Self-indulgence beckons ... Sir Bob Geldof at Live8
Photograph: Dan Chung
As any reality star could tell him, just because you're familiar to millions doesn't mean they'll part with money to see you. So Bob Geldof is left with egg on his face after selling 45 tickets out of 12,000 for a concert in Milan.
It was a similar story in Rome and Sicily. "Il flop" - as the newspaper Corriere della Sera dubbed the cancelled Milan show - has been blamed on the 40-euro ticket prices, and on the moroseness of Geldof's music, to which he retorted: "At my age, I want to be free to do what I want."
Good for him, but he has to be wondering whether it's worth persisting with music at all, given not just the Italian snub but global indifference to his solo career from the very start.
He was bathed in public goodwill after Live Aid, but still had to settle for a lacklustre 25 in the charts when he released his first single in 1986, while the accompanying album schlepped to 79.
Worse than that must have been the knowledge that, without Live Aid, he'd have been lucky if they'd charted at all. They owed their relative success to the feeling that he deserved a favour in return for Live Aid. Nobody expressed much enthusiasm for the stolid guitar-pop music itself.
Two decades later, with Live8 in his recent past, he may have expected another outpouring of affection, but the public evidently feels less of an obligation now - perhaps because he already indulged himself by performing I Don't Like Mondays at that event. Are people thinking, "You've already sung your most famous song in front of an audience far bigger than your music merits, so geddof, Geldof"?
It must pain him to witness the continuing massive success of his partner-in-goodness Bono. The last time U2 failed to hit number one with an album was a brief number two blip 15 years ago. There's bound to be the occasional surge of bitterness about that, and a creeping suspicion that people his daughters' age see him as the sad dad who insists on rocking with the kids.
So there are persuasive arguments in favour of him giving up music altogether, but, like almost everyone who's ever made music for a living, he's probably not about to stop. Not while there are 45 people still happy to pay to see him. Geldof plans to make up for the cancelled Italian shows with a free gig in September, and what do you want to bet that he'll decide he's got another album in him yet?
