by Mark 2

As previously stated it was a glorious day in Dublin. I lived in Cabra, not far from the Phoenix Park Racecourse, the venue. Sadly this is no longer with us.

It was a fantastic venue for a crowd of that size, 25,000. The stage was set up opposite the main grandstand. This meant that you could relax in the shade while the early bands played and move onto the racecourse for the main acts.

I was 19 years old and still full of enthusiasm for live bands. The hope was that you would spend the day listening to music, having a few drinks and dancing the night away.

We started the night before, about six of us,to the "Afro" in the city centre and then back to my place. While my parents and siblings slept upstairs we topped up our 1.5 litre coke bottles with vodka. At 9:00 am we set out for the racecourse. We were outside the place by 10:00 am at the latest.

They opened the gates at about 11. We moved to the gate and the bouncers relived us of our alcohol stash and threw it into a very large skip beside the gate. AAAAAGH.

We did'nt care. We were going to see at least three great bands, Steel Pulse, Eurythmics and Simple Minds. I didn't really like U" and I left as they came on.

The music kicked off with a coupleof local lads, Pat O'Donnell/Steve Belton aka The Fountainhead, briefly signed to Chrysalis. Not bad but it was a hard gig for a duo of unknowns.

Next came Steel Pulse and they were amazing, reggae beats at their best. I particularly remember thier keyboard player wandering all over the stage, was he wearing a hunter's outfit? Brilliant.

Then the crappest band of all time, Perfect Crime, who when the crowd voiced its opinion proceeded to tell us that Bono would be ashamed by our behaviour, no-one gave a fuck and they were soon forgotten.

Annie Lennox got into a tizzy as someone hit Dave stewart with a bottle,one of our 1.5 litres probably. The bases of these were made of hard plastic and getting hit would bloody hurt, that is why Annie was angry, they were still an item at this time.

Then the Celtic Trinity, Big Country, Simple Minds and U2.

Big Country were good without being fantastic, great musicians but not really good songs.

Simple Minds were amazing, starting Waterfront from the then upcoming album, Sparkle in the Rain through tracks from their first 5 albums. A glorious set from a band at the height of their powers. Amazing.

I left when U2 came on because I didn't like them at that time. I thought they were overrated however my opinion did change later on. But I remember walking home to the sounds of U2.

Great memories, great day.

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