Quo @ Dalymount, Dublin 1-7-'79

WOW, what a gig. Loved to been there.

The only reason I missed this gig was that I was starting my first proper job the next morning. Damn! Excellent review though, thanks for sharing Gerh.

Yep, I didn’t delve too much into ‘Metal’ either , Priest, Helloween and Megadeth are enough for me! (Though, I’m going to see Priest, Saxon and Urinal Heap in Dublin next Friday😃)
Kings X are a one-off group of wonderfulness in a group of 3, there’s just nobody like them 👍

STATUS QUO

Dalymount Stadium, Dublin

EVER HEAR the one about the English band who went to Dublin with enough lights to start another Battle of Britain ... then found it wasn't dark enough to use them until the encore?
As Francis Rossi said from the stage, that was Status Quo in Dublin on Sunday. But they needn't have worried themselves unduly. The Dalymount Festival -- the first time that Quo have played in Ireland for two years -- took place in brilliant sunshine.
And from around 3pm, with the Undertones whipping up the first enthusiasm, until Quo took the stage at 8.30 to blast out 'Caroline' through £250,000 of sound equipment, the crowd steadily grew to an estimated 20,000 strong.
Perhaps because giant rock concerts aren't exactly an everyday occurrence in Dublin, the seven hours of music were delivered with a rare efficiency. No yawning gaps, and the event splendidly compered by a laconic John Peel. The aforesaid Liverpudlian, perhaps closer to the Irish than he thinks, even got away with snatches of 'The Sound Of Music' and 'Una Paloma Blanca' in between bouts.
Then there was the music itself. A tight bill of commendable proportions with our pretty startling the raw and speedy Undertones, the oil-in-a-groove rock 'n' roll of 'Dad's Army' Rockpile, and the sanitised and polished, tongue-in-well-groomed-cheek heavy metal of Judas Priest, with their whole well-armed 15 years of experience.

The Undertones ploughed into Dalymount completely unworried, lead singer Feargal Sharkey punctuating the wind that blew away half their sound, stripped to the waist, each song a new two minute package of powerful young music. Jimmy got the first real cheer of the day, along with a stamping chorus of "Teenage Kicks". Here Cormac Summer and the rest. The energy, and the local interest, was enough.

The Undertones encored first with 'Rock 'n' Roll', the Gary Glitter song, before making way for the superb Rockpile, a band whose "roots" are considerably older. What can you say about a band who have tapped the whole spectrum from Chuck Berry, through Johnnie Allen's 'Promised Land', to their own pop 'n' roll of the 'Girls Talk' and 'Cracking Up' variety? They've got it all, they rock like they were born with guitars in-stead of rattles in their hands.

From Rockpile, who pick up their guitars and play, to Judas Priest, who actually think about how they're going to pick up their guitars. And what they're going to wear to pick it up in. After all, the fuss about the motorbike, well, it did come on, with Rob Halford on the back and to a very muffled roar to boot. Fabulous, thought everyone. Just like the neat black leather trousers, the macho armbands, the studded postures and the perfectly choreographed alternate scream and wail of Gibson Flying V and Rob Halford's voice, the Priest are a group who have their image perfectly worked out. On stage they're very effective, but somehow gutless. Almost as if they've decided exactly what are the elements that will cause terminal brain damage in their audience ... then read the score and follow it.
It all worked perfectly, with suitable titles like 'Beyond The Realms' and 'Evil Fantasies' to back the scenario even further. An early slip, where the guitarist nearly disappeared beneath a (literally Marshall stack, was scarcely noticed, while the crushing drum solo (of the big kit and slow hands variety) and the wailing encore of 'Starbreaker', were heartily applauded.

Then, well before dark, Status Quo ... and all those lights you couldn't see.

From a three-day rest after the British tour, Quo seemed relaxed, ready to stretch out and give Dublin what they'd been waiting for for two years. The ground shook for 'Rockin' All Over The World' and 'Hold You Back'. The crowd bellowed back on 'Dirty Water', the heads went down for 'Don't Waste My Time'. And the longer they played the more they seemed to want to play longer -- not always the case, and even less so after 40 nights of "back to backs". After '4500 Hundred Times' I'd decided it was the best outdoor Quo I'd seen since Cardiff Castle some two years ago.

Those at Dalymount, jigging on the far terrace to 'Roadhouse Blues', seemed to agree. Oh, and by the time the encore came round, those lights did look pretty good after all.

JOHN SHEARLAW

On an unrelated but related topic (🤔🫣)
Bohemians play home in Dalymount, here’s one of their latest jerseys…

Fcuk it, here's another wonderful song