let's have those boys around for tea

I was strolling into town a few nights ago and as I walked down Capel Street I was reminded of several venues that were the mainstay of my youth. (Cue nostalgic rant for the rest of the post). Since then I've been trying to list as many of the places as possible where I would have seen gigs or played gigs over those formative years. I'm sure that I've left out a number of them but here they are in no particular order:

The Earl Grattan (On Capel Street where Jack Nealons pub is now)
The Fox and Pheasant (just off Capel Street across from where GUBU is)
Barnstormers (At the junction of Capel Street and Parnell Street, not sure what's there now)
The Underground (Dame Street, I think there's a lap-dancing club there now. It was run by the rather young and rather surly Jeff)
Charlies Bar (This was on Aungier Street and the building was knocked into next door to create that new bar on the corner that no-one drinks in)
The Rock Garden (Crown Alley, where Eamonn Dorans is. It also used to hold the Gardening Club outside the fire exit)
The Castle Inn (Lord Edward St. Now a steakhouse and bar)
The Waterfront (This was Columbia Mills for a while and then shut down.)
Teachers Club (On Parnell Square. Still in existence. Not sure about gigs there though)
McGonagles (South Anne Street. It became The System nightclub but only for a short time.)
City Arts Centre (Moss Street. Sold for loads recently but nothings happened with it)
The SFX (Sherard Street. In the process of being developed into apartments.)
Olympic Ballroom (Pleasant Street. Better known for its raves but it also held gigs for many years)
Sides (Also more famous for its raves but was home to the 'Live at Three' gigs for a time)
The Attic (above The White HorseBurgh Quay. The booker for this was a ponytailed fucker called Robbie who used to lord it up in his dingy office on the top floor.)
The Funnel (this cropped up out of nowhere in the early nineties. Its star burned brightly for a couple of years and then disappeared.)
The Electric Ballroom ( This was in the Tea Rooms in The Clarence for only a few weeks in order to record some television shows)
The Crypt (Christchurch Cathedral. Unlike The Clarence Tea Rooms there was a regular club there for a while. It also hosted the TV Gaga show for a while)
The TV Club (On Harcourt Street. Knocked down in 1984 but not before my eldest brother brought me to an EBTG gig there.)
The Top Hat (Dun Laoghaire. I passed by it on Sunday and its now apartments. It was also a roller disco for a while.)
The JCR (Above the archway in Trinity. Cheap pool and bad seats. Great free gigs)
The NCAD Canteen (Cheap coffee. Bad art. Jukebox. Great lunchtime gigs)
Kevin Street DIT, Bolton Street DIT, Mountjoy Square DIT (Apprentice electricians. 10 spots. Great lunchtime gigs)
UCD Bar (The suburban collegiate lunchtime/nighttime option)
DCU Bar (The other suburban option that was a little too like a hospital for my liking)
SU Bar Maynooth (The rural option.)
The Wexford Inn on Wexford Street (now home to The Village)

Between this lot I saw some of the great and not so great bands who played in Dublin over the years. If I had a Euro for every great gig I've seen then I'd have near enought to twenty quid at this stage. I've tried to find pictures on the web for all of the above and have failed miserably. It was an innocent age back then. No mobile phones. You actually had to meet people when you said you were going to meet them. What were we like?

Whilst zipping around the internet world I came across this website that's a kind of who's who of Irish bands over the last thirty years. The site's lead story was about Mama's Boys, who by a strange coincidence had tea in the family home one day many years ago when their tour van broke down outside. What a lark that was. Granny didn't know herself.


NEWS JUST IN:
Slatterys on Capel Street (still there but nowhere near as ragged as it was)
The New Inn on New St. Smiley 'face like a worn leather handbag' Bolger used to do the bookings.
The Da Club on Clarendon St - A corker of a venue in its heyday.
The Furnace off Aston Quay. - This was in the USI building.