Rolling Stones, The Smiths, Damon Albarn... Eight great nights at the Savoy in Cork
Damon Albarn, The Smiths, and The Rolling Stones are among the artists who've played at the Savoy in Cork through the years.
The Athy tenor had sung in various Cork venues through the decades, but the Savoy concert had a special buzz about it as the event was billed as being part of his farewell tour. A year previously, McCormack had undertaken a similar tour of the US, the country where he’d lived for many years as he achieved fame and fortune. He was now spending most of his time between Ireland and England, but for Cork audiences, this was a final chance to hear the much-loved megastar.
"I am 54 since June," he told the representative at the Savoy. “And as I said before , I think I should retire while the people are saying 'why ' instead of 'why not’.”
A packed venue heard McCormack perform four groups of songs, showcasing his repertoire across love songs, operatic favourites and Irish standards. Highlights on the night included by Donaudy; and of course the song he had famously performed for the huge crowd at the Phoenix Park in Dublin for the for the 1932 Eucharistic Congress.
“It has been remarked since then it has been his best song,” wrote the reviewer. “And yesterday 's soulful singing had the house strangely quiet and appreciative.”
Like so many other singers, that ‘farewell’ tour wasn’t the last time McCormack took to the stage. For instance, he went on to perform several concerts in the early years of the Second World War to raise funds for the Red Cross and other charities. Health issues finally forced his retirement in 1943 and McCormack died two years later, aged 61.
A night to rival Michael Jackson, Nirvana and any other ‘I was there’ moment in the history of Cork music. What a time to see The Rolling Stones. Second only to the Beatles in the UK, they were still very much finding their way in the world of music, with a repertoire primarily made up of covers of black American artists.
A week after the Cork concerts, the group would release their second album, The Rolling Stones No. 2. It was the the first to contain several songs from the burgeoning songwriting partnership of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, both just 21.
The album hit No 1 in the UK and entered the US top 10, sending the Stones on their way to becoming one of the biggest and best bands in rock music.
This was the band's first visit to Ireland, with the two Savoy shows (one early, one later) being part of a six-gig tour that also visited Belfast and Dublin.
“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,” wrote the reviewer in the Irish Examiner of the second Savoy performance.
Chaos followed during the 20-minute, eight-song set, when several members of the audience tried to get to the stage. Gardai eventually restored some order, even though the screams of the crowd threatened to drown out the music.
“At times they were pelted with programmes and jelly beans. Teenagers stood on their seats all through their performance,” recalled the reviewer.
Photographs taken by the Examiner photographer on the evening reveal a line-up of Bill Wyman, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Brian Jones.
Among the teenagers in the Savoy that evening was a 16-year-old music enthusiast by the name of Rory Gallagher. Of course, a few years later, the Cork guitarist was headlining his own gigs at the venue, and in 1975 was briefly in the frame to join the Stones.
The brothers Gibb had officially been a group for 10 years by the time they came to Cork, but it was only over the previous 12 months that they had made an impression internationally.
Much of that was down to recent hits such as and both of which were sung at the Savoy. Another reason for the trio’s success was the stewardship of manager Robert Stigwood – the same man who a decade later would produce the films Grease and Saturday Night Fever.
The Australian impresario brought the Bee Gees to Cork with a 15-piece orchestra, and organised a decent support roster that included UK popsters Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick arid Tich, a group who included their recent No 1 hit in their set.
Further down the bill were Grapefruit, a London band who never quite broke through despite being on the same Apple label as The Beatles, and having plenty interaction with the Fab Four. A few months after the Cork gig, at least group member John Perry secured his place in music history by providing backing vocals on the recording sessions of
There was quite a contrast between the Manchester band’s two storied gigs at the Cork venue in 1984. The first appearance came just three months after the release of the group’s self-titled debut album and the city’s young music aficionados turned out in force.
The Smiths more than matched the anticipation with a storming set that had Morrissey doing his trademark shimmys around the stage with a bunch of daffodils in his back pocket, and Johnny Marr enjoying a mid-gig snog with a delighted fan. A special night in Leeside’s music history.
Their return in November couldn’t have felt more different. A small section of the crowd ruined the performance by constantly spitting at the musicians, prompting an early walk-off led by Marr, and dissatisfaction all round. At least Morrissey banished some of those bad memories with an impressive solo gig at the Savoy in 2011.
Genius as he was, Gil Scott-Heron came with baggage, and his ongoing addiction issues meant the Savoy gig was possibly going to be added to the long list of no-shows for the American music legend.
He had been arrested the previous November in New York with cocaine and two crack pipes, and a looming court date in July threatened to scupper the European trip. Fortunately, the judge in the case was lenient and allowed him go on the tour once he entered a rehab programme on his return.
Promoter Joe Kelly recalls a hassle-free gig, with the star being pleasant to deal with. “He was just low-key and really cool,” says Kelly, now back at the Savoy as part of the new management.
Ever a social commentator, the 52-year-old Scott-Heron railed at the recently-inaugurated George W Bush and his controversial 'hanging chads' election. He also had words for CNN, “the only station with experts on shit that never happened before”.
Highlights on the night included such classics as and while rapturous applause at the end of the main set brought him back for an encore of
While the Cork audience caught Scott-Heron on a good day, unfortunately, it wouldn’t last. When he got back to the US, he dodged the promised rehab programme and in October ended up being sentenced to one to three years in jail. He died in 2011.
The Wicklow woman had finished with Moloko in 2004, and took a few years to get into her groove with a solo career that included a debut album in 2005, produced with innovative dance producer Matthew Herbert.
By 2007, however, she was on more solid ground with the album, and thrilled the Cork audience with a sizzling show on the last night of her tour. A full band and two female backing vocalists helped power her through an upbeat set that showed Murphy still at least one foot on the dancefloor.
Also making a name for herself in the fashion world, the performance involved several costume changes. A master show-woman, she even added to the fun of it all by diving from the Savoy stage for a bout of crowdsurfing.
Following a Glastonbury appearance just a few days earlier, Janelle Monáe managed to squeeze her full production of at least 12 musicians and backing singers onto the compact stage of the Savoy. Obviously, their opportunity for jumping around was far more limited than at Worthy Farm.
An enthusiastic Cork crowd more than made up for it, however, as they grooved to a set primarily made up of tracks from the 25-year-old’s breakthrough album released the previous year. For the entrance price of €28, the punters also got covers of tunes by Prince and Stevie Wonder, as well as a memorable version of Jackson 5 classic
Pound-for-pound, this special gig as part of the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival had possibly the finest array of musical talent ever gathered on the Savoy stage.
Led by Blur’s Damon Albarn during a period when he was launching all sorts of side projects, the main act also featured Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, legendary Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen (a key part of Fela Kuti’s band), house music titan Theo Parrish, and Chicago jazz trumpeter Phil Cohran.
And those heavyweights probably didn’t even provide the highlight of the night. That honour went to Shangaan Electro who gave us a taste of the 180-beats-per-minute frenetic fun that was breaking out of southern Africa at the time.
Incidentally, that incredible gig was put together by Dublin promoter Mark Murphy who, 10 years later, would become festival director of the annual Cork jazz extravaganza.
