Zenyatta Mondatta: 1980/81

Police needed Gardai to keep cool!

The Police came and conquered Irish 25,000 young people yesterday when in the grounds of stately Leixlip Castle, the huge, happy crowd sang and swayed to the white reggae rhythms of Sting and company.

But, behind the scenes, the organisation of the £150,000 have open-air festival could done with police of another kind - the Garda Siochana instead of a heavy-handed private security force which openly used wooden batons and leather coshes to quash a disturbance.

The overkill operation by some of the 200-strong security force marred for those who witnessed the single serious incident what had otherwise been a sunny, enjoyable trouble free occasion.

It came after 6 hours of the crowd music and waited for bill-toppers, The Police to come on. But after an inexcusable delay of more than an hour between bands, the fans, who had paid £6.50 each to get in grew impatient and this helped stir anger amongst some of the crowd at the front of the stage.

Bottles were thrown at the stage, some hitting the line of security men in front, and following a disturbance directly in front of the stage, "bouncers" rushed out pulling wooden truncheons and leather coshes from their jackets. In the melee which followed several fans had to be treated by the St. John's Ambulance volunteers for cuts.

Mr. Frank Warner, who was in charge of the special security force, denied that his men used coshes or batons in the incident and said he would not allow these to be carried.

Even as the Police finally went on some bottles were thrown on stage, one actually hitting drummer Stewart Copeland, and another narrowly missing lead singer, Sting, who didn't help matters when he singled out the missile thrower in the crowd and invited him backstage after the show with the warning: "I'm going to get you".

Heroes of the day were the volunteers of the St. John's Ambulance Brigade who coped with a steady stream of minor cuts and bruises, and some more serious ones after the row.

Such was the crush people at the front of stage barrier, that over one hundred youngsters had to be hauled over after collapsing, and were carried away by the St. John's volunteers. Here, the bulk of the security men showed how things should be done by helping to rescue the young fans who fainted from the crowd.

Organisation was slack also in facilities for Press and other backstage guests. A change in design of the front stage barriers at the last minute left pass-holders huddled in an ever decreasing corner to the left of the stage and with a view only of the giant public address equipment which carried nearly 90,000 watts of power.

But the mass of the 25,000 audience knew little about any trouble. They lapped up the music from six different bands, for the most part in brilliant sunshine, and went away happy that they had gotten value for money.

The fans, who had travelled from all over the country, sat through eight hours of rock music in the fenced off field in the middle of the Guinness family estate. Many of them camped overnight just to be sure of getting a good position.

Even after that they had to trek another two miles to get out of the grounds and back down to Leixlip village where traffic and jams crowded buses meant even more delays and frustration. Pubs in the town closed their doors to all but locals and people were searched for cans and bottles before entering the grounds.

Musically, the day failed to live up to its promise. The show opened at mid-day with Derry band, The Moondogs followed by Q-Tips, who livened things up with some soul sounds.

But local heroes, U-2, went on early much to the disappointment of the crowds still streaming into the site. They were offstage shortly after three o'clock to be followed by the mad John Otway his band who delighted the crowd with his ravings.

There was a gap of over 45 minutes before second-on-the-bill, Squeeze, came on to run through a bright and breezy set which included their hits, 'Coal for Cats' and the recent 'Pulling Musseles from a Shell'.

The crowd waited for their heroes The Police and at 6.45 the three blond bombshells hit the stage to a tumultuous welcome. However, their set was indifferent for a time until they brought out the classics, such as 'Message in a Bottle', 'Can't Stand Losing You' and 'Roxanne'. They encored with 'Next to You' and by ten past eight they were gone.

The ten young people taken to the Meath Hospital, Dublin after the rock festival were all released early today after treatment.

(c) The Evening Herald by Tony O'Brien

Police concert a damp squib...

It could have been a monster bash, nut it turned out a damp squib when The Police, one of the world's top rock bands, topped the bill of a one-day festival in the grounds of Leixlip Castle yesterday.

Despite an estimated attendance of 25,000 and intermittent sunshine, the concert, which grossed well over £150,000 in ticket sales, failed to live up to expectations. largely because of some very bad sound problems.

There were complaints that ''bouncers'' armed with batons and sticks waded into the crowd to clear the area in front of the stage. After the concert one of the men in charge of security, Mr Frank Warner, denied any knowledge of what happened.

Although the concert started at noon with the Moon Dogs, followed by Q-Tips, many people were lucky to arrive in time to see U2. The young Dublin band played an excellent set of both old and new material. Indeed, their performance was the highlight of the day though John Otway and the Squeeze managed to get through an enjoyable set before the Police took the stage at about 6.50pm.

The Police opened up their long awaited performance with two new songs, neither of which were over-impressive. However, the crowd grew more responsive when the band launched into 'Walking On The Moon'. It was older material which saved the day for the band, which was beset by sound problems and some minor distractions such as flying bottles. One, in fact, hit drummer Stewart Copeland, who reacted angrily as did the rest of the band.

The incident occurred just as the band was nearing the end of its performance.

They finished on a high note with 'Roxanne' and 'I Can't Stand Losing You' but by then much of the fun was disappearing as rain began to fall.

(c) The Irish Times by Joe Breen