It was great seeing The Blades' "reunion" gigs at the Olympia Theatre this weekend. Not a full reunion really, but a two-off, so we're told. It was a fantastic couple of nights.
Back in the '80s The Blades were Dublin's best band, and I was lucky enough to have seen them as a three-piece at the Magnet on Pearse Street - that's like saying you were in the GPO in '16 or, more important, at the Sex Pistols in the Hope and Anchor in '77.
They also played residencies in McGonagles and the Baggot Inn, had slots in Harcourt Street's TV Club, and played their farewell Dublin gig in the Olympic Ballroom, Camden Street, in 1986.
Inspired by the Beatles as a kid, and the Sex Pistols, The Clash and The Jam as a teenager, Paul Cleary - the band's songwriter - was one of the best around. A look at the lyrics of "Tears that tell the truth" - along with a listen to that brilliant bass run - will confirm that for you.
Here's a snippet captured with my own fair hand at the Saturday gig, a song called Boy One:
The Blades and their contemporaries, U2, shared the bill at the Baggot Inn for six weekends on the trot in 1979. U2 subsequently became one of the world's biggest bands, while The Blades languished in Dublin and never saw fame and fortune. Paul McGuinness must have been doing something right, then... he must have been a miracle worker, in fact.
In 1984, Cleary gave his support to shopworkers at Dunnes Stores who refused to handle produce from the apartheid South African regime and went on strike over the issue. If you'd been around in the 80s, a time of rampant unemployment and emigration, you'd realise what an incredibly brave, principled stand that was.
Here's a poster advertising a benefit gig at the time:
Where was Bono back then, I wonder?
Here's to The Blades, Dublin's best-ever band.
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15 comments:
Hi GM, The Blades, Dublin's best band, I'll drink to that
Nice one Ella but I've been gone too long from my native shore to ever have appreciated them, HOWEVER I will drink to Bono being a knob. Actually it's hard to decide whether he's a bigger knob than Bush. Sad world really when the shitty people float to the surface and the real talent lies concealed.
Hi Ella, PB.
Any excuse for me. Let's drink to the Blades being the best band and Bono being knob!
Hi Ella, PB.
Any excuse for me. Let's drink to the Blades being the best band and Bono being knob!
Slainte lads! (I know GM prefers that to Cheers!!!)
Bottoms up!!
Asked Bono who was Nelson Mandela back then, he probably have thought you meant the Nissan Main Dealer, in Bayside, Sutton.
Good stuff!
ah lads, leave bono alone, it cant be easy being an arselicking sockcooking hypocrite,
maybe you should try to walk a mile in his (platform) shoes.
leave the little shithead alone is all im' saying.
That's right. We should leave the pompous, tax-shy, short-arsed little bollocks alone!.
i'll drink to that! What are you having Ella? I suppose the usual for yourself GM - a pint a plain...
Mine's a chardonnay! (real Bridget Jones stuff!) Mind seeing that we are toasting something quite special here, I'll have a glass of champagne!
The best i can do Ella, is a btl of cava from Freixenet, seeing as I'm down here and it's everywhere on the shelves. Hope everyone one has a happy Navidad and in the words of Withnail (almost) "comes up smiling in the New Year"
Ponyboy
The best i can do Ella, is a btl of cava from Freixenet, seeing as I'm down here and it's everywhere on the shelves. Hope everyone one has a happy Navidad and in the words of Withnail (almost) "comes up smiling in the New Year"
Ponyboy
If that YouTube clip is typical of what The Blades were producing back in the 80's, its no wonder they never made it out of Dublin.
Sounded more like a wedding band, with nothing original to offer.
They'd never have made an impact in the UK Top 100 singles chart.
Simples ;)
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