Ok the moment you all have been waiting for. Go to the following link which will take you to the photo album on my Bebo page which is public. Jules I'm sure has already checked out my Facebook page  

http://www.bebo.com/PhotoAlbumBig.jsp?PageNbr=1&PhotoAlbumId=11085777411&MemberId=7840120655&PhotoId=11085865801 

Also here is a link to an article on the Hot Press website. They tend to have longer versions in the actual magazine. I was check the next issue & post it here if they do print a longer version.

 http://www.hotpress.com/news/5545105.html

I totally agree with you Derek that the guys should get together for a proper reunion. Wouldn't it be amazing if this tragedy made them realise life is too short & to grab opportunities when you can. When I think about my childhood & past I too have no desires to return to my homeplace & any time I have too is painful so when I think about what Bob said to those reporters I can empathise with where he is coming from. I think that is why we get so few appearances of him in Dublin.
At a quite point in the night I was reading a book of condolance & this is what Bob wrote : "You made it further than I thought! You were a great laugh! Well done on a cool life!" I took a picture but didn't think it would be appropriate to put on the net.
Suprisingly ArrGee I didn't really see that many people specifically there for Bob & the Rats. I'm sure there was a few but anyone I spoke to either was there for Dave some of the other acts. Even when Bob was on stage it was me & the press photographers at the front. I had them warned not to block my view  Maybe I just was too excited & honoured to be there too notice but other people shared my views. It could of course being the lack of publicity. If it wasn't for the post here on Friday I wouldn't have known about it. I'm not in the habit of reading the Herald!

In regards the rest of the night we also had the musical delights of Johnny Logan, Mary Coughlan who I missed due to being outside chatting to Johnny Logan. For those who don't know Johnny he won the Eurovision for us twice himself & also penned the winning song another year for us. Those were the glory years. We can't even qualify now. I asked did he ever consider performing at it again to restore our credibility but we all agreed that none of us really have an interest in it anymore  Johnny sang 3 songs. For the life of me I cannot remember what the 1st one was Second was his best eurovision song, "Hold me now" & he finally sang "Knockin on Heaven's Door" which he dedicated to Dave. When we were ouside talking after we were discussing the lack of sleep this gig would entail. He had a gig in Belgium on Saturday & had to get a plane back to Ireland after 2 hours sleep. I on the other hand had a 5am start today to get back to work for 8am! We all agreed though that it was definately worth it for such a worthy cause.
Next up on stage was a woman I never heard of called Brid Harris. She had an amazing voice & done an excellent rendition of Princes "Purple Rain". In fact I'm stunned that she isn't bigger star than she is. Finally we had the house band Stepaside to wind things down even though I'm not sure 'wind down' is the right choice of words as they did a very psychedelic version of Phil Collins "In the Air Tonight". It sounded ok but I just don't think my ears were ready for it

In reply to Scottie, yes it was very special & I know I was very lucky to be there. I hope I have done the night justice with my descriptions on the 2 posts & apologies if I went on a bit but I fancy myself as a reviewer & someday & would love to do it for a living.

Hi,

I am new on here, and have never written on one of these before, so please bear with me!  I am a close birth relation of the late Dave McHale (MacHale as I thought him to be).  I was wondering if any of you have online photos of the tribute to Dave in Blackrock.  I tried to access 'MusicMania's' from last year, but the link was gone?  I have only just learned of his death, hence the delay in finding this blog.

Thanks,

Jester