The rat pack are back: Universal is re-releasing The Boomtown Rats' albums to mark 30 years since their formation, as Bob Geldof is also lined up to receive the Brit Awards' prize for Outstanding Contribution To Music.(Tribute)

In his book The Irish Male At Home And Abroad, Joseph O'Connor recalls the last live performance by the Boomtown Rats in Dublin, May 1986.

"They came back to play at a charity event, featuring Van Morrison, U2, The Pogues, all the great and the good of the Irish rock world," recalls O'Connor. "The Rats blew everyone away. After the main set, Geldof strolled up to the microphone for an encore. He seemed taken aback by the warmth of the crowd's affection. At first he didn't seem to know what to say. 'Well, it's been a great 10 years,' he muttered. Then, 'So, rest in peace.' The thundering drum roll began. The opening riff pounded out. The familiar chords, D, A, G, E. The last song The Boomtown Rats played in public was their first song, Geldof's hymn to snot-nosed anarchy and adolescent attitude, Looking After No. 1."

It was a fitting end for a band which had taken the attitudes to rock'n'roll that prevailed at the time and had given them a darn good shake. Some 14 hit singles, two number ones in the UK, hundreds of thousands of album sales worldwide; the Boomtown Rats were, for a time, the most successful band in the UK. And now it was over.

With hindsight, the choice of the last song to be played live by the Rats was double-edged. Sure, Looking After No. 1 was their first hit and therefore a favourite with Rats' fans. But there was something else: originally conceived as an almost nihilist rant about self-preservation and self-interest, it was now being sung by a man who, through his extraordinary drive and passion to end hunger in the poorest parts of the world, had come to symbolise for millions of people the very essence of a generous, unselfish spirit.

All this was a far cry from the band's tentative steps towards stardom, 11 years earlier in a garage behind Geldof's flat on Clyde Road in Dublin.

"Bob wasn't originally going to be our singer, he was going to be our manager," says keyboard player Johnnie Fingers. "He was more media savvy, than the rest of us, although initially we doubted his singing ability. He'd worked on a music paper in Canada, so he'd been out in the world, while we all lived at home."

The band came together as bands often do, through friends wanting to play together. Bassist Pete Briquette recalls, "Me, Gerry Cott and Johnnie--who is my first cousin--we were all at architectural college in Dublin and Simon [Crowe] was at art school, while Garry [Roberts] was into photography, his father being a photographer. Bob had just come back from Canada where he'd been doing a bit of work for a music paper and he was doing the odd thing for NME from Dublin. Myself and Gerry wanted to form a band and Johnnie was friends with Gary and they wanted to start a band. We eventually all got together in early 1975 and that became the core of the Boomtown Rats."