G8 hack, Bob Geldof, cancels concerts in Italy after 'fewer than 50 people turned up to see him in Milan's 12,000-seater Arena Civica'

SKY News
Jul. 23, 2006

Anti-poverty campaigner Bob Geldof has reportedly had to cancel two concerts in Italy after too few people bought tickets.

The former Boomtown Rats singer, who organised Live 8 concerts across the world last year, had been scheduled to perform in Milan and Rome over the weekend.

But Italian newspaper La Stampa said that fewer than 50 people turned up to see him in Milan's 12,000-seater Arena Civica, prompting him to cancel the gig.

The 54-year-old Irish rocker, who said he had flown in from South Africa for the gig, sought to placate angry fans afterwards by promising to give a free concert in September.

The Rome concert, for which 300 tickets had been sold, was subsequently also scrapped.

Geldof's website only said the Rome show was cancelled and said a free show would be announced later.

Francesco Iacovone, the organiser of the two gigs, said he could not understand how the concerts could have failed to raise interest among Italian fans.

He said: "I feel we have been boycotted."

Geldof has become better known for his humanitarian work than for the music that originally made him famous.

The man behind 1985's groundbreaking Live Aid concerts - which raised millions to relieve starvation in Ethiopia - had hits with I Don't Like Mondays and Rat Race with the Boomtown Rats in the late 1970s.