The first rocker I ever felt the need to meet in person (and followed through on) was Bob Geldof. My local Winnipeg radio station introduced me to The Boomtown Rats through this track from their Tonic for the Troops album in 1978. When they came through town for a signing at a record store–I think it might have been Krazy Kelly’s on Portage Avenue–I did something I’d never done before. I lined up to buy an album and then have it autographed by a Real Life Rock Star.
This was my very first in-the-flesh encounter with Bob Geldof. He was kind to 16-year-old me and signed my album. Many years later when I interviewed him, I told him the story and had him re-autograph that album. Same record, same singer, two signatures 33 years apart. This was the big single from that album, although it was much bigger in the UK and Ireland than it ever was on this side of the Atlantic. It reached number one in the UK, dislodging Summer Nights by Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta from the Grease soundtrack from the #1 spot.
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