Bob Geldof Captures 25 Years in One-Hour SXSW Set

He was dressed appropriately for St. Patrick's Day. In a gray and green incandescent suit (sans the black and white polka dot shirt beneath), Bob Geldof, who just eight hours earlier gave his keynote speech at SXSW, performed a special March 17 concert at the ACL Live at the Moody Theater.

His wispy, gray bangs failing over his face, the Irish rocker and humanitarian brought his seven-man band, complete with all the bells and whistles -- including a violin player wearing a white fishnet shirt -- to the show. He opened with a very festive rendition of single 'The Great Song of Indifference,' a track from his earlier catalog of 1990. But Geldof wasn't forgetting newer tunes off his just-released album, 'How to Compose Popular Songs That Will Sell,' -- which, coincidentally, was the title of the panel he conducted earlier in the day.

Calling rock 'n' roll "America's great cultural gift to the world," Geldof said, pleading for more respect for the music industry during the panel. "The future might not be ours, but it's our job to shape it ... through music.

"F--- great sound. It's only great sound when it expresses the writer's intent."

But, tonight, his challenge was to play his set within an hour, something difficult for someone who has 30-plus years of music.

He prevailed, sprinkling the set with singles from his former band Boomtown Rats and some newer tunes.

The often outspoken Geldof kept mum and went straight into the music to avoid wasting the precious time he was allotted to perform. "We only have one hour and 25 years of songs to get through," he said. Geldof then told the crowd that he loved coming down to Austin with the Boomtown Rats nearly 30 years earlier when they'd play 'When the Night Comes' from album 'The Fine Art of Surfacing' -- one of several songs pulled from the 1979 release which was featured in his set that night.

Slinging his guitar behind his back, Geldof told the crowd that they would know the next song if they saw his recent performance on the 'Late Show With David Letterman,' before moving into the dark, bluesy 'How I Roll,' and then even bluesier 'Systematic 6-Pack,' both from the new album and fitting for the Austin crowd.

Though he sounded at times like Bob Dylan -- if Dylan had Mick Jagger's swagger that is -- it's clear Geldof is his own man. Perhaps most rock stars sort of morph into one another as the years move on, but the multi-faceted Geldof is clearly different, which he proved through his enlightening speech earlier in the day.

"There's nothing more daunting than to come down to what is the capital of mainstream music. Music is the way we understand ourselves, so we better keep to it."