It was the night Sir Bob Geldof had to fight for top billing with a Dundee furniture exhibition.
A clash of dates between the chart-topping Boomtown Rats at the Caird Hall and the table and chairs on show at the Marryat Hall triggered incredible scenes 40 years ago this week in October 1979.
Because the two halls were in the same building, entry to one allowed easy access to the other.
All of the 2,200 Boomtown Rats £3.50 tickets were sold out for the Saturday night gig within six hours of going on sale.
Ticketless fans who were desperate to see the gig decided to brush up on their knowledge of Chippendale and Objet d’Art in a bid to gain entry.
Unable to work out just how many of those queuing up liked rattan rather than the Rats, the district council eventually decided enough was enough.
They pulled the shutters down at the Marryat Hall and turned away 100 people who arrived on the Saturday night.
In The Courier at the time, Harold Rubidge, director of civic amenities, defended the decision to act before there was a Boomtown spat.
He said: “There was nothing we could do about it in the circumstances.
“The problem we had was how to distinguish between those people coming to the exhibition and those who may have been trying to sneak into the concert at the Caird Hall.
“With over 2,000 people queuing to get into the Caird Hall, that obviously took precedence.”
The Boomtown Rats – Sir Bob on vocals, Pete Briquette on bass, Simon Crowe on drums and Garry Roberts on guitar – became one of the biggest bands of the late 70s/ early 80s, with a string of Top 10 hits and platinum albums.
Making history as the first Irish band to have a UK No 1 hit with RatTrap, they went on to top the charts in 32 Countries with I Don’t Like Mondays and racked up six era-defining albums.
Former Radio Tay DJ Pat Kelly said of the October 6 1979 gig: “The Rats had been around for a few years when they played the Dundee gig.
“In fact their earliest known gigs began in 1975. Geldof was always known to be a bit controversial.
“When the Rats reached number 1 in the charts with Rat Trap, Geldof was seen yawning, then tearing up a picture of John Travolta on Top of the Pops.
“The band had just taken over the top spot from Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, who were there for weeks.
“The furniture incident was certainly quirky and only Dundee could do that.
“Luckily the punks were well behaved that night or the police could have been waiting with a Rat Trap for any offenders.”
After the concert in Dundee in 1979, Sir Bob was spotted in the Chinese takeaway in the Nethergate with girlfriend Paula Yates.
Sir Bob, who went on to become the band leader of Live Aid, returned to the Caird Hall stage in 2002 to receive an honorary degree from Dundee University.
In November 2013 the Boomtown Rats returned to Dundee to perform at Fat Sam’s Live after the band reformed for a series of farewell gigs after splitting up in 1986.
