Photo courtesy of Darren Andrews

THERE are some things that improve with age and Bob Geldof is certainly one of them. Sir Bob, dressed flamboyantly in pin-stripe suit, spotty shirt and Doc Marten's, cut a fine figure as he joked playfully with the audience about Morecambe at The Dome on  Wednesday. He said he'd grown up in a similar place in Ireland (the port town of Dunleary) and no matter where you go in the world "it never quite leaves you".

With age has come wisdom, wit and a mine of hilarious stories from his touring days with the Boomtown Rats. In his warm Irish voice, he told us that the Rats' first proper 'rock' gig outside London was in Clitheroe of all places! He said he thought he'd made it as a rock star as there were 12 people in the audience and one of them wanted to, in his words, "shag him". However, the B&B landlady, 'Mrs Miggins', wouldn't allow non-paying guests.

Bob said he was glad to see that there were still lots of Mrs Migginses left in Morecambe. But don't let me give you the impression that this gig was all chat – the greater part of the evening was crammed with blistering rock numbers, tunes influenced by traditional Irish music and hits from The Boomtown Rats' days. The Dome was packed, mainly with people in their 30s, 40s and 50s,although there were also older and younger people. Everyone lapped up Bob's gravelly yet tuneful voice, his jokes and his wry observations on love and politics. He was cute and disarmingly candid.

After a spine-tingling version of 'The Boys are Back in Town' by his friend Phil Lynott, Bob said he'd do some Boomtown Rats songs once he'd gotten to know us better. He knew how to tease the crowd that's for sure. His fellow musicians were also supremely talented. He had an amazing fiddle/mandolin player, a rock-solid lead guitarist, a brilliant keyboards player, a superb drummer and a funky bass player (original Rats' member, Pete Briquette). Fun

They were wonderful to listen to and watch as they switched from Pogues-like anthems to moving songs that Bob had written following his painful split from his wife, Paula Yates. They also looked like they'd be great fun to go out drinking with!
Bob didn't mention Band Aid but said that after splitting with Paula, a visit to Africa made him feel better (for a while). The final part of the evening was packed with Boomtown Rats classics such as Rat Trap and Mary of the Fourth Form. The latter, he explained, was written about a girl he worshipped from afar and drooled at silently for two years. He said he met her recently and she is now the PA to Bertie Ahern, the Taoiseach (PM) of Ireland. "She still didn't want to shag me," joked Bob.

But it was the all-time classic, 'I Don't Like Mondays', that everyone was waiting for. The unmistakable piano opening of the song sent the audience into a frenzy and everyone sang along at the tops of their voices. About an American teenage girl who wounded eight children and killed her school janitor and headmaster claiming she did it because she didn't like Mondays, it was and still is a remarkable ground-breaking song. On his hit Banana Republic, Bob said nobody in the 70s was talking about Government corruption or paedophile priests so they decided to write about it.

"One of the perks of getting older is that sometimes you're proved right," he said, adding that many of these people were now being investigated or were behind bars.

Bob and the band put their all into one final encore that had the audience dancing and singing joyfully. Even though Bob said, half-jokingly, that he didn't like the look of Morecambe he thought the gig had been "fun". This newly-converted fan hopes he enjoyed it enough to make a return visit.