Leopardstown review 11 August 2016

noelindublin · Loudmouth

Leopardstown review 11 August 2016

Jules · The biggest Geldof fan in the world, bar none!

Absolutely agree. The only change to the set was Looking After No 1 was an encore, penultimate track (before The Boomtown Rats). I thought it was going to be dropped again. Nice shift.

Joe · Like Clockwork

I like Fingers honesty. I reckon they staged the ban!

http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/the-boomtown-rats-play-the-racecourse-at-long-last-1.2751655

The Boomtown Rats play the racecourse at long last

They were the shows that never happened. Now, nearly 40 years after Bob Geldofs band were meant to play at Leopardstown, the group are finally taking to its stage

When Bob Geldof flies into Dublin for the Boomtown Rats show at Leopardstown today he will have strong memories of the last time he arrived in the city for a Boomtown Rats concert at the racecourse.

It was February 20th, 1980, when, as RTÉ reported, hundreds of fans mobbed the band as they walked from the tarmac to the airport terminal. Such was the clamour around King Rat that Geldof became isolated for a while from his chauffeur- driven Mercedes.

At the time the Rats were a very big deal indeed. They had become the first Irish band to have a UK No 1. Rat Trap was also the first UK new wave music No 1. The subsequent single I Dont Like Mondays had become a global hit, and for their glorious homecoming the Rats had sold all 7,500 tickets for two shows at Leopardstown, to take place on February 22nd and 23rd.

Whereas these days Geldof happily describes himself as a private-equity whore, back in 1980 when he was 29 and could still fit into his snakeskin stage suits he was the gobby punk rocker who had disgraced himself and his family in front of the nation when he appeared on The Late Late Show denouncing Ireland as clergy-ridden and politically corrupt.

And he announced that he had helped form The Boomtown Rats only in order to get rich, get famous and get laid.

As he had done more than his share of annoying, criticising and provoking the great and good of the land, it perhaps came as no surprise that the District Court refused to grant a licence for the Rats homecoming shows. There were loudly voiced concerns that bishops and Fianna Fáil ministers were behind it all.

Geldof readily accepted his martyrdom, later writing that official Ireland was punishing the Rats for his scabrous pronouncements from the Late Late pulpit. As he faced the press at Dublin Airport two days before the now-cancelled gigs, an unlikely ally leaped to his defence: the RUC.

The Rats had just played two sold-out shows at the Ulster Hall, and so impeccably behaved were band and audience that the RUC, according to Geldof, rang up Dublin . . . and said the two Rats shows were the best ever conducted in Belfast.

At the same airport press conference he added that, because of Leopardstown being cancelled, Its now quite clear that we are not welcome in Dublin. We are not welcome in the city where we were born, where we lived and where we started as a band. We have been rejected on a grand scale. We will now sadly have to regard our gigs in Belfast as our true homecoming. We dont need to prove ourselves to anybody; we have proved ourselves to the world. We can play in Bangkok, we can play in London, play in Paris, but we cant play in Dublin.

The band retired to Blooms Hotel, in Temple Bar, to try to figure out an alternative venue for a big homecoming show. This was the countrys rehearsal for Saipan. While the young people just wanted to enjoy themselves at a music concert, others regarded the filth and fury of these self-styled new-wave musicians as inappropriate in a country still coming down from the religious high of Pope John Paul IIs visit, five tremulous months earlier.

But far from being degenerate punks, the six-piece Rats were all nice middle-class boys from Glenageary, in south Co Dublin, and it was at Blackrock College, not CBGB, that some of them were educated.

But when news emerged, to consternation, that the marquee in which the Rats had planned to perform at Leopardstown was the same tent that the pope had used as his disrobing marquee in the Phoenix Park, the will-they-wont-they saga took a twist. People wondered whether the popes tent had been deconsecrated.

While Geldof held court in Blooms Hotel, telling journalists that he had been vilified and banned from playing in his own shoddy and second-rate country, it became clear that the siege of Anglesea Street wouldnt be lifted until the Rats were allowed to play.

If the RUC were an unlikely ally, the man who stepped in to keep Ireland safe for rocknroll was an equally strange bedfellow. Desmond Guinness, owner of Leixlip Castle, would allow his substantial back garden to be overrun by punk ruffians for a fee. Guinness said that although this wasnt quite his type of music, he wanted to see people enjoying themselves.

On March 2nd, 1980, Geldof strode on to a hastily erected stage at the castle and waited for the screams of 10,000 fans to abate. He grabbed the mic and said just two words: Who won?

That morning at Blooms Geldof had been woken by the sound of traffic on the Liffey quays. He went to the window and looked down approvingly as throngs of people clambered aboard a fleet of buses that CIÉ had laid on to transport the thousands to Leixlip.

An up-and-coming local music journalist called Niall Stokes reviewed the Leixlip show for New Musical Express. After weeks of legal wrangling and public confusion, the Boomtown Rats finally found a home for their return . . . The band had taken on the combined forces of ignorance and prejudice, finally coming out on top . . . Throughout the sorry mess the band had been cast in the role of flag-bearers for a culture so obviously seen as a threat by the local establishment . . . The Boomtown Rats are a potentially powerful vehicle for influencing teenage sons and daughters.

Johnnie Fingers aka John Moylett the bands keyboardist, remembers the media outcry the most. We were holed up in Blooms Hotel, waiting for the gig to be rearranged, and because we were very much in the public eye at the time, a big thing was made of the Dublin heroes coming home. The headlines had it that the Rats were banned from playing in their own hometown and I remember Reuters picked up on the story and it became big international news . . . The story really got out of control, and we were front-page news every day.

Contrary to what is still believed, Moylett says the band were extraordinarily relieved when the Leopardstown show was cancelled. The ticket sales werent doing great at all; it would have been a complete disaster. I distinctly recall us feeling very lucky that the council did refuse us a licence. By the time Leixlip happened we had been front-page news for 10 days, so we had a 10,000-strong sell-out.

The Boomtown Rats then manager, Fachtna OCeallaigh, remembers the cabin fever of 10 days in Blooms Hotel with the international press waiting outside. I went out with Geldof, and the media posse, to Leopardstown racecourse, and I remember him standing on a wall and stating that The Boomtown Rats would not leave Dublin until they had played their homecoming show.

OCeallaigh recalls the suggestion at the time that people would go crazy and lose their heads if the Rats were allowed to play. As for the eventual Leixlip show, he found Guinness to be very accommodating, but the performance itself was marred by poor security arrangements and an audience being pumped up by bad cider and cheap speed.

It was the only show we ever did where it was a case of the band leaving the stage and getting straight into a waiting van and going direct to the airport, OCeallaigh says. There was no sense of triumph at all, just a sense of relief. The expression I heard most in the van out of Leixlip was, Jesus Christ. Thank God its over.

Moylett, who now lives in Tokyo, where he runs the Fuji Rock Festival Asias Glastonbury agrees.

It was a mad show: the crowd was completely wild and out of control. During our first song I jumped up, in wild pogo style, and when I came down I went halfway through the stage. I had to get pulled back up by the road crew. The hole got covered up with a sheet of chipboard, and we continued.

Jules · The biggest Geldof fan in the world, bar none!

Photos from Leopardstown
www.facebook.com/thehippyangel/media_set

TheTopHat · The BoomTown Kid

Hi,

I went to Leopardstown, brought my son, and hoped for something which would massage my memories while giving him the experience of front row excitement. With 15 minutes to go to the start we were standing at the front of the stage thinking there's nobody really here. After the first song I looked around and the place was packed. The music was superb, we were both blown away.... BLOWN AWAY!

A nice english lady tried to spark up a friendly conversation with us after the end of the gig saying to my son "Your dad must be a big fan". He smiled and said yeah,.... I couldn't speak.

Looking at your photos we were standing beside you Jules, Irene. Sorry for not recognizing.

Best regards,

Nicky

Jules · The biggest Geldof fan in the world, bar none!

We were front row middle, I was between Irene and Musicmania. Probably close. Pity we didn't get to say hello. Next time.

noelindublin · Loudmouth

TheTopHat wrote:
Hi,
I went to Leopardstown, brought my son, and hoped for something which would massage my memories while giving him the experience of front row excitement. With 15 minutes to go to the start we were standing at the front of the stage thinking there's nobody really here. After the first song I looked around and the place was packed. The music was superb, we were both blown away.... BLOWN AWAY!
A nice english lady tried to spark up a friendly conversation with us after the end of the gig saying to my son "Your dad must be a big fan". He smiled and said yeah,.... I couldn't speak.
Looking at your photos we were standing beside you Jules, Irene. Sorry for not recognizing.
Best regards,
Nicky

It was absolutely jam packed, a fitting 'homecoming' for the band. They really must play in Dun Laoghaire itself. It's the fourth successful gig the Rats have played in Dublin since they 'regrouped', and for me perhaps the best. I think the Sunday night at Vicar St was fantasic, after being there on the Saturday night too.

The Rats are the best band ever out of Ireland and also the best band ever in the whole world.Leopardtown just confirmed that. smile

-- Edited by noelindublin on Monday 15th of August 2016 11:34:35 AM

noelindublin · Loudmouth

Joe wrote:
I like Fingers honesty. I reckon they staged the ban!
http://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/the-boomtown-rats-play-the-racecourse-at-long-last-1.2751655
The Boomtown Rats play the racecourse at long last
They were the shows that never happened. Now, nearly 40 years after Bob Geldofs band were meant to play at Leopardstown, the group are finally taking to its stage
When Bob Geldof flies into Dublin for the Boomtown Rats show at Leopardstown today he will have strong memories of the last time he arrived in the city for a Boomtown Rats concert at the racecourse.
It was February 20th, 1980, when, as RTÉ reported, hundreds of fans mobbed the band as they walked from the tarmac to the airport terminal. Such was the clamour around King Rat that Geldof became isolated for a while from his chauffeur- driven Mercedes.
At the time the Rats were a very big deal indeed. They had become the first Irish band to have a UK No 1. Rat Trap was also the first UK new wave music No 1. The subsequent single I Dont Like Mondays had become a global hit, and for their glorious homecoming the Rats had sold all 7,500 tickets for two shows at Leopardstown, to take place on February 22nd and 23rd.
Whereas these days Geldof happily describes himself as a private-equity whore, back in 1980 when he was 29 and could still fit into his snakeskin stage suits he was the gobby punk rocker who had disgraced himself and his family in front of the nation when he appeared on The Late Late Show denouncing Ireland as clergy-ridden and politically corrupt.
And he announced that he had helped form The Boomtown Rats only in order to get rich, get famous and get laid.
As he had done more than his share of annoying, criticising and provoking the great and good of the land, it perhaps came as no surprise that the District Court refused to grant a licence for the Rats homecoming shows. There were loudly voiced concerns that bishops and Fianna Fáil ministers were behind it all.
Geldof readily accepted his martyrdom, later writing that official Ireland was punishing the Rats for his scabrous pronouncements from the Late Late pulpit. As he faced the press at Dublin Airport two days before the now-cancelled gigs, an unlikely ally leaped to his defence: the RUC.
The Rats had just played two sold-out shows at the Ulster Hall, and so impeccably behaved were band and audience that the RUC, according to Geldof, rang up Dublin . . . and said the two Rats shows were the best ever conducted in Belfast.
At the same airport press conference he added that, because of Leopardstown being cancelled, Its now quite clear that we are not welcome in Dublin. We are not welcome in the city where we were born, where we lived and where we started as a band. We have been rejected on a grand scale. We will now sadly have to regard our gigs in Belfast as our true homecoming. We dont need to prove ourselves to anybody; we have proved ourselves to the world. We can play in Bangkok, we can play in London, play in Paris, but we cant play in Dublin.
The band retired to Blooms Hotel, in Temple Bar, to try to figure out an alternative venue for a big homecoming show. This was the countrys rehearsal for Saipan. While the young people just wanted to enjoy themselves at a music concert, others regarded the filth and fury of these self-styled new-wave musicians as inappropriate in a country still coming down from the religious high of Pope John Paul IIs visit, five tremulous months earlier.
But far from being degenerate punks, the six-piece Rats were all nice middle-class boys from Glenageary, in south Co Dublin, and it was at Blackrock College, not CBGB, that some of them were educated.
But when news emerged, to consternation, that the marquee in which the Rats had planned to perform at Leopardstown was the same tent that the pope had used as his disrobing marquee in the Phoenix Park, the will-they-wont-they saga took a twist. People wondered whether the popes tent had been deconsecrated.
While Geldof held court in Blooms Hotel, telling journalists that he had been vilified and banned from playing in his own shoddy and second-rate country, it became clear that the siege of Anglesea Street wouldnt be lifted until the Rats were allowed to play.
If the RUC were an unlikely ally, the man who stepped in to keep Ireland safe for rocknroll was an equally strange bedfellow. Desmond Guinness, owner of Leixlip Castle, would allow his substantial back garden to be overrun by punk ruffians for a fee. Guinness said that although this wasnt quite his type of music, he wanted to see people enjoying themselves.
On March 2nd, 1980, Geldof strode on to a hastily erected stage at the castle and waited for the screams of 10,000 fans to abate. He grabbed the mic and said just two words: Who won?
That morning at Blooms Geldof had been woken by the sound of traffic on the Liffey quays. He went to the window and looked down approvingly as throngs of people clambered aboard a fleet of buses that CIÉ had laid on to transport the thousands to Leixlip.
An up-and-coming local music journalist called Niall Stokes reviewed the Leixlip show for New Musical Express. After weeks of legal wrangling and public confusion, the Boomtown Rats finally found a home for their return . . . The band had taken on the combined forces of ignorance and prejudice, finally coming out on top . . . Throughout the sorry mess the band had been cast in the role of flag-bearers for a culture so obviously seen as a threat by the local establishment . . . The Boomtown Rats are a potentially powerful vehicle for influencing teenage sons and daughters.
Johnnie Fingers aka John Moylett the bands keyboardist, remembers the media outcry the most. We were holed up in Blooms Hotel, waiting for the gig to be rearranged, and because we were very much in the public eye at the time, a big thing was made of the Dublin heroes coming home. The headlines had it that the Rats were banned from playing in their own hometown and I remember Reuters picked up on the story and it became big international news . . . The story really got out of control, and we were front-page news every day.
Contrary to what is still believed, Moylett says the band were extraordinarily relieved when the Leopardstown show was cancelled. The ticket sales werent doing great at all; it would have been a complete disaster. I distinctly recall us feeling very lucky that the council did refuse us a licence. By the time Leixlip happened we had been front-page news for 10 days, so we had a 10,000-strong sell-out.
The Boomtown Rats then manager, Fachtna OCeallaigh, remembers the cabin fever of 10 days in Blooms Hotel with the international press waiting outside. I went out with Geldof, and the media posse, to Leopardstown racecourse, and I remember him standing on a wall and stating that The Boomtown Rats would not leave Dublin until they had played their homecoming show.
OCeallaigh recalls the suggestion at the time that people would go crazy and lose their heads if the Rats were allowed to play. As for the eventual Leixlip show, he found Guinness to be very accommodating, but the performance itself was marred by poor security arrangements and an audience being pumped up by bad cider and cheap speed.
It was the only show we ever did where it was a case of the band leaving the stage and getting straight into a waiting van and going direct to the airport, OCeallaigh says. There was no sense of triumph at all, just a sense of relief. The expression I heard most in the van out of Leixlip was, Jesus Christ. Thank God its over.
Moylett, who now lives in Tokyo, where he runs the Fuji Rock Festival Asias Glastonbury agrees.
It was a mad show: the crowd was completely wild and out of control. During our first song I jumped up, in wild pogo style, and when I came down I went halfway through the stage. I had to get pulled back up by the road crew. The hole got covered up with a sheet of chipboard, and we continued.

Yeah I read that a few days ago. Fingers saying that the original Leopardtown ticket sales were pretty slow, and that if the gig had gone ahead it would have been 'an absolute disaster'. That seems strange on the back of 2 British number one singles, and Geldof's very high profile at the time. Still I have always felt that the Rats have never really got the praise they diserve in their native country. Maybe the weather in February was a factor though I doubt it.I wonder what Geldof's version of events is, and has he anything to say about the poor ticket sales for the originla gig?

Anyway if what Fingers is saying is true, and I have no reason to doubt him(he was there after all)it was some 'coup' in the annals of rock and roll to get 10 days worth of free publicity in the Irish High Court.BP Fallon (Rats publicist) would be proud.Anyway all's well that ends well, as last Thursday proved.

-- Edited by noelindublin on Monday 15th of August 2016 11:47:53 AM

musicmania · A Hold of Me

Great concert, with an amazing atmosphere! One of those glad I was there moments. We had a wonderful meetup too. I love pre-concert meetups with like minded people. The band were in excellent form, and seemed to enjoy the concert as much as we did.

Here are my photos from the night. It was nice to have no camera police!

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10154032542578401.1073742074.708703400&type=1&l=a1549c320b

noelindublin · Loudmouth

musicmania wrote:
Great concert, with an amazing atmosphere! One of those glad I was there moments. We had a wonderful meetup too. I love pre-concert meetups with like minded people. The band were in excellent form, and seemed to enjoy the concert as much as we did.

Here are my photos from the night. It was nice to have no camera police!
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10154032542578401.1073742074.708703400&type=1&l=a1549c320b

Brilliant photos, especially the last one in the set. Rats are back in Ireland on Friday 25 March Belfast Mandela Hall and Saturday 26th March Dublin Olympia. Great that both gigs are at the weekend.

musicmania · A Hold of Me

noelindublin wrote:
Brilliant photos, especially the last one in the set. Rats are back in Ireland on Friday 25 March Belfast Mandela Hall and Saturday 26th March Dublin Olympia. Great that both gigs are at the weekend.

Thanks! I will be at the one in Dublin for sure. Belfast will depend on funds/a miracle!

manatthetop · In the Long Grass

Mandela hall only holds about 400 ? They sold out Ulster hall in 2013 which hols 2,500 The good thing about the Mandela hall ism ur right up close to the group and it's seating Geldof played this in 2005 and he said that it was like a small Ulster hall. Look forward to this

manatthetop · In the Long Grass

musicmania wrote:
Great concert, with an amazing atmosphere! One of those glad I was there moments. We had a wonderful meetup too. I love pre-concert meetups with like minded people. The band were in excellent form, and seemed to enjoy the concert as much as we did.

Here are my photos from the night. It was nice to have no camera police!
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10154032542578401.1073742074.708703400&type=1&l=a1549c320b

Great images thank u for putting them up

Mark L · Loudmouth

https://www.goss.ie/pics-bob-geldof-puts-one-hell-show-leopardstown/

Not much of a review, but crikey, Geldof only looks about 48 in the group photo!

noelindublin · Loudmouth

manatthetop wrote:
Mandela hall only holds about 400 ? They sold out Ulster hall in 2013 which hols 2,500 The good thing about the Mandela hall ism ur right up close to the group and it's seating Geldof played this in 2005 and he said that it was like a small Ulster hall. Look forward to this

Never been there but their website and a few other sources say it's 400 seated and 'up to 1,000 standing'. They should be able to sell a thousand tickets standing capacity. Way to early to say if I can make it to this one, but I'm surprised they are coming back to Ireland so soon.They went down a storm in Leopardstown and the band knew that people were on their side- a brilliant reception, I still can't get over it.

Derek The Dane · V Deep

I am looking at going to Dublin in March,anyone else interested?.

manatthetop · In the Long Grass

noelindublin wrote:
manatthetop wrote:
Mandela hall only holds about 400 ? They sold out Ulster hall in 2013 which hols 2,500 The good thing about the Mandela hall ism ur right up close to the group and it's seating Geldof played this in 2005 and he said that it was like a small Ulster hall. Look forward to this
Never been there but their website and a few other sources say it's 400 seated and 'up to 1,000 standing'. They should be able to sell a thousand tickets standing capacity. Way to early to say if I can make it to this one, but I'm surprised they are coming back to Ireland so soon.They went down a storm in Leopardstown and the band knew that people were on their side- a brilliant reception, I still can't get over it.

Yeah agree with you this will sell out. And your right It's nice to see the Rats on home turf. One great wee band that never got the top spot this should have gotten. The like's of U2 got that. For why I will never know?