Recalling the great nights of Cork's Arcadia

The Arcadia in Cork provided the focus for a thriving music scene. Des O’Driscoll recalls tales of great nights, an emerging U2 and the towering figure of Donnelly.

Cork band Nun Attax. Picture: Ciarán Ó Tuama

FOR any city’s music scene to thrive, it takes the fortuitous alignment of a number of factors. As well as the willing punters and burgeoning local talent, you also need the focal point of a special venue and the emergence of a facilitator who combines vision and knowledge with serious organisational skills. Sprinkle it all with a few maverick leaders and stir it up with the frenetic energy of an international cultural revolution, and you’ll get a taste of what happened in a corner of Cork in the late 1970s.

The story of the Downtown Kampus at the Arcadia ballroom tends to get told less than the other Cork cultural beacons it’s sandwiched between — the showband era and Sir Henrys — but it was at least as important and thrilling for those who were there.