To some he’s a modern day saint, to others he’s a loud-mouthed chancer. Sir Bob Geldof certainly divides opinion and now he’s back to do it all over again.

Bob is back on the road with a reformed Boomtown Rats, a full 26 years after their final show. The Irish boys play the O2 Academy Bournemouth on Tuesday evening playing hits such as Rat Trap and I Don’t Like Mondays.

But as Geldof explains, this wasn’t an exercise in nostalgia, but a chance to play the jagged pop songs he thinks are still as relevant today.

“I’m not interested in nostalgia. When we did get together it was weird, you know? There were sheepish smiles. But that all disappeared as soon as we started playing. And I was completely taken aback by the power of this band, this random group of individuals who met in the pub one spring evening in 1975,” says Geldof, 62.

Surfing the punk and new wave scene, The Boomtown Rats had a series of Irish and UK hits between 1977 and 1985, led by the charismatic vocalist. Before their nationwide autumn tour this year, the Boomtown Rats took to the Isle Of Wight Festival stage in June.

“When you’re young you’re not really aware of the power of your band and you don’t question success. When I opened my mouth to sing this time around, the songs struck me as completely contemporary, even though I hadn’t sung them for years. So between the power of the band and the power of its songs, I understood what had made The Boomtown Rats work in the first place. And that excited me again.”

Like Geldof, the songs have aged well. So is it a matter of regret for him that the songs he thought could change the world in the late 1970s are sadly still relevant today?

“Good question. In the 1970s, rock’n’roll had run, like the economy, into a brick wall.

“The rock stars had become bloated and only sung about their mansions and limousines. Or else there was aesthetic music like disco which asked people to dance and be happy – a bit like the dance scene now. But there was a generation of 18 to 20 year-olds who didn’t want that.”

Geldof added: “In effect there were ten bands: The Ramones, Talking Heads, Blondie, Sex Pistols, The Jam, The Clash, Elvis Costello, Ian Dury, The Stranglers and us. We were able to brush aside the old guard and suggest a different sort of place. Basically, we were all saying it can’t go on like this. Of course, in the end change came in the shape of a woman in 1979, which nobody expected. Thatcher was a radical politician, whether you agreed with her policies or not. She provoked another wave of music, and so it went on.”

Although you’d have to say an angry young Bob Geldof in 2013 would be unlikely to find a grouping of contemporary musicians to create a scene with.

“True. It wouldn’t happen now because music doesn’t have such an important social role. The diffusion of the medium via the web has meant the dilution of any sort of social impact. Yes, hip hop manages it sometimes. But pop doesn’t have the same influence. And a bunch of old lags regrouping won’t have the same impact either – and probably quite rightly.”

Despite not having the same social impact as their younger selves, Geldof is clearly excited enough to tour around the country this autumn.

“I’m doing it because I love it, because bizarrely some of these songs have lasted, to my dismay and pleasure. And all of them are as relevant now as they were then, which probably means nothing to anyone else except me. To play these cities again, in those venues whose names have changed, to a lot of people who were once kids and some new people, is pure pleasure.”

But would it be fair to say that Boomtown Rats’ music became, over the years, subsumed in the interest in him as a personality?

“You’ve hit the nail on the head, and yes, it drives me nuts. It’s all about Live Aid and if there’s any music connected with me at all it’s I Don’t Like Mondays – a good song, but there were many more where that came from.

“I couldn’t care less about being remembered, but I know it’ll be for Live Aid and that song – not bad but actually there’s so much more in the music we’ve made.

“Will anyone look back and see beyond the soap opera that has become a part of me, and ask whether the body of work I did was any good?

“That’ll never happen, sadly, and I’m jealous of the guys it happens to, that’s the truth. But that’s the way it is.”