Live Germany ’78, a live CD/DVD set from the Boomtown Rats, is from the early days of the six-piece Irish band. Led by wanna-be Mick Jagger (at least at this stage of his career) and future Live Aid organizer Bob Geldof, this is a blistering double guitar punk band playing with full swagger and stripe in Germany near the end of the 70s.
The Rats face off against a sedate German crowd sitting at tables watching them on a low stage and they come out blistering with their upfront posed rage and Gary Roberts’ power chord attack. Geldof’s vocals are pretty much buried on both the DVD and CD, but he is sure fun to watch as he mugs for the camera and basically jumps through the two opening tunes “Close As You’ll Ever Be” and “Never Bite The Hand That Feeds You.”
There’s little nuisance in the 13 songs of this concert (there are two “bonus tunes” included here as well). Johnny Fingers’ piano playing is all but absent in the sound, save for oscillating keys in “Kicks” or the layers (really, the only song with layers actually) on the reggae-flavored “Joey’s On The Street Again.” The band rushes pretty much full steam ahead to the end with kinetic reads of “It’s All The Rage” “Mary Of The Fourth Form” and “Lookin’ After No. 1.” Live Germany ’78 is rounded out with a replica of a Rats’ European tour rider and a booklet of live shots.
~ Ralph Greco, Jr.
