This weekend I’ll mostly be listening to… The Alarm January 14, 2017
Posted by irishelectionliterature in This Weekend I'll Mostly Be Listening to..., Uncategorized.trackback
The news that once again U2 are playing Croke Park brought me back to a few days after my Inter and seeing them in Croke Park in 1985. On the line up that day we also had Welsh band The Alarm.
The massive hair and anthems that suited the day. Their debut album “Declaration” had had a number of hits with “68 Guns” and “Where Were You Hiding When the Storm Broke?” and although I wasn’t exactly a fan I was surprised how good they were live. Subsequently got a tape of “Declaration” and it wasn’t great and for me as was so often the case a great live band failed to translate well in the studio.
They released a number of further albums “Strength” , “Eye of the Hurricane” and “Raw” before breaking up in 1991. They were quite successful in the US too.
Later on lead Singer Mike Peters resurrected the Alarm name and is still touring and recording. They are still particularly popular in their native Wales and released Welsh language versions of a number of their albums.
The Cedar Lounge Revolution 
Was at that U2 gig; happy days. Pity they, U2, turned as they did. I think REM also played that day and In Tua Nua. Also, The Bangles, though I could be mixing that up with Slane the next year. The Alarm were a decent enough band.
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I never made it to any of the Croke Park gigs – was working for a fair few of them. I do feel I missed out on not going to one. But I wouldn’t now. Living as close as I do I’m all too well acquainted with Take That’s output etc. 😉
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I missed the 1987 ones (spent my money on a Slane ticket, Queen that year, I think). Simple Minds played there in 1986 for two gigs, I think. Don’t envy you living so close as most of the groups worth listening to nowadays would come near filling CP. I’d say a considerable number of of those coming to U2 gigs in Dublin are not from Ireland and are there for the novelty of seeing them in their ‘home’ town.
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On the othe rtgread 6to5against asks “Was anybody else at U2 in the phoenix park in 1983?”
Yes, and a great day out it was too.
I came across these recently, brought me right back to being 19 again.
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