Take It To The Lynott One More Time

2011 will go down as a special year for fans of Phil Lynott and Thin Lizzy. It has been marked by several major events, including the record-breaking Phil Lynott exhibition Still In Love With You at Dublin’s Stephen’s Green Centre, Philomena Lynott’s updated memoir My Boy, which became a best-seller all over again, and the release of the re-mastered Thin Lizzy back catalogue. It also marked the 25th anniversary of Phil’s passing. The now annual Vibe For Philo at Vicar St in January was arguably the best ever. It featured Lizzy alumni Eric Bell and Brian Robertson, among others.

Time to take a break from all things Phil and Thin Lizzy, perhaps? Not as far as Smiley Bolger – close friend of Phil and the instigator of the annual Vibe – is concerned! Billed as an ‘after party’, following this year’s major celebrations, the next Vibe For Philo will take place on January 4, 2012 at the Button Factory in Dublin’s Temple Bar. Confirmed to appear so far are the Radiators From Space (who supported Lizzy on the 1977 Bad Reputation Tour), Doish Nagle, a member of Philo’s post-Lizzy outfit, and Grand Slam, who will perform a special Grand Slam set on the night. Also scheduled are Republic Of Loose, who performed several Lizzy tracks at the Phil Lynott Exhibition, northern outfit The Low Riders, and Sheffield’s Thin Lizzy Experience.
“It wasn’t supposed to happen at all,” says Smiley Bolger, sipping a pint outside Bruxelles pub off Grafton St in the shadow of the iconic statue of Lynott. “We had more or less hung up our rock ‘n’ roll shoes after the 25th Vibe. I was thinking, ‘We’ll leave it ‘til the 30th anniversary and do something really big'.
"Actually, the tenth Vibe was meant to be the stopping point,” he adds. “We thought we couldn’t do anything better than that. Then it went to the 15th, which was a bit of a joke because it said on the poster, ‘The 15th and final Vibe’ followed by the words, ‘Don’t believe a word’ (laughs).”
However, events conspired against his own better judgment and, as Smiley relates, he was once again persuaded to put together something for the 26th anniversary of Phil’s untimely death in 1986.
“It all started on the weekend of Philip’s birthday back in August, when there was a load of people over and we had a mad weekend,” he explains. “There was a gig out in Howth and there was a great turnout. We were all back in the North Star Hotel afterwards. Philomena was saying to me, ‘You have to do something’. There was also a large group of Scandinavians and British there and they all said, ‘We’re coming over anyway next year so you better organise something – it doesn’t have to be big, just a small gig with some good musicians’. So, that night I decided, ‘Okay, I’ll do it’”
He also made the decision that whatever shape the Vibe would take, it would have to be a lower key affair than this year’s major event – but one still worthy of Philip’s memory. No easy task, according to Smiley.
“The most important thing and the hardest thing about the Vibe for me every year is quality control,” he says. “You can’t have tribute band after tribute band – it doesn’t work. Over the years, we’ve had our turkeys – I’m not going to mention any names but even at the 19th one, we had a turkey and that really made me think hard. These guys had sent us an album which was absolutely beautiful, and a DVD which was overdubbed from the album. It was all smoke and mirrors, all done in the studio. There are people who you trust. If I invite Glen Hansard or Damien Dempsey, I trust them. I know they’ll always deliver.”
Mindful of the current economic situation and the effect it is having on ticket sales, he has halved ticket prices from €40 to just €20. “It’s to thank everyone for their loyal support over the years': he says. "It’s about giving something back. People have accused me of doing this for the money, but there’s little or no money in it for everyone involved. It’s a cooperative effort.”
The template for putting the Vibe together, according to Smiley, is Lizzy’s classic Live & Dangerous. “It starts with a bang and finishes with a bang. And you have your big ballad in the middle [‘Still In Love With You’]. That’s my template. I say that to bands all the time, that if you want to know how to put a good set together, just listen to that album.
“I think this year, 2011, we really got it right,” he continues. “There were no turkeys and it was perfect from start to finish. Okay, well it was almost perfect (laughs). Robbo got into a little bit of difficulty at the beginning of his set where he did a lot of his own stuff. I thought he had enough sense to know how to put a set together for something like this but he’d made his mind up before the gig. In fairness to him, after he got a bit of stick from the audience he pulled it all together and gave them what they wanted, so everyone was happy.”
According to Smiley, even a smaller-scale affair like the one planned for the Button Factory is still a major logistical undertaking. “Normally, you’d have 40 or 50 artists on the night, then you’d have your stage crew, your sound and lighting engineers, hospitality people, someone on the door and security etc. Then you need an art department, a web department, PR department. We have to organise accommodation. Last year, for example, the North Star Hotel on Amiens Street was block-booked by bands and people going to the Vibe. We call it the rock ‘n’ roll hotel because we take it over for two or three days and there are no complaints about the noise.
“We’re on a very tight budget this year – we’ve half the capacity and the tickets are half the price, so I’m going around trying to get deals and favours from everyone. I really did take a lot of convincing to do it one more time, but I think the bill is looking great and I reckon it’s going to be the best Vibe ever.”

The Vibe For Philo takes place in Dublin’s Button Factory on January 4, 2012.