The inaugural A Sense of Ireland festival in London in 1980 featured over 90 events in Irish music, theatre, literature, the visual arts, film, crafts, dance, photography, architecture and archeology. The Sounds Of Ireland was the festival’s music showcase featuring the cream of the crop of the island’s punk and new wave bands as well as the legendary Rory Gallagher.
The following two pictures are quite well-known and have been available online for years. However, the third one is a bit of a gem. I found it while flicking through the Hot Press’ ‘U2 File’ (1985). This is first time it has been put up online. The picture was taken by Colm Henry (I suspect he took the second shot as well) and shows the lead singers of five of the most important Dublin New Wave bands.
The Sounds of Ireland (1980)
clockwise from top: the Virgin Prunes, DC Nien, The Atrix and U2. (Taken from the IrishRock.org website)
From 'The U2 File: A Hot Press U2 History', ed. Niall Stokes (Dublin, 1985)
Click on the book for more.
Click on the book for more.
Donal
Ciarán
Sam
Come Here To Me! 
Awesome. I was doing research involving the architecture bit of it a couple of years ago, and somehow failed to notice there was any music component at all, let alone a pretty representative one.
[…] written quite extensively Dublin’s late 1970s/early 1980s Punk & New Wave scene. See The Sense of Ireland (1980), Dave Fanning & The Sportman’s Inn, Classic Dublin Punk/New Wave Singles (The search […]
picked upan old 1979 copy of hibernia magazine with pic of dublin and bray punks and skins from stall in georges mkt.zine in bad nick but pics ok.
Hi there! Great to see my festival lives still online. That “Sounds of Ireland” poster hangs on my wall, in green.
For the record: it was NEVER “The Sense of Ireland” but very deliberately “A Sense of Ireland”.
Best wishes, John Stephenson. (then) Festival Director.
PS: For the best Dublin punk images of the ’78/79 era, check out our 24 Hours Dark Space event in Project Arts Centre. PiL failed to make it, but everyone else did.
Hi John,
Would it be possible to send me a jpeg of the poster? I am researching the 1977 to 1980 Punk/New Wave scene in Dublin. Any images that you have from that period would be great.
My email is 1999barcelona@live.co.uk
Jeff
Hi John,
I have been trying to track you down on behalf of Ali Grehan, Dublin City Architect, who would like to make contact with you.
Can you email her your contact details to Ali.Grehan@dublincity.ie.
Kindest regards,
Sandra
John
Are you the John Stephenson who was in Trinity in the 1970s? I think you were supposed to be studying English but spent most of your time on student politics and arts. Good times!
Sue
have a book entitled “a sense of ireland”published in 1980. I am busy looking for rory gallagher peoples who might be interested in great picture of the legend ..yours ff
Fidelma
You appear to have a copy of the legendary ‘A Sense of Ireland’ catalogue which we put together for the festival in London. Originally priced at an extortionate £3 (excl VAT) a copy, it sold poorly throughout the festival as times were hard then and Britain was in the throes of the ‘winter of discontent’ which ended in Thatcher coming to power. The unsold catalogues were then remaindered and copies could be had for £1 a go in Easons on O’Connell Street for the rest of 1980. The guys who had put up the money for the printing were furious as they never saw a penny from their investment.
Nowadays, with a bit of nostalgia for those days of punk and madness, there’s a renewal of interest for the catalogue and the acts portrayed therein. So hang on to your copy, Fidelma, and treasure it as a souvenir of a time when a bunch of Trinity students could mount an Arts Festival in London with more than 1,000 participants (including U2, Rory Gallagher, Seamus Heaney, The Abbey Theatre, etc etc) without any money but sheer neck, lots of contacts … and the Roneo machine at the Project Arts Centre.
Simon
Catalogue editor
I was a roadie with John Munnis for that festival. sound for all the major gigs including the Albert hall. I was due to replace the singer with Stocktons Wing the following month. dont think he was too pleased but I was roadie for their shows, can you imagine the tension. Truth is I cant remember……. but I had six crazy weeks in London. I still have the big thick book that went with the festival. It went from the 3 feb to 15 march. just read it again this minute. Some operation.
[…] more on the band, see our previous posts on their singles; ‘A Sense of Ireland’ 1980 festival in London and footage from a 1982 gig in The Top […]
Came across this YouTube clip of a Gloria Hunniford interview at the time with John Stephenson about the festival:
Dear John Stephenson, I’m looking for images of the exhibition Without the Walls which was curated by Dorothy Walker and presented as part of the Sense of Ireland Exhibition. Do you have any photographs of the exhibition? I am looking for them to include them in a forthcoming book on Irish art.
Catherine
Does anyone know who Rory Gallagher’s guests were?
What about PJ Curtis’ role in sense of ireland