U2: No Fatal Hesitation a Second Time
By BRENDAN FLYNN
In the late Seventies, Dublin's economy was bustling and it was an opportune time to leave work, move from Wicklow to Glasnevin to complete an engineering diploma in Bolton Street's College of Technology.
Every day it seemed as if the Bagatelle song Summer in Dublin thronged the air from Grafton Street to Parnell’s monument, from Capel Street to the Borough of Dun Laoghaire.
Disco was in and everyone wanted to be seen at Tomangos “cause that’s where the gang goes.”
On the opposite side of the music spectrum Celtic music was “trad” and O'Donaghues in Baggot Street, The Purty Kitchen were never empty. Many chose one or the other as their musical medium.
It was “hip” to hop in a HIACE van to Lisdoonvarna in Clare or Ballysodare in Sligo to hear Moving Hearts or Christy Moore, Dolores Keane or Ralph McTell sing precious ballads listening in an open field, enjoying the craic and drinkin pints “to beat the band.”
The kings of Irish rock were the Rats or as the Montenotti masses would say, The Boomtown Rats and Bob Geldoff whose anthem to laziness I don’t like Mondays became a classic. On a weekend in Leixlip, the crowds came to see them play live. Bob had come back from Vancouver after writing for The Georgia Straight. Little did we know.
Back in the city, four lads looked in a music shop window eying an amplifier they needed and in the process their lead singer Paul Hewson was permanently named “Bono Vox” after the unit on display. Stardom was around the corner and the choice of the Latin verbiage was apt indeed for when translated the words mean “good voice.” Surely “good” has been the understatement.
DART, (Dublin Area Rapid Transit) in its infancy was a success for commuters from Bray on the Southside to Howth on the North side. “It’s so handy,” many would say “to get on the DART,” but would follow up with “I’m sure glad Finglas isn’t the Capital of Ireland.”
In college we would return to class from the basement canteen with dozens of student ads enticing us to do this and join that and nothing was for free.
“Are you going to see You Two?” one lad shouted.
“You who?”
“They're a bleedin’ great band.”
“Nah, I’ve heard enough in here to last a lifetime. I don’t need to listen to bleedin’ you know who or whatever you call them. Give me Mark Knoppler.”
“For cryin’ out loud, their name is U....2.....as in the name of the rocket.”
“Nah, I can’t be bothered. I got to study that weekend.”
Fatal Hesitation – the opportunity of seeing the world’s greatest rock band discarded in an instant.
Exam weekend came and over in England Liverpool FC were unbeatable. Basil Fawlty was the funniest thing since sliced bread, and at Wembley stadium Manchester United made a come back until Liam Brady made one of his most exquisite passes ever to give Arsenal victory over United in one of the greatest FA Cup finals ever. We could live off that for years.
In May 1979, U2 played out The Dandelion car park in Stephen green. This year we returned for lunch to the same spot after Dublin's St. Patrick’s Day parade with three quarters of a million watching. Only now The Dandelion is replaced by St. Stephens Green Centre. How time passes.
After exams, Glasnevin would be miles away as we traveled around Missouri selling ice cream to parched kids under the summer sun of the U.S. Midwest. By summer’s end California beckoned as we crossed through New Mexico and Arizona in the desert in a souped up Dodge.
But we got there too soon. We missed our chance to see the foursome from Dublin known as U2 when they played in the desert sun to a totally enthralled audience. An album called The Joshua Tree followed named after the venue and within weeks, U2 was considered one of the greatest rock bands of all time. Not long afterwards, they were on the front cover of Time magazine.
As the Eighties passed, Dublin’s music scene changed for the better, with every band trying to emulate the music and the sound of U2. In Ballyfermot – the hard part of town – bands saw U2 as a way out, as an escape to success or to just an escape from the misery of living in Dublin’s most famed failed development.
When a chance to see U2 came around again, there was no fatal hesitation this time. We were going to see Bono, Larry Mullins Jr, The Edge and Adam Clayton. It only took 25 years before the opportunity of seeing them play live came around again.
In Vancouver’s GM place, Bono and the boys put on a tremendous show of music and light to send so many away delighted on their Vertigo tour of 2005. Wonderful concert. Funny you should mention it though, guess who is playing in the FA Cup final this year?
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