Bob Geldof will rejoin The Boomtown Rats for the first time since the band split in 1986 to play the U.K.’s Isle of Wight Festival this summer, saying in a statement on the fest’s website, “We were an amazing band and I just feel it’s the right time to re-Rat, to go back to Boomtown for a visit.”

The Replacements — namely Paul Westerberg, Tommy Stinson and Chris Mars — raised more than $100,000 to help pay medical expenses for their ailing former bandmate Slim Dunlap through the just-completed 10-day auction of 250 limited-edition, 10-inch vinyl copies of the band’s 5-song reunion EP.

With an April tour of the U.K. expected to be announced Wednesday, The House of Love is now previewing two tracks off its upcoming sixth album, ‘She Paints Words in Red,’ on the band’s official Facebook page. Currently streaming are 1-minute samples of opening song “A Baby Got Back on its Feet” and the title track.

Paisley Underground mainstays Rain Parade have reunited after 25 years, performing Saturday night at The Earl in Atlanta during a benefit concert to raise money to help Bobby Sutliff, singer/guitarist/songwriter for ’80s contemporaries The Windbreakers, who was seriously injured in a car accident last summer.

You can’t say they’re not persistent: Organizers of the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival apparently continue to make offers to land a reunion of The Smiths to headline the annual festival, with Morrissey reporting this week that he has yet again turned down an offer to have the defunct indie giants top the 2013 bill.

The auction of 250 autographed copies of The Replacements’ much-buzzed Songs for Slim benefit/reunion EP — billed as the first new release from the ‘Mats since 1990’s All Shook Down — kicks off Tuesday morning and will run for 10 days, after which the EP’s five tracks will be commercially released as digital downloads.

The Specials finally are making good on a promise to tour the U.S., today announcing they’ll play two dates at the South By Southwest festival in March as part of the first leg of a larger North American visit — but the shows will not feature co-vocalist Neville Staple, who is leaving the band due to “ill health.”