![[Undertones]](/ub4.png)
Fairyhouse - see Witnness - Shockwave only site :-
![[Undertones at the Witnness 2000]](/und_wit.jpg) |
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My flight to Dublin arrived at 11. 30 Sat morning and after checking in to the hostel I headed for the Hot press Hall of fame - a museum dedicated to Irish music. There were several Undertones posters and tickets stuck on the wall and a special section dedicated to the band - excellent. Examples included the original lyrics for 'perfect cousin' hand written on sire headed paper - set list for the last ever gig at the casbah (this icluded a song I'd never heard before but I've forgotten the name now) - back stage passes and all sorts of goodies - I photographed it all but it didn't come out !! Also featured were a pair of Billy's DM's and drum sticks - it's well worth a visit if you ever go (£6).
I saw the Internet Cafe on the main street and went in to leave a message - I searched high and low inside but no sign of the expected Gold plated plaque with ' Billy Doherty (Drummer The Undertones) frequents these premises ' . Buses were laid on to take the huge queues of people to Meath - 20 minutes away. Unfortunately - but not surprisingly there weren't enough buses so loads were disappointed - myself included . I asked along the queue who wanted to share a taxi so 4 of us did. One guy was wearing a hurling shirt and I saw hundreds of these through the day - it's actually more popular than football in Ireland. Celtic shirts were obviously out in force along with - to my disgust - Man Utd - surprisingly I didn't see any Bristol City or Wimbledon.
As I queued I could hear Abba in the distance and sure enough ' Bjorn Again ' were on and pretty good too - if you're sad like me. The blonde one had the shortest possible skirt on and knickers tighter than an old Hypnotised shirt - everything was hanging out - it almost put me off buying a burger. This was a completely different crowd to the Fleadh - whereas that was hippy like this was kinder garden stuff - loads of 16-20 year olds. Next up was Jack L - if that means anything to you. Jacks greatest fan has to be himself. He arrived on stage with the black leather trousers - red shirt and Angels wings and after the first song he ripped them off and dramatically threw them to the floor- oohhhh scarey !. Towards the end of his set he introduced us to all the members of his band in that cringey manner - " ladies and gents put your hands together for Mr ----. on bass" who would then give us a 30 second solo (how original) we had to suffer this for each member ! And then the finale - " I want you all to shout LOVE " followed by " and what do we all love? we love to COME - so lets all come together "(!!!) by this time I was looking for a bucket where I could show my feelings about Jack. I suppose it could be said he's a showman but call me old fashioned (and I wouldn't argue) if a band has good songs and can play them well - thats good enough for me - you don't need the bull5h1t.
This was about to be proved by the next band--- It was time to hit the front - expectation was rising and my heart started to beat faster. The front part was actually fenced off from the rest so I had to make a slight detour to get through. My first impressions were not good. Those of you who went to the Fleadh will remember that 10 minutes prior to the band coming on they got us in the mood by playing punk and when you looked around the area suddenly became filled with 30+ year olds who were there just to see the 'tones. The front at Meath was packed - but with young kids and they were playing dance music over the system - oh dear. There was no bhom of anticipation - nothing - it was flat. Michael Bradley appeared followed by the others - no wings - no leather - no bull5h1t !! Away we go with 'You got my number' I started to dance and simply got disapproving looks from spotty kids. Almost a "what are you doing that for?" sort of attitude. There was no movement around me at all AND the ultimate insult was that a group of about 50 or so didn't even bother to stand up ! Finally something sparked a small group of these kids to start pogoing - but it was just a bit of fun for them it wasn't appreciation for the brilliant tunes coming from the stage.
It's funny how some songs on the day just seem to hit the mark and sound brilliant - this was the case with 'there goes Norman' with the Der der der der der der der bit spot on - and TK was brilliant. During the instrumental part of 'gonna happen' and ' tearproof ' the disinterested kids seemed to wake up and clapped above their heads - it seems this is what they're trained to do - although any more movement than that is strictly forbidden. A kid in front of me had a huge inflatable liquorice stick (I had to check my flies weren't undone at first) and MB used this as an intro to 'girls don't like it' !! along with pointing out a kid at the front with a Derry City shirt on.
Paul is now completely relaxed in his role as the 5th Undertone - so much so that lapses in concentration meant he missed a couple of intro's although not many noticed. As we went through the set the crowd were starting to warm to them a bit more - possibly realising this wasn't just another punk band. The young girl close to me applauded for the first time after 'Julie Ocean' and seemed to enjoy 'tearproof'.
I hardly need to say The Undertones were superb and sounded on great form yet again but sadly - with these festivals - we were restricted to 1 hour which meant dropping one of my fav's ' I Gotta Getta ' (how could they?) and ' Family Entertainment '. At the end Billy threw his drumsticks into the crowd - one was about 10 feet away from me so I siezed my chance and rose majestically like a salmon - plucked it from the sky - did a somersault and landed on my feet to gasps from the crowd. No - not really - some other guy got it and said he wouldn't sell it to me for any price as he was a huge fan (about 35). We got talking and he said he'd been to Derry in June and he'd have a t-shirt off me - luckilly I had some cards in my back pocket (as you do !).
I'd seen OCS on TGI a couple of months ago and liked what I'd heard so I hung around for them. I expected an energetic new wave style of music but they didn't have much energy at all. I gave them 4 or 5 songs but they didn't thrill me so it was time to head back to Dublin to meet a fellow West Brom supporter mate who moved there several years back.
Overall it was dissapointing because of the Venue. I don't blame the band one bit for playing these festivals I'm sure they do well from them financially and they b100dy deserve it - But it's not what they're all about from a fans point of view. Watching them where they're not fully appreciated is pretty frustrating - a bit like watching West Brom beat their local rivals 5 - 0 but I'm the only one there. Yes - the show itself is great but you need to experience it with like minded people to enjoy it at its best. 500 -1000 Undertones fans at an indoor venue is what it's all about for me - surely the band must enjoy that more also? It must be financially viable for them - and a promoter - to play a couple of such gigs. (maybe on a Sat and Sun if they're not doing their day jobs?). I wouldn't bother with Witness if it happened again - although after catching the 4.35 Dublin - Stanstead on Sun afternoon I was sitting at home at 7pm - it must have taken the band longer than that to drive home to Derry.
Giving a main stage Sat spot to a bunch of not-so-young fellas who formed over 25 years ago, sans a charismatic lead singer, with not a new song to their name, and performing in front of a crowd who were no more than frogspawn when this lot had their day – well, you’d have to say the organisers must have been struggling to fill the bill, wouldn’t you? But hang on, we’re talking the Undertones here, and this is Ireland after all. Though the ’Tones originate from Derry in the north, Ireland is Ireland and the prodigal sons had returned. Personally, it was a pleasure to hear the O’Neill brothers back up there thrashing it out, and although new vocalist Paul McLoon may not quite re-create the distinctive vocal performance of aforementioned Sharkey (who ended up an A & R man in London, affecting all the Sandr Bullocks that went with it and if I was McLoon, I wouldn’t worry too much, who’d wanna wake up in the morning and look like Sharkey?), it didn’t really matter.
This was a group with some blistering tunes, and with a band that have known each other for such a long time, the delivery was tight, faithful and more than anything they played like they were loving every minute. And the crowd came too. ‘My Perfect Cousin’, ‘Get Over You’ ‘Mars Bars’ were delivered with all the bluster of old, ‘Let’s talk about Girls’ introduced as the ‘only thing that’s really worth talking about’ (well, I could argue that but I don’t mind the odd chat on the subject myself), but of course it was always ‘Teenage Kicks’ which was always going to internet the roof off, and in honesty, the hairs on the back of head headed for the sky with the opening chord. As bassist Micheal Bradley said, '‘we once wrote a song that was quite good and it still sounds alright’ – listen mate, the things a Sherbert Dib Dabing classic and will stand up until the day the world dies.It even roused a fella sprawled out for the count below me, dreaming his way through the day, almost drowning in a pool of his own making, by the first chorus he was up, though sadly his legs didn’t join him, and struggle as he might he at least kept it up till the middle eight before returning earthwards with a terrible crash.
Well done boys, nice to see you back.
PAUL WELLER and a reformed UNDERTONES, albeit minus original lead singer FEARGal SHARKEY, are the latest names to be added to the bill for the two day Witnness festival in Ireland this summer.
They will join Beck, Travis, Ocean Colour Scene, Death In Vegas, Super Furry Animals, Asian Dub Foundation, Groove Armada, Happy Mondays and David Gray already confirmed for August 5 & 6 at Fairyhouse Racecourse in County Meath, just north of Dublin.
It will mark Weller's only Irish appearance of the summer and The Undertones second confirmed festival appearance since they got back together. As at the London Fleadh on June 10, local Derry man Paul McLoon will take Fergal Sharkey's role on vocals.
Meanwhile Weller, who shares a split cover on the NME.com this week (April 15) with a London only edition featuring Ken Livingstone, is expected to go straight to No. 1 in Britain on Sun (April 16) with 'Heliocentric' his fifth solo album.
For tickets to Witnness, go to the NME.com Ticketshop - click here
Or call the NME.com 24-Hour Ticketline on 0870 1 663 663. Calls are charged at national standard rate.
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