Cutting edge Blades still looking good long after U2 rivalry

SINGER PAUL CLEARY doesn’t have butterflies — yet. But he will. “I’m not a confident performer,” say Cleary, frontman of iconic Dublin post-punk trio, The Blades. “The 20 minutes before I go on are particularly nerve-wracking. You can’t function properly. You are sitting in the dressing room, not talking. You just want to get out there, on stage.”

This weekend, The Blades will play their first gigs in decades. With both of their Olympia Theatre shows due to sell-out, Cleary (54) says he is astonished at the group’s longevity. When The Blades disbanded, in the mid ’80s, having conspicuously failed to conquer the world, Cleary believed a chapter in his life had closed forever.