A few words on Lark By the Lee, breweries and music sponsorship, warm Canadian lager, Alsan, Paul Cleary, Cactus World News, and the story of four outdoor gigs in Cork during summer 1986.

Last year was the 40th anniversary of U2’s surprise appearance in Cork at the Lark By the Lee (25 August 1985). I wrote about the famed gig for the Irish Examiner (U2 Surprise at the Lark by the Lee) and spoke to organiser Ian Wilson (then the producer of Dave Fanning’s evening radio show on RTÉ Radio 2), Tony O’Donoghue (RTÉ’s soccer correspondent was then a freelance journalist), Dave Hannigan (author and journalist) and members of Cypress, Mine! (one of the local support bands) for the feature.

Unlike the thousands in Cork who claim to have witnessed Bono and co. on Leeside, I didn’t.

I was only a young fella so I had to rely on the reminiscences of those who were there to tell the the story of how that gig came to pass.

U2’s gig was the inaugural Lark By the Lee. The free outdoor concert took place every summer on the Lee Fields until 1994. Everyone who was anyone in Irish music played at the Lark including: Rory Gallagher, The Stunning, Something Happens, A House, An Emotional Fish, The Pale, Power of Dreams, Eleanor McEvoy and loads more. I’ll write about the Larks in a future post.

The Belsonic Sound, the hugely popular 80s Cork band, seemed to be on the bill every year. In 1990 a Russian band called Nol (Ноль) played the concert. From 1988 the Lark coincided with Cork Rock, an annual music showcase event in Sir Henry’s.

But the anomaly was 1986. Lark By the Lee didn’t take place that year.

Carling Lager

I saw U2 when they brought their Joshua Tree tour to Páirc Uí Chaoimh in 1987. I witnessed Michael Jackson at the same venue in 1988 and Prince in 1990, but the first outdoor gigs I attended were in the summer of 1986 when Carling Black Label lager, jumping on a Lark By the Lee bandwagon, sponsored four huge gigs on Cork’s Lee Fields.

Beamish & Crawford, the Cork brewery, had been purchased by Carling in 1962 which led to the Canadian lager being brewed on South Main Street and distributed nationwide.

Carling “stubby” pint bottle. Image from Reddit.

I don’t know about the rest of the country but Carling was a huge seller in Cork in the 80s and 90s. When I first started going to Sir Henry’s in the early 90s our drink of choice in the venue was Carling. It was sold in pint “stubby” bottles and was usually served warm because the fridge behind the oval bar in Henry’s didn’t have a door. Henry’s always seemed to have a “two-for-the-price-of-one” promotion on the go resulting in loads of lads walking around the venue clutching a Carling bottle in each hand.

“Lee rockers will lap up live music”

Lark By the Lee 1985. Poster from u2tours.com

Lark By the Lee in 1985 had been a huge success for organisers RTÉ Cork Local Radio and RTÉ Radio 2. Cork City Council had been initially worried about the concert but eventually were happy to make it officially part of the “Cork 800” celebrations. Wilson and co. had pulled off a coup by getting U2 to Cork. The band’s appearance ensured that the gig had garnered massive publicity nationally. Everyone rightly basked in the glory of their achievement. It went so well, maybe they should stage another concert?

But before a decision was made on whether to go again, a local brewery got the jump on them.

In January 1986 the Irish Examiner reported that Beamish & Crawford were planning on, “pouring their resources into a number of Lark-type gigs by the Lee.”

The brewery had sponsored the Carling Country Music festival for a number of years, a deal that was worth in the region of £200,000 plus.

“This money will be spent on booking Ireland’s top rock groups for four Sunday concerts. Entitled “Carling Rocks Cork,” they will be staged in the Lee Fields, subject to permission from Cork Corporation. The concerts are a development of the Lark by the Lee last year and saw the surprise appearance of U2,” continued the Examiner.

Carling beermat 1984. Image from lastdodo.com

In the three years of its existence the Carling Country Music Festival had brought some huge names to Leeside including: Porter Wagoner, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bill Monroe and Billie Jo Spears. In 1985 Johnny Cash sold out five night at Cork Opera House as part of the festival.

Cash was reputed to have been paid a handsome £100,000 for his Cork gigs. When asked at a press conference by RTÉ’s Tom MacSweeney about his fee Cash was understandably coy: “I generally don’t talk about money.” He was presumably very happy with the opportunity to perform five nights in Cork and presented Tony Halpin, managing director of Beamish & Crawford, with honorary Nashville citizenship.

But £200,000 was a lot of money to spend on country music. By early 1986 Beamish & Crawford and Carling decided that it made more economic sense to sponsor a series of gigs of homegrown Irish rock bands.

“The success of open air festivals last year in Cork, coupled with the major inroads made internationally during 1985 by Irish rock bands, solo artists and songwriters, prompted Carling to hold Carling Rocks Cork,” reported the Examiner.

Four gigs aimed at a large young crowd, most of whom were under the legal age to consume alcohol, sponsored by Carling. What a coup.

Breweries and music in Cork

The Cork Jazz Festival started in 1978 and Guinness came on board as the title sponsor in 1981. The first three years of the festival were sponsored by John Player cigarettes.

The Cork Folk Festival started in 1979 and Murphy’s sponsored its first few years before losing the deal to Harp, the Guinness-owned lager. Harp had the gig for three years before Guinness decided to put more resources into the jazz. Murphy’s regained the Folk Festival sponsorship deal in the mid-80s.

The alcohol sponsorship deals in Cork were always about ensuring that the two local breweries - Beamish & Crawford and Murphy’s - held onto market share from the ever-expanding St James’s Gate behemoth.

I can remember in the 1990s Guinness reps offering free kegs to Cork bars to be part of the Guinness Jazz Pub Trail. A few kegs and a “jazz” band - usually some crowd with straw hats butchering ‘When the Saints Go Marchin’ In’. The one proviso was that only Guinness products could be sold over the weekend. It was always a tough decision: accept a few free kegs from Guinness but run the risk of alienating your regulars by putting beer towels over the Beamish and Murphy’s taps all weekend. In the end Guinness usually won out.

Jazz Me Bollix indeed.

The sponsorship of music events was never philanthropic, the breweries ALWAYS gained more in their association with the Arts. It has ever been the same.

Gig 1: 22 June 1986

On Thursday 19 June 1986, three days out from the first gig, an advertisement in the Irish Examiner announced the line-up.

Cactus World News would headline. The support bands were Paul Cleary and the Partisans and Aslan.

Local Cork band Shimpu Zig Zag, finalists in the “Carling/Hot Press Band of ‘86” competition - a battle of the bands competition in Sir Henry’s, a precursor to Cork Rock - would open the show.

‘The Bridge’ (7” and 12” - 1985, Mother Records). Photograph by Paul McDermott.

On the day I missed Shimpu Zig Zag, the band formed in 1985 by Liam Shanahan (keyboards & vocal), John Shanahan (guitar & vocals), Liam Murphy (bass) and Jerry Fehily (drums).

They released two singles in 1986: ‘May Day’ and ‘Passion Play’. Both singles can be heard on the Fanning Sessions Archive. Jerry Fehily would later join Hothouse Flowers.

Shimpu Zig Zag - ‘Passion Play’ (Bukov Records, 1986). Image from Discogs.

The first band I ever saw play outdoors was Aslan.

As I reached the Lee Fields they were already onstage. Excitement levels were fever pitch. ‘This Is’ (the original Reekus version) was already gaining airplay, especially on Fanning’s late-night RTÉ Radio 2 programme, and the crowd was going bananas. I had never seen anything like this, it’s ingrained in my memory.

Christy wasn’t a star in the making, he was already a star.

Aslan - ‘This Is’ (Reekus Records, 1986). Image from Discogs.

Next up was former Blades’ frontman Paul Cleary with his new outfit the Partisans. The band’s debut (and only) album Impossible, came out the following year. They played songs from the album and we were treated to some oldies, including a blistering ‘Downmarket’.

I don’t remember much else about the band’s set but Cleary, standing under a huge Carling banner, took a swig from a bottle of beer and then proudly held it aloft declaring, “this is a bottle of Harp.” Legend.

The crowd on Leeside erupted in laughter. The suits from Beamish must have been suddenly wondering if this sponsorship thing was such a good idea.

Paul Cleary and the Partisans - *Impossible* (Hotwire Records, 1987). Image from Discogs.

The headliners were Cactus World News, a very big Irish band in 1986, they played Self Aid a few months before their Cork gig, they’d toured with both The Cult and The Alarm and Urban Beaches, their debut album, was just out.

In his Record Mirror review of Self Aid, Stuart Bailie wrote of Cactus World News: “In terms of “contemporary” music, the country has never enjoyed a broader range of talent. Top of the “most likely to” league is Cactus World News, who are looking and sounding sharper than ever.”

I’ve previously written about my love of their song ‘The Bridge’ (Top 10 Irish Songs). I bought the single in early 1986. I loved it then and still love it today. It was released on Mother Records in 1985 and was co-produced by Bono. It was the second release on Mother and comes in that familiar Steve Averill die-cut Celtic logo sleeve.

Cactus World News photographed by Conor Horgan on the 12” of ‘The Bridge’.

They re-recorded ‘The Bridge’ for Urban Beaches but the first version of ‘The Bridge’ - the Mother version - is the one to play.

I was beyond excited, I had seen Cactus World News on the TV, now they were on a stage in front of me.

Cactus World News photograph by Eddie O’Hare (Irish Examiner - 23 June 1986).

It was majestic. Altogether now:

“Going up and over over the bridge, Springtide will lift me take me across”

“Rocking time for Larkers”

“Rocking time for Larkers” declared the following morning’s Irish Examiner.

“Well over 5,000 fans packed into the fields in the shadow of County Hall,” the paper continued.

“It was well organised, trouble free and for the aficionados - sound-perfect.”

I’d survived my first outdoor gig.

The second Carling Rocks Corks gig was scheduled for three weeks later on 13 July.

The line-up wouldn’t be announced for a week or two.

To be continued…