THEATRE bosses have landed a major coup after bagging one of the biggest names in pop music to appear in Clacton later this year.

Live Aid legend and Boomtown Rats star Sir Bob Geldof will perform at the Princes Theatre on September 11.

It is one of just three dates confirmed by Geldof this year.

Princes Theatre bosses are thrilled to have booked the outspoken megastar.

A spokesman said: “We were trying to negotiate a date with him last year but, unfortunately, we were not able to secure one.

“However, his agent said he would try to sort out a date for the Princes in 2015 and now we have September 11 in the bag.”

Geldof has helped raise millions of pounds for charity.

After watching a 1984 BBC documentary on the Ethiopian famine, he was inspired to write Do They Know It’s Christmas? with Ultravox frontman Midge Ure, who also played at the Princes last year.

They persuaded some of the world’s biggest pop and rock stars to perform on the charity disc, which quickly became the best-selling single in UK history with sales of 3.75 million.

The chart-topper’s sales were only overtaken by Candle in the Wind following Princess Diana’s tragic death in 1997.

After the success of the song, Geldof was heavily involved in organising the dual Live Aid concerts at Wembley and the JFK Stadium in Philadelphia in July 1985.

Hailed as one of the greatest live shows ever, the event raised even more money for the starving in Africa.

Follow-up concert Live 8 was held in 2002 and the single has been re-released three times.

Musically, Geldof is best known for forming punk rockers the Boomtown Rats in 1975.

The classic track I Don’t Like Mondays went to number one in 1979 and was provocatively named after the answer given by a schoolgirl in San Diego when asked why she had killed her classmates.

After the Rats split, Geldof launched a solo career that included albums Deep in the Heart of Nowhere, The Vegetarians of Love and The Happy Club.

The Princes Theatre is promoting the gig as part of a rock weekend, with the late Ian Dury’s band the Blockheads playing the night before Geldof’s appearance.

Tickets for the show on September 11 are on sale now,l priced at £25, on 01255 686633.