TU Dublin Marks 50 Years Since The Boomtown Rats’ First Gig
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The Boomtown Rats and Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin) have celebrated an Irish cultural milestone today: the 50th anniversary of The Boomtown Rats' first-ever gig, which took place in Bolton Street Technical College on 31 October 1975.
Bob Geldof and Pete Briquette, two of the founding band members who performed at that gig 50 years ago, returned to the place of the birth of The Boomtown Rats to unveil a commemorative plaque on the front of the historic building.
The band was initially known as ‘The Nightlife Thugs’ and were booked to perform a Halloween concert by the College’s Students' Union. Halfway through the gig, Bob wiped out the name of the band on the classroom’s blackboard and rechristened them The Boomtown Rats – taking the name from a gang in Woody Guthrie’s autobiography Bound for Glory.
Pete Briquette and two other founding members were students of TU Dublin’s architectural technician programme at the time of the first gig. To mark this defining chapter in Ireland’s musical legacy, Pete Briquette and Bob Geldof unveiled a commemorative plaque at Bolton Street on Thursday, alongside a programme of activities that included a student Q&A on The Boomtown Rats.
The Boomtown Rats moved to Britain and signed a record deal one year later, and by the summer of 1977 had their first UK chart hit with Looking After No 1. In November 1978, Rat Trap became the first rock song by an Irish band to top the UK charts, thus securing The Boomtown Rats a unique place in Irish music history.
TU Dublin is still educating future leaders in Architecture, Engineering and Construction at Bolton Street and still has better acoustics than anyone gave it credit for back in 1975. The room where approximately 30 people witnessed a unique moment in Irish music history is still used today by students of the Faculty of Engineering, Built Environment & Apprenticeships.
The thirty students who gathered in Bolton Street that Halloween night had no idea they were watching music history in the making. The Boomtown Rats released seven studio albums, four live albums and 23 singles. They topped the UK charts with Rat Trap, and I Don’t Like Mondays and had nine other UK top 40 singles.
50 Years of Change
When The Boomtown Rats first plugged in their guitars, Ireland was a country under pressure. The population was just 3.2 million, with unemployment soaring above 12% and only 1.1 million people in work. Inflation had reached 21%, with strikes serving as a soundtrack of the era, numbering 151 that year alone. Only one in four jobs was high-skilled, and just 6% of adults availed of Higher Education. Life expectancy stood at 69 for men and 75 for women.
Half a century later, the Ireland that The Boomtown Rats helped give voice to has undergone a significant transformation. The State’s population has grown by nearly 2.3 million, reaching 5.45 million. Employment has risen by 150% to 2.8 million, while unemployment has dropped below 5%. Inflation has stabilised at 2%, and industrial disputes are now rare. More than 40% of jobs are high-skilled, and 55% of adults hold higher education qualifications. Life expectancy has increased by over a decade for both men and women.
Dr Deirdre Lillis, President of TU Dublin, said:
“Bolton Street holds a unique place in Ireland’s story, not only as an iconic centre for educating thousands of professionals, but as the launchpad for The Boomtown Rats - a band that gave Ireland a global voice. This anniversary reminds us how far Ireland has come in fifty years, from low levels of educational achievement and high unemployment rates to becoming one of the most prosperous, peaceful, and progressive nations in the world. We take pride in the role TU Dublin, and its predecessors, Dublin Institute of Technology and the College of Technology in Bolton Street, have played in helping to shape this remarkable journey.”
Bolton Street is more than a campus; it serves as a platform upon which Ireland’s history has been shaped. From the ground-breaking debut of The Boomtown Rats to the education of successive generations of professionals since the establishment of Bolton Street Technical College in 1911, it represents a significant convergence of cultural and educational heritage.