Industry pays tribute to Geldof

Some of Ireland's youngest music stars turned out last night to honour one of the most celebrated of their number, Bob Geldof.

Geldof received the Irish Recorded Music Association (Irma) honour for his contribution to Irish music at a function in Dublin's Citywest Hotel.

The Irma award was a reminder that he first came to fame as lead singer with The Boomtown Rats in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The band released their first single, Looking After Number One, in 1977. It was an instant hit and they followed it with their first award-winning album, The Boomtown Rats.

The Rats, with Geldof as frontman, scored Ireland's first ever number one hit in the UK with Rat Trap. This sparked a string of hits which also included another number one, I Don't Like Mondays.

Geldof reminded the gathering of his own abilities as a musician by playing four songs, Rat Trap, I Don't Like Mondays, Indifferent and Banana Republic to what can only be described as a tumultuous reception.

Irma chairman Willie Kavanagh said the decision to award Geldof was unanimous. "He is a legend both nationally and internationally."

Geldof declared that The Rats were the first of the moderns. "I tried to imagine a different Ireland" he said, "a country I wanted to live in rather than leave.

"Then we began to articulate that other Ireland and the need for change - and gradually after we had gone it began to happen."

U2 frontman Bono also paid tribute to Geldof. "I was watching TV at home and Geldof came on," he said. "I couldn't leave it.

"He was on fire, a force of nature. Finally I heard my generation articulated."

Guests included You're A Star winner Lucia Evans and her boyfriend Shane; Diarmuid Gavin; The Thrills; and girl-band Triniti, who made the news this week after landing a €5 million record deal.

Geldof's work for good causes was not forgotten on the night. The beneficiaries of the function were Our Lady's Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin, The Chernobyl Children's Project and the Irish Recorded Music Association Trust.