Caretakers of The Great Blasket
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Irish Times
24 minutes ago
- Irish Times
160,000 mod-haired Oasis fans make for Croke Park
Around 1994 something happened to music fans in Dublin . It was a great transformation. Wispy indie kids who once sashayed vaguely started to swagger assertively. Long hair was sculpted into mod helmets. Depressive romanticism was replaced with grumpy sarcasm. Plaid shirts were replaced with football jerseys. Timid apathy was replaced with bolshie confidence. It was what the kids these days call a 'vibe shift'. The best pop stars are the most easily imitated. Oasis were easy to imitate – swing the arms, helmet up the hair, approximate a defiant scowl – then, depending on your disposition, grunt like Liam or quip like Noel . That's it. READ MORE Fans of their arch-rivals Blur were less visible. Pulp-fans aped Jarvis Cocker but they tended to hide in the corner. And soon after that the whole world descended into an internet-enabled postmodern mush. The Oasis-head is arguably the last truly visible pop-cultural fandom. Who cares, really, that after the first wave of imitators the band never really had a sustained cultural influence? Their first album, Definitely Maybe was a genuinely exciting bellow of brash potential: four-to-the-floor drums, droney wall-of-sound guitars and catchy, context-free couplets snarled by a sullen man who seemed annoyed with us. Their oddly punctuated second album, (What's the Story) Morning Glory? had the illusion of forward momentum, but the third album Be Here Now answers a question nobody really asked: 'What if too-much cocaine made a noise?' Oasis in Withington, Manchester, in 1993: Paul McGuigan, Noel Gallagher, Tony McCarroll, Liam Gallagher, Paul Arthurs (aka Bonehead). Photograph: James Fry/ Getty Images They never sounded remotely like the Beatles; I have no idea what that was all about. So Oasis's greatest creation, really, was the Oasis fan. These strutting, mod-haired giants once roamed this island scattering depressed goths, hedonistic techno-fiends and doleful grunge-kids before them. Now, approximately 160,000 of them are in the suburbs sculpting their barnets, pulling their weather-ambivalent big anoraks from the attic and placing their children in the care of their mocking, Beatles-loving parents, all set to invade Croke Park tonight and tomorrow for Oasis's Dublin gigs. I'm not going, but I'll be marvelling at the fans. I mean, look at them. Aren't they magnificent?
Irish Times
24 minutes ago
- Irish Times
Fiona Tuite and Ireland out to make memories at the Women's Rugby World Cup
Alphabetically by surname, Fiona Tuite was quite far down Scott Bemand 's list of players for the 'you made the World Cup squad' call after the second warm-up game. 'It was a long day, I think it's just [Aoife] Wafer after me,' laughs Tuite. There is 'some relief' now that the known unknowns are clear, many of the questions have been answered: the warm-up games are over, we've seen that Ireland can dig deep into their reservoirs and come out on top and, most importantly for the players, we now know who is in the squad. 'We were slow to get into it in both [warm-up] games, we won't be able to do that at the World Cup. We've learned a lot though.' Once they got the call after the Canada game, it was all go: filming and submitting a photo for the IRFU's announcement video, social media posts, suits from Eden Park for a barbecue in Dunboyne Castle Hotel, organised by the team's long-time sponsor, Aon. 'There was a magician and trad music and my fiance, dad and cousin were there. It was great.' The suits chosen by Edel 'Tricky' McMahon are grey but the lining is green, and the Rugby World Cup logo is embroidered on the inside. 'It's something we'll have forever.' READ MORE From there, it was straight on to the Mansion House for an event with Energia. Former players Fiona Coughlan, Fiona Hayes and Niamh Briggs were some of the speakers in attendance to offer advice on a World Cup. Then there was 'a tough training session' the next morning, followed by the team's 'Christmas Day', getting their kits and a final media session before some downtime and then flying to England the next day. 'I can't believe how quick it's gone,' says Tuite. 'At the start of preseason, it felt so far away and now it's here.' Fiona Tuite in training with Ireland in Dublin before the team headed to the World Cup. Photograph: Morgan Treacy/Inpho Hayes mentioned at the Energia event that the off-pitch moments with the team were the ones they'd be more likely to remember, so 'we're trying to enjoy it all while remembering why we're there'. The relief of making it into the squad is quickly replaced by the reality that the real work hasn't begun yet. 'Japan are a good team,' says Tuite, 'we're not taking that lightly.' While only Cliodhna Moloney – 'Sorry, Cliodhna Moloney-McDonald,' as Tuite says when mentioning her team-mate – has been to a World Cup before, the team's more recent experience gives them some grounding in the reality of going to a major tournament. 'We were probably a bit overawed by the crowd, the noise, the size of Twickenham when we were last there. We're used to that now.' The Sevens experience of attending the Olympics has also been helpful, 'Aimee Leigh Murphy- sorry, Aimee Leigh Costigan – spoke about the importance of respecting everyone at the World Cup. Say I'm having a great day and want to be exploring Northampton or Brighton, someone else might be feeling like they want to be alone and staying in the hotel.' The team has felt the Green Wave building, the momentum from fans, media and sponsors about this World Cup. 'It was great in Belfast to hear people saying 'see you in England', these were just fans with no family connection to anyone on the team.' Her own fiance – Ulster prop Eric O'Sullivan – excluded, has the team felt the Green Wave spill over to engulf their male counterparts? 'We know we have the men's support,' says Tuite, noting that Caelan Doris had been in the day before to wish them luck, Paul O'Connell had a lineout session with them, John Cooney had a kicking session with Nicole Fowley and Tommy Bowe did the jersey presentation. 'I'd love to see it more visible. Even at the Belfast game, I was chatting with Darren Cave [former Ulster player] and he shared about the game on Instagram after. Just being shared on his page, I got more followers.' Fiona Tuite holds her discus and shot putt along with a photograph of her in Ireland kit at the World Athletics Championships and her Dublin jersey from the All-Ireland 2013 Minor Final. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho 'They're all famous like, they have big platforms, so we have their support, but I'd like to see that being more visible, like sharing about the World Cup. Yeah, I'd love to see that.' The next World Cup is in Australia in 2029, and if she's getting another call – 'I don't know about the next World Cup, it's a long time away' – she'll at least be farther up the list. 'I wouldn't recommend planning a wedding and being in a World Cup,' she jokes, 'I have the dress, the venue, and it's just the band.' 'Would I have Tuite O'Sullivan? Hmm. Ah no, it'll be just O'Sullivan. Hopefully there'll be some games in an O'Sullivan jersey.'
Irish Times
24 minutes ago
- Irish Times
‘We're Irish Catholics and we're that kind of family': The Gallaghers' boyhoods in Manchester
It is a much remarked phenomenon that two of the most important British bands since the Beatles – The Smiths and Oasis – were almost entirely Manchester-Irish. Smiths' guitarist Johnny Marr , whose parents were from Athy, Co Kildare, told The Irish Times some years ago: 'I've never described myself as British or English. I'm either Mancunian or Mancunian Irish – that is a culture and a nationality that is a thing unto itself.' Oasis, too, come from a working-class Irish background. Along with the Gallagher brothers, original members Paul 'Guigsy' McGuigan, Paul 'Bonehead' Arthurs and Tony McCarroll all have Irish roots. The Gallaghers' father Tommy was from Duleek, Co Meath ; their mother Peggy Sweeney from Charlestown, Co Mayo , a place synonymous with mass Irish emigration. READ MORE Peggy was one of 11 children and emigrated to Manchester at the age of 18 in 1961 sending back £1 a week to help her family. Many of the Sweeney family moved to Manchester – five of Peggy's sisters lived nearby. Tommy Gallagher worked as a builder in Manchester and moonlighted as a country and western DJ at the Carousel Club. Big Tom MacBride of Big Tom and the Mainliners fame remembers attending the club and seeing Noel and Liam there. 'They were only skitters of gossons at the time.' When the Gallagher brothers were young, their summers were spent in either Charlestown or Duleek. Noel Gallagher told Gay Byrne on the Late Late Show in 1996 that his mother used 'to drag us religiously by the earhole for six weeks because we had never seen the likes of nettles. We run around the fields throwing things at cows. She was determined to introduce us to Irish culture.' [ Being the sons of emigrants helped Oasis Opens in new window ] It was a bit of a culture shock but 'we grew to love it and we still love it,' he added. For their parents, the summers provided an antidote to the concrete jungle they grew up in. Family portrait of the Gallagher family in the mid 1970's, from left to right Noel, Paul, Liam and mum Peggy Gallagher. Photograph: Dan Callister/ Liaison via Getty Images Tommy Gallagher bought Noel his first guitar and brought him to Maine Road to see Manchester City, but Noel has no time for him. Peggy later left Tommy and recalled years after: 'I left him a knife, a fork, and a spoon. And I think I left him too much.' She and her children left the family home in Burnage for a council flat. She took several jobs to provide for her three boys, Noel, Liam and Paul and kept the family together saying in later years: 'We're Irish Catholics and we're that kind of family.' Tommy became completely estranged from his family. In one notorious incident at the height of the band's fame in March 1996, he turned up at Dublin's Westbury Hotel where his sons were staying. He arrived in the bar at 2am and ended up in a screaming match with Liam. Tommy had to be escorted off the premises. Noel said of his father: 'As far as I'm concerned, I haven't got a father. He's not a father to me, y'know? I don't respect him in any way whatsoever.' Oasis playing in New York in 1994. Photograph: Steve Eichner/ WireImage via Getty Images Tommy would continue to pontificate on his estranged sons saying that reports of him being a bad father were exaggerated. He even held out hope of a public reconciliation with his sons, but it never came. The question of Oasis' links with Co Meath came up, inevitably, at a press conference to announce their gig at Slane Castle in 2009. Noel Gallagher recalled that approximately 80 relatives turned up to the band's earlier Slane gig in 1995 when they played support to REM. Both Tommy and Peggy Gallagher are still alive. Peggy's family home, which she later used for holidays, was sold last year for €300,000. Locals said Mrs Gallagher was no longer able to come over to the house on her own and there was no one locally to look after her any more. As a Manchester City fan, Noel was asked last year about the club's midfielder Phil Foden. Noel Gallagher and Liam Gallagher at a photoshoot in a hotel in Tokyo, September 1994. Photograph: Koh Hasebe/ Shinko Music/ Getty Images 'Do you care how he plays for England in the Euros this summer?' asked the interviewer. 'I'm not an England fan, I'm Irish,' Gallagher replied. 'Good night!'
