Come Here To Me!

I’m hoping that Dave Fanning’s memoir “The thing is…” which was published last week will be of interest to those like myself with a preoccupation with 1970s & 1980s Dublin youth/music culture.

Till I report back, here’s a hilarious photo of Dave from 1977 (included with a review of the band stepaside) recently published on the website of Kiely’s, a pub in Mount Merrion.

Kiely’s, which used to be called The Sportman’s Inn and before that The Stella, boasts a illustrious musical history going as far as to describe itself as “Ireland’s Oldest Live Pub Rock Music Venue”.

In the 1960s, The Stella was a popular spot with the Showbands. Between 1976 and 1983, The Sportman’s Inn played host to a who’s who of Irish New Wave acts (U2, The Radiators From Space, The Atrix (?), D.C. Nien, The Moondogs,  Auto Da Fe, The Resistors, Fit Kilkenny and the Remoulds and Rocky DeValera and The Grave Diggers) and an array of national and international talent including Desmond Dekker (!!), Dexy’s Midnight Runners, Christy Moore, Van Morrison, Rory Gallagher and Clannad.

It’s great to see that Kiely’s is continuing the tradition having recently launched a new weekly night called Kielys Student Sessions offering €3.50 pints and the chance to see local up and coming bands.