themselves. Also I only book refundable hotels. Worse case scenario for me is losing the cost of the flight, but given I was paying less than £20 return with RyanAir not a biggie. Only flight I recall losing was prior to the Vicar Street gig when I couldn't make it.

The only postponement I have ever experienced was The Who @ The O2, but that was to my advantage as they re-scheduled to a more convienient Sunday evening in March rather than the original midweek in December. Allowed me to stay at work party and get a bit too merry.

-- Edited by ArrGee on Thursday 23rd of February 2017 01:28:10 PM

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

Apparently postponed until August, but no dates set yet.

Derek The Dane · V Deep

I got a mail from Hamburg stating that the concert IS NOT cancelled.Also tickets are still for sale.I just want to get the money back for my concert tickets and move on.This is just not possible at the moment and it is driving me mad.

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

Derek The Dane wrote:
I got a mail from Hamburg stating that the concert IS NOT cancelled.Also tickets are still for sale.I just want to get the money back for my concert tickets and move on.This is just not possible at the moment and it is driving me mad.

I would have thought that changing the date would entitle you to an immediate refund. When they state it isn't cancelled, are they still expecting the Rats to turn up?

Why don't you complain on the Rats facebook page as well as here ? There's nowt that can be done here. I'll back you up evileye

Derek The Dane · V Deep

No point in complaining.I have made my point clear to them but I really feel it is time to move on.No hard feelings and I hope to see the Rats later in the year(have not given up on another concert in Germany).I am to old to get bitter,I love the Rat gang(as I call them) and I hope to catch up with everyone at a later date.

Mark L · Loudmouth

You are very forgiving Derek. Trademark mucking everyone about we've seen down the decades.

Bit surprising after all their 'number ones' in Germany!

And where's the new album for heaven's sake?

We're just the punters.

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

Mark L wrote:
You are very forgiving Derek. Trademark mucking everyone about we've seen down the decades.
Bit surprising after all their 'number ones' in Germany!
And where's the new album for heaven's sake?
We're just the punters.

Arguably we are barely punters. Last time I spent any money on them was my Dublin trip in 2015.

I am sure you know as well as I do that they never had a #1 in Germany. Well, they may have had a piss, but I don't think we are talking those #1s

The album? There is no album.

Mark L · Loudmouth

Admittedly, the amount I've spent on them is not a straight line graph over the last 38 years or so and I'm sure more have spent more, but punter I am and punter I hope to continue to be. Just wish they'd get on with it. Prefer them not to announce anything if all we get is dither and delay or worse still cancellation with financial and emotional impact on those brave enough to commit.

I leave it as late in the day as possible where gigs are concerned. But the reality for loyalists like Derek and Noel and Martin, is that flights are involved. What can they do?

Mark L · Loudmouth

....yes, I was poking fun at Geldof who frequently muses that Banana Republic was number one in Germany because 'the Germans thought it was about them' etc.

And yes again, I'm sure they've had a piss in Deutschland but taking the piss? That too it seems at times!

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

Mark L wrote:
Admittedly, the amount I've spent on them is not a straight line graph over the last 38 years or so and I'm sure more have spent more, but punter I am and punter I hope to continue to be. Just wish they'd get on with it. Prefer them not to announce anything if all we get is dither and delay or worse still cancellation with financial and emotional impact on those brave enough to commit.
I leave it as late in the day as possible where gigs are concerned. But the reality for loyalists like Derek and Noel and Martin, is that flights are involved. What can they do?

To be fair, there has been no album announcement, just some inconclusive interviews with Geldof saying it won't happen and Roberts saying they are recording.

As for the gigs, it is a bit of a mess. Cancellations have been happening since this forum started in 2005, and whilst I understand that it's not neccessarily the artist's fault, it happens far too often. Obviously there are promoters who see Geldof and the Rats as a big draw and are then surprised by lacklustre ticket sales. But even the Rats themselves are guilty of it. Fans were asked to register thier interest in a London 40th anniversary show and then it was pulled with no explanation.

For my part I cancelled my Dublin hotel for next month just over a fortnight ago. There were a few reasons, but not being wholly confident the gig would actually take place given the number of unsold tickets was a big factor. I hope it does happen, but seeing the Guildford date has justified my decision. If I want to see them it's a £14 return to Guildford and a £26 ticket rather than the £300 plus a Dublin trip would cost (2 nights hotel, ticket, bus, flights).

It is a bit of a vicious circle. The more gigs get cancelled the less willing people are to pay up front which leads to more cancellations.

Our approach of leaving it late in the day is the most practical approach. Aside from the the 40th anniversary gig at The Olympia Dublin, I can't think of any other concert by Geldof nor the Rats where tickets were not available on the day.

PS Who is Martin?

Mark L · Loudmouth

ArrGee wrote:
Mark L wrote:
Admittedly, the amount I've spent on them is not a straight line graph over the last 38 years or so and I'm sure more have spent more, but punter I am and punter I hope to continue to be. Just wish they'd get on with it. Prefer them not to announce anything if all we get is dither and delay or worse still cancellation with financial and emotional impact on those brave enough to commit.
I leave it as late in the day as possible where gigs are concerned. But the reality for loyalists like Derek and Noel and Martin, is that flights are involved. What can they do?
To be fair, there has been no album announcement, just some inconclusive interviews with Geldof saying it won't happen and Roberts saying they are recording.
PS Who is Martin?

That is true, but I suppose the desire to hear what they are now capable of, coupled with the thought of experiencing the thrill again of hearing quality Rats product, blinds one to the fact that ultimately it is Roberts prattling to the press, when to be certain, we should await a record company announcement. 'Plans are in full swing' is tantalising but becoming a more absurd statement with each passing month.

Martin is manatthetop's first name I do believe.

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

Mark L wrote:
we should await a record company announcement.

I doubt they have a record company. Yes, nearly a year and a half isn't exactly full swing. Would be a strange time to bring out a new LP with concerts getting cancelled/postponed and only three summer dates on the horizon. IMHO that boat sailed about three years ago and Ratlife is as much as they did then. The only way I foresee any new material is another Hits CD with a couple of extra tracks bolted on as per RATSHH!TS but who other than completists would bother? Might download the extra tracks, but that would be it for me. Of course I write that, but invariably I end up with the new CDs anyway...

Mark L · Loudmouth

I was thinking of Universal Music Group?

noelindublin · Loudmouth

ArrGee wrote:
Mark L wrote:
we should await a record company announcement.
I doubt they have a record company. Yes, nearly a year and a half isn't exactly full swing. Would be a strange time to bring out a new LP with concerts getting cancelled/postponed and only three summer dates on the horizon. IMHO that boat sailed about three years ago and Ratlife is as much as they did then. The only way I foresee any new material is another Hits CD with a couple of extra tracks bolted on as per RATSHH!TS but who other than completists would bother? Might download the extra tracks, but that would be it for me. Of course I write that, but invariably I end up with the new CDs anyway...

They sold a fair bit of 'merch' over the last three years at the over 70 gigs they played. I would say that a lot of people would have forked out a tenner or maybe little less for a new album,so it is conceivable that an new album would have sold in the low thousands. I mean hear an album/cd sold at the gigs rather than at a music shop(remember them). That's how many acts manage to sell cd's/records nowadays.

I saw so many people buying t shirts and other merchandise at the gigs I attended.Surely a great many of these people would have been interested in a new album and up for buying it-particularly if Geldof was bothered and up for promoting it and telling live audiences all about it.

With over 70 gigs in the last few years well over 100,000 people would have seen the band.Do the maths, even if 7% bought the cd that would be 7,000 sold.Of course the cost of recording might make it all unfeasible so I defeat my argument-equally sales might have been 15,000 or more so it might have worked out ok financially.

This is all what if's. No single was recorded to even attempt to rekindle interest when surely some radio stations would have be interested in a new Rats single after all those years.Hence there was nothing to suggest the Rats or Geldof were up to something new and interesting, or at least trying.The ep was not meant to have a single though The Boomtown Rats got minor airplay I believe-it wasn't a proper thought out single so can't count as anything really.

The quality of the four songs on the ep was way under par, Geldof's muse was missing and maybe it is better(so far anyway) that nothing new has emerged.

To be fair to Geldof he has toured so extensively with the Rats and his solo band one can't say he's lazy or not interested in promoting his music.At 65 he doesn't need to do it, or have anything to prove.I'm still of the belief that if Geldof sets his mind to it something worthwhile may emerge under the Rats moniker.It's all down to Geldof really. The 40th anniversary of the release of Looking After No 1 may get him thinking about recording again, but who can say?Maybe we should watch out for August?

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

Ratlife was on Mercury Records, but mainly as a consequence of the extra songs for RATSH!TS. I doubt they have a record label as such for neew stuff.

Derek The Dane · V Deep

I guess the Rats would use whatever label Bob is on.

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

noelindublin wrote:
They sold a fair bit of 'merch' over the last three years at the over 70 gigs they played. I saw so many people buying t shirts and other merchandise at the gigs I attended.Surely a great many of these people would have been interested in a new album and up for buying it-particularly if Geldof was bothered and up for promoting it and telling live audiences all about it.

All of which is true, but I believe that the opportunity to have made a new LP was sometime around mid-late 2013 to take advantage of the initial interest. With just three summer gigs coming up, none of which are their own gigs, I doubt they'd sell many now. Judging by the cancellation/postponements, the slowish sales of the Dublin and Belfast dates, the smaller venues of the 2014 tour compared with the 2013 tour and no tour since there is less of a live audience than there was, so achieving any sort of significant sales is unlikely. They need another Brentwood/Rebellion headline making moment on a bigger stage like Glastonbury. Then people will know they are around

Derek The Dane · V Deep

Oh by the way,tickets are still on sale for Hamburg,

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

Derek The Dane wrote:
I guess the Rats would use whatever label Bob is on.

Not sure he is on a label either. I can't imagine there would be too much excitement from his old label having pulped the Deluxe Edition of How To Decompose(sic). And there are still plenty of the limited edition Soft (sic) Target CDs lurking on geldof.com. Most likely any release would be only on sale via facebook/twitter/geldof.com

Mark L · Loudmouth

Having read Noel's post, maybe there is room for more optimism. But as time goes by, I'm not sure it's the triumph of misplaced optimism over the sad evolving reality that Garry got carried away talking to the press. Still, I look at the Stones and Vera Lynn (!) and live in hope.

suss · House on Fire

The band are due in studio later this month, cutting a number of tracks I believe. Whether there are sufficient to warrant an album release in any format I don't know, or whether they will limit to adding to live set or just decide nothing is right for promotion/release I also wouldn't know, but confirm writing has happened, rough mixes worked on and studio booked, and that band are happy for that to be shared.

suss · House on Fire

Oh, and forgot to add. German gigs looking at next January now, 19th and 20th.

noelindublin · Loudmouth

ArrGee wrote:
noelindublin wrote:
They sold a fair bit of 'merch' over the last three years at the over 70 gigs they played. I saw so many people buying t shirts and other merchandise at the gigs I attended.Surely a great many of these people would have been interested in a new album and up for buying it-particularly if Geldof was bothered and up for promoting it and telling live audiences all about it.
All of which is true, but I believe that the opportunity to have made a new LP was sometime around mid-late 2013 to take advantage of the initial interest. With just three summer gigs coming up, none of which are their own gigs, I doubt they'd sell many now. Judging by the cancellation/postponements, the slowish sales of the Dublin and Belfast dates, the smaller venues of the 2014 tour compared with the 2013 tour and no tour since there is less of a live audience than there was, so achieving any sort of significant sales is unlikely. They need another Brentwood/Rebellion headline making moment on a bigger stage like Glastonbury. Then people will know they are around

Well then we're lucky we didn't get 10 or 12 songs of the 'quality' of the Ratlife ep, which was as 'good' as Geldof could come up with in mid 2013.To be fair if songwriting was easy we'd all be at it and maybe making lots of money too! smile

Geldof said on more than one occasion that he can't just write songs just for the sake of it. He has to actually really want or need to do it and then it gets done. However long that takes. He's never said he's not gonna record again, either solo, or with the Rats.

It all boils down to either we get the same basic live set ad infinitum or some new songs emerge. I often wonder do the band get bored playing the same songs over and over-certainly does not come across on stage.

Re people knowing the Rats are around the attendance at Coventry was allegedly 15,000. That was before Brentwood and just after Brexit.Admittedly it was a free gig, but still people don't go unless they are interested.It's possibly down to local council marketing or the local media, though a national story can go either way. Geldof's pro Brexit stance is just as likely to lead to lower audience figures since he seems incapable of understanding their concerns and just irks so many people. Not sure if a tour of the market towns of Lincolnshire or Cambridgeshire is on the agenda anytime soon. smile

Mark L · Loudmouth

suss wrote:
The band are due in studio later this month, cutting a number of tracks I believe. Whether there are sufficient to warrant an album release in any format I don't know, or whether they will limit to adding to live set or just decide nothing is right for promotion/release I also wouldn't know, but confirm writing has happened, rough mixes worked on and studio booked, and that band are happy for that to be shared.

Thanks Suss. This definitely sounds more promising. Now we must hope for a minimum standard a la the track Back to Boomtown and up to the old standards of classic Rats hits. Nobody wants Ratified X 10.

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

suss wrote:
The band are due in studio later this month, cutting a number of tracks I believe. Whether there are sufficient to warrant an album release in any format I don't know, or whether they will limit to adding to live set or just decide nothing is right for promotion/release I also wouldn't know, but confirm writing has happened, rough mixes worked on and studio booked, and that band are happy for that to be shared.

So they are recording. Very interesting. Looking forward to hearing what they produce, though I probably won't like it

ArrGee · Back To Boomtown

noelindublin wrote:
Well then we're lucky we didn't get 10 or 12 songs of the 'quality' of the Ratlife ep, which was as 'good' as Geldof could come up with in mid 2013.
...Geldof's pro Brexit stance...

The Ratlife EP sounds like it was quickly made to get a couple of extra tracks for RATSH!TS. Back To Boomtown and The Boomtown Rats made the grade, the others didn't. Probably a bonus they saw the light of day even if they were pretty por.

As for his stance on Brexit, I thought it was anti, but... http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/bob-geldof-launches-attack-on-european-union-a7478796.html "It doesn't function, it is ignoring the wishes of European citizens."

This is why many, self included, voted to leave.

noelindublin · Loudmouth

ArrGee wrote:
noelindublin wrote:
Well then we're lucky we didn't get 10 or 12 songs of the 'quality' of the Ratlife ep, which was as 'good' as Geldof could come up with in mid 2013.
...Geldof's pro Brexit stance...
The Ratlife EP sounds like it was quickly made to get a couple of extra tracks for RATSH!TS. Back To Boomtown and The Boomtown Rats made the grade, the others didn't. Probably a bonus they saw the light of day even if they were pretty por.
As for his stance on Brexit, I thought it was anti, but... http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/bob-geldof-launches-attack-on-european-union-a7478796.html "It doesn't function, it is ignoring the wishes of European citizens."
This is why many, self included, voted to leave.

That was a typo. I meant of course smile anti Brexit stance.Good news if the Rats are 'due in studio' in classic muso speak (quoting Suss of course!)

-- Edited by noelindublin on Wednesday 1st of March 2017 03:29:42 PM

Derek The Dane · V Deep

I watched Bobs interview in Germany(from December) and he said they would do something new(recording wise) but whether anyone buys it is another matter.It sounded like to me that something new is on the way.We can only hope but I remain optimistic.