Fans’ bid to see the Boomtown ‘Marry-Rats’ foiled in Dundee

Event next door to Caird Hall sell-out used in bid to sneak in to gig

It was the night Sir Bob Geldof had to fight for top billing with a Dundee furniture exhibition.

A clash of dates between the charttopping Boomtown Rats at the Caird Hall and the table and chairs on show at the Marryat Hall triggered incredible scenes 40 years ago in October 1979.

Because the two halls were in the same building, entry to one allowed easy access to the other.

All 2,200 Boomtown Rats tickets were sold out for the Saturday night gig within six hours of going on sale.

Ticketless fans who were desperate to see the gig decided to brush up on their knowledge of Chippendale and Objet d’Art in a bid to gain entry.

Unable to work out just how many of those queuing up liked rattan rather than the Rats, the district council eventually decided enough was enough.

They pulled the shutters down at the Marryat Hall and turned away 100 people who arrived on Saturday night.

In The Courier at the time, Harold Rubidge, director of civic amenities, defended the decision to act before there was a Boomtown spat.

He said: “There was nothing we could do about it in the circumstances.

“The problem we had was how to distinguish between those people coming to the exhibition and those who may have been trying to sneak into the concert at the Caird Hall.

“With over 2,000 people queuing to get into the Caird Hall, that obviously took precedence.”

The Boomtown Rats became one of the biggest bands of the late ’70s/early ’80s, with a string of Top 10 hits.

Former Radio Tay DJ Pat Kelly said of the October 6 1979 gig: “The Rats had been around for a few years when they played the Dundee gig.

“The furniture incident was certainly quirky and only Dundee could do that.”

After the concert in Dundee in 1979, Sir Bob was spotted in the Chinese takeaway in the Nethergate with girlfriend Paula Yates.

Getty Images.