Foul-mouthed Geldof rants at his ‘Primark’ festival crowd
BOB Geldof launched a foulmouthed tirade at a family-friendly music festival attacking the crowd for wearing Primark clothing.
Hundreds of festival-goers walked out of the performance after the Irish rocker’s insults fell flat.
Looking typically unkempt in a fake snakeskin suit and grey shirt, the 64-yearold lambasted the crowd for wearing ‘f ****** Primark’ when his band had made an effort to look rock and roll.
He told the music fans in Brentwood, Essex: ‘We are mega. And you are Brentwood. How do we know that you are Brentwood and we are mega?
‘Because I am wearing a f***-off pretend snakeskin suit and [they] are wearing f***-off cowboy shirts even though they live in London.’
Gesturing to one of his band mates, he said: ‘This [guy] who you’ll remember as a slim handsome young lad is wearing a f***-off purple suit with an elasticated waistband so that when he gets even f ****** fatter you won’t notice.
‘On the other hand Brentwood, you are wearing wall to wall f ****** Primark.’
Geldof, who is best known for his charity concerts Band Aid and Live Aid, was headlining at the three-day festival – which fans had paid £100 to attend – with his band The Boomtown Rats.
He began the expletive-riddled outburst as soon as he took to the stage on Sunday evening shouting: ‘We don’t do Abba. We don’t do Robbie f ****** Williams.’
‘This is a rock and roll festival. When you come to a rock and roll festival you dress for a rock and roll festival. You can never be too careful.’
Not content with angering his fans, Sir Bob also took aim at new Prime Minister Theresa May telling the audience ‘she’s going to do you in’.
Hordes of people began to leave the site, with many taking to social media to complain about the star.
Helen Wood wrote on the Facebook page for the annual festival: ‘He totally spoilt the end of a truly amazing day.’
Another described him as a ‘horrendous individual, who loves the sound of his own voice’, adding: ‘He hasn’t made a decent track in decades.’ The Boomtown Rats enjoyed success between 1975 and 1986, achieving number ones with Rat Trap in 1978 and I Don’t Like Mondays in 1979. The band decided to reform in 2013.
But reviews from their Sunday evening performance were far from positive and fans were left confused when Sir Bob stayed silent for 90 seconds during I Don’t Like Mondays.
The Brentwood Festival also saw performances by Spandau Ballet’s Tony Hadley and eighties band The Brand New Heavies.
One festival-goer, who left with her husband before The Boomtown Rats performed their final song, said: ‘They sounded pretty dreadful, especially after just hearing the fantastic voice of Tony Hadley, and of course they have a very limited back catalogue.
‘We were just thinking we probably wouldn’t bother staying to hear I Don’t Like Mondays as it didn’t look like it would be worth the wait when Bob launched into an extraordinary, expletiveladen rant.
‘As he launched into another dreadful song, we, along with hordes of others, headed for the exit and I found myself in a queue to leave in the middle of the headline set.
‘All around you could hear mutterings from fed-up festival-goers of how disgusting he was and “how dare he”.’
Festival co-ordinator Laurie Edmonds apologised for Sir Bob’s blue language but excused his behaviour saying it was ‘part of the act’.
She said: ‘They’re a punk band. You expect them to be a bit controversial and he got a reaction from the crowd.
‘People know he speaks his mind. That’s just what they do but they were a fantastic punk band and we thought it would go down well with our crowds.’ But she admitted the festival had received complaints and said: ‘We want this to be a family event and it would have been nice if it was toned down.’
‘We
are mega. And you are Brentwood. How do we know? Because I am wearing a f***-off pretend snakeskin suit and ... you are wearing wall-to-wall f ****** Primark. ‘He totally spoilt the end’ Bob Geldof in full flow