Saturday with Dave Fanning: I go to a gig most weekends — tickets are very expensive

I go to a gig most Saturday nights. I do tend to wrangle my way in — if I had to pay for every gig I go to I’d be broke

Sat, 06 Dec, 2025 - 01:00

Ruth O'Connor

06.00

I don’t really have a set time at which I get up on a Saturday morning, it depends on what I was doing the night before, but I certainly have a habit of getting up earlier these days. If I have a lot of work to get through I might be up at 5.30 or 6am. I like the fact that by 10am I’ll have a few hours of work already done.

At the moment I’m working on two documentaries - I’m pretty thorough because if someone else is editing it for me I need to have all my ducks in a row. Saturday to me is no different to any other day in that most of the time I’ve got work to do - a brilliant Saturday is one where I get the work done.

06.30

The first thing I do is have a cup of coffee. The second thing I do is have a cup of coffee. Do I have breakfast? No. Do I have brunch? No. I don’t really think about food and never have.

12.00

Do I have lunch? If the food is there I will but I don’t really think about it too much unless someone makes me something and then I’ll eat it.

14.00

I might meet someone for a coffee and myself and my wife Ursula will usually take Lenny the dog (named after Leonard Cohen) for a walk in Carysfort Park in Blackrock.

17.30

One thing I always enjoy on a Saturday evening is watching Premier League soccer at 5.30pm.

David Fanning: "My wife is a very good cook whereas the most I can do is set the table."

18.00

I’m on RTE GOLD six days a week. Monday to Friday it’s just playing music - there’s no news, sports, weather, ads, demos or interviews - but Saturday is different. This year I’ve done 104 hours on the history of rock - two hours a week every week for a year on Saturday 6pm to 8pm - it’s history, it’s anecdotes, it’s 16 hours on each decade.

20.00

If I’m staying in, I do like to watch a movie. I’ve watched five movies a week every week for 40 years. I watch box sets and movies but not a lot of regular TV. I don’t tend to revisit movies I’ve already seen, but it’s great, especially for younger people, that there is such a treasure trove of films available to them that they haven’t seen.

I did the movie show on TV for 12 years - 430 programmes and a labour of love. I go to the cinema quite often. I wouldn’t like to see the cinema experience dying but I can see why people like to watch movies at home with their families when there’s so much choice on TV.

I go to a gig most Saturday nights, even though I don’t plan to.

It could be Richard Hawley, Wet Leg, Bob Dylan, My Bloody Valentine… I do tend to wrangle my way in — if I had to pay for every gig I go to I’d be broke. The price of tickets is very expensive these days.

I think we have some great venues in Ireland. In Dublin, the 3Arena is brilliant, the Olympia obviously is brilliant — I know every lick of paint in the place — and Vicar Street is great particularly because, for the size of the venue, it has a very large stage.

David Fanning: "If I’m staying in, I do like to watch a movie. I’ve watched five movies a week every week for 40 years."

When it comes to my show Fanning at Whelan’s, we’re into our sixth season now - that’s about 145 acts so far. We have Curtisy, KhakiKid, The Scratch, who are just about to release their third album and Nell Mescal, Madra Salach, Theatre, Bold Love and Damian Lewis. We also have The Waterboys, 11-times Grammy-winner Finneas, The Divine Comedy, Florence Road and Amble… 22 or 23 acts featured in the season.

22.00

I read a lot. I read a lot of magazines - in particular, music and movie magazines. I read a lot of music biographies and books about certain eras in music and culture. People always told me not to make my hobby my job but 40 years later I think I can say I’m glad that I did - everything that I want to do in my spare time, reading about music, watching movies and going to gigs, is what I do for work. I’m currently working on two documentaries for RTE Radio 1 - one on The Cranberries and one on David Bowie.

My bedtime varies - I might go to bed and watch a movie at 10pm or I might stay up till midnight watching a movie downstairs. And I'd definitely love to get more sleep!