Examiner 180: When Charlie Watts and the Rolling Stones played in Cork
Charlie Watts can just about be seen with the Rolling Stones at the Savoy in Cork in 1965. He’s obscured by the late Brian Jones, while the other band members in the shot are Bill Wyman, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Picture: Irish Examiner Archive
The unfortunate death of Charlie Watts, 80, has prompted the inclusion in our series of archive pieces of this report of the Rolling Stones' visit to Cork in 1965.
Also playing in Belfast and Dublin, it was the band's first visit to Ireland, with drummer Watts being the third to die of the touring lineup, following Brian Jones and short-term keyboardist Ian Stewart.
Despite some obvious disapproval by the reporter, it was a momentous gig in Cork, and among those inspired by what he saw in the Savoy was a 16-year-old audience member by the name of Rory Gallagher. Of course, many years later the Cork guitarist was briefly in the frame to join the Stones.
Our other piece concerns the announcement of the cancellation of hugely popular TV series The Riordans.
Des O'Driscoll (Arts/Culture Editor)
Police were called to Cork’s Savoy Cinema last night when frenzied teenagers dashed from their seats and tried to climb on to the stage during a concert by the British beat group, The Rolling Stones.
The Stone’s 20-minute, eightsong, top-of-the-bill spot was drowned by the screaming teenagers. It was their first visit to Cork, last stop on a whirlwind Irish tour.
The group, long-haired and untidy, and the bane of mums and dads of Britain because of this, took the theatre by storm from the moment they stepped on to the stage at 10.35pm.
But after four numbers, girls dashed from their seats and swarmed to the organ pit screaming and waving. Two of them jumped over the rail and entered the stage door.
Another, a young man, climbed on the cinema organ but moved when Savoy manager Jimmy Campbell ordered him back. But when he again moved to the organ, uniformed Gardaí were called in and marched him out of the cinema.
The Rolling Stones, the biggest pop attraction ever to appear in Cork, and second to the Beatles in the beat business, sang through it all even though they were almost impossible to hear. At times they were pelted with programmes and jelly beans.
Teenagers stood on their seats all through their performance.
After the late performance, there was an early show as well. Extra Gardai kept order as fans waited for the group to leave.
The Stones’ appeal and undoubted impact last night was due as much to their reputation as anything, for only in the tremendous finale, It’s All Over, were they really impressive. That of course is a man’s viewpoint.
Perhaps the great successes of the night were the Original Checkmates, visitors to Cork in other days with Emile Ford. They were without the West Indian personality this time but were tremendously impressive in a last-minute spot that wedded humour to musicianship and showmanship.
The Banshees, the only Irish act on the bill — they are from Belfast — opened the show and set the atmosphere from the start, and their beaty rendering of some of the oldies was a great success. They look like a group with a future.
The Gonks. the other group on the bill, made their major impart with a number ‘Onlv The Lonely’ and also provided the backing for 17-years-old blonde Twinkle whose singing of her own composition ‘Terry’ was the highlight of her act.
It was a shock that would silence even Minnie Brennan. Leestown will never be the same again ... in fact, it's being wiped off the screens by RTÉ.
The station's longest-running serial is being axed after fifteen years from May next. And the biggest And the biggest shock of all for Tom, Minnie, Eamonn, Maggie, Murf, Julia Mac, and the other residents of Ireland's best-known village, was that: they were told about it by the newspapers.
Tom Riordan (actor John Cowley) told me when I rang him at his home in Dublin last night to tell him of the announcement: “It has been rumoured that the series is coming off but there is nothing official. Indeed, the cast is due to meet RTÉ tomorrow (Wed).
When I assured him that the announcement was official, he replied: "I am very disappointed and I feel that all the cast will feel the same way. I felt that it had got going again and the recent episodes had great promise. I am shocked and deeply disappointed."
He added: "I have given the show my loyalty for 14 and a half years and never appeared on the stage during all that time. All my time and loyalty was devoted to The Riordans.
"After being in the one show for so long and known to so many viewers as Tom Riordan, rather than John Cowley, actor, one is stereotyped and it will be very difficult to get other television work. I am very shocked."
He then called his wife, actress Ann Dalton (Minnie) to the phone.
"Are you sure it's official?" she asked. "We were to meet today with RTÉ to talk about The Riordans future. It's terrible, terrible. Like John, I haven't worked on the stage since the start of The Riordans, although I started on the stage when I was twelve.
"You're from the Cork Examiner. They always gave us a good show when I played with companies in the old Opera House. Do you know I lost a box of fit-ups on the night the old Opera House was burned? Wasn't Mr Twomey the manager at that time...?"
Of The Riordans, she said they were the happiest family and the nicest people to work with.
