The Boomtown Rats have pulled the plug on their troubled attempt at an Australian reunion tour, with all Australian dates doing a disappearing act from the Bob Geldof-fronted band’s website and all venues listing the gigs as cancelled.
Noise11 is reporting that the tour has been cancelled due to poor ticket sales, which should come as no surprise to anyone who has been following the rather shonky outing.
After the first announcement of the tour by the reformed ’70/’80s outfit, their official website showed dates in Melbourne and Brisbane, but the venues for these shows listed them as cancelled, while their Adelaide date didn’t appear on the Adelaide Entertainment Centre’s website at all. The Rats then made a post confirming the cancellation of the Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide shows, changed the date of the Perth show and majorly downsized the venue for their Sydney show. That post has since been removed.
Now all of the Australian dates have vanished from The Rats’ official website, with the UK’s Isle of Wight Festival on 16th June showing as the next gig – but there’s no official statement on the aborted Aussie trip. Sydney’s Enmore Theatre and Perth’s Challenge Stadium both list the shows as cancelled.
Geldof had previously expressed excitement about the reunion, telling The Guardian:
“Playing again with the Rats and doing those great songs again will be exciting afresh. We were an amazing band and I just feel it’s the right time to re-Rat, to go back to Boomtown for a visit.”
Apparently not, Sir Geldof. The punters have spoken and they do not like Mondays. They’re also surprisingly not keen on being kept in the dark about show cancellations.
