Irish rock/new wave band The Boomtown Rats have announced a 50th anniversary tour of the UK next year. The group, led by Bob Geldof, will play 12 theatre shows around the country. The tour will begin in Nottingham’s Royal Concert Hall on October 10, and ends at the Liverpool Olympia on November 15.

The tour will see The Boomtown Rats hit London’s Eventim Apollo on October 31, 50 years to the day after their first gig. The group are best known for their hit singles ‘Rat Trap’ and ‘I Don’t Like Mondays’, having formed in 1975.

Geldof was one of the organisers of Band Aid’s 1984 track ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’, alongside Midge Ure. The song was written to raise money for the famine in Ethiopia between 1983-1985.

An ‘Ultimate Mix’ of the track is being released this Christmas to celebrate the single’s 40th birthday, and features contributions from artists such as Sting, Boy George, Kool and the Gang, and Harry Styles, amongst many more.

Although in recent times the song has received mixed responses from listeners, Geldof defended the single in an interview, stating “This little pop song has kept millions of people alive. No abstract theory regardless of how sincerely held should impede or distract from that hideous, concrete real-world reality.

“There are 600 million hungry people in the world – 300 million are in Africa. We wish it were other but it is not. We can help some of them. That’s what we will continue to do.”

The Boomtown Rats will play:

OCTOBER 2025
10 – Nottingham, Royal Concert Hall
11 – Birmingham, Symphony Hall
17 – Aberdeen, Music Hall
18 – Glasgow, Barrowland
24 – Sheffield, City Hall
25 – Cambridge, Corn Exchange
31 – London, Eventim Apollo

NOVEMBER 2025
1 – Southampton, O2 Guildhall
7 – Manchester, Bridgewater Hall
8 – Gateshead, Glasshouse
14 – York, Barbican
15 – Liverpool, Olympia

Tickets for the upcoming tour go on sale at 10am on Friday December 6, you can purchase them here.