At home with ... Joe O'Herlihy

Joe O’Herlihy has probably heard the words, “check, one, two…” more times than he has had hot dinners (courtesy of backstage catering of course!).

For the past 25 years, the larger than life Cork-man has been responsible for U2’s live sound as they toured the world. In that time he has seen them grow from green hopefuls to world-beating rock superstars. Meanwhile, his own reputation has grown in tandem, and he has worked with other major bands including REM and The Cranberries while he was invited to take care of sound duties for the 25th Anniversary of Woodstock in 1994. He is currently a live sound consultant to the new Wembley Stadium due to open in 2006.
O’Herlihy first got into the business when he joined a Cork band, Chapter Five, after he left school in the late 1960s. After spending time as a bass player with Cork legends Sleepy Hollow in the early 1970s he took over as a live sound engineer for Rory Gallagher who he worked with between 1974 and 1978.
“It was an incredible learning curve,” he says of that time. “It instilled in me everything that I hold true today. Rory was a man who truly loved what he did. His music was his life. He was a gentle giant, a diplomatic man; I’d like to think some of his values rubbed off on me. “
Though he insists Cork will always be his “true home”, a 1920’s Strain-built house in Terenure in South Dublin has been the family base for the past 20 years. Here he lives with his wife Marian and their four children, Mark, Damian, Sarah and Louise who range in age from 32 down to 17.
“I’m well settled here,” he says. “I have an office in the house which is my sanctuary when I’m at home. It’s where I do all my business and stash all my music. When I’m not on the road I’m usually to be found in here sifting through e-mails. Like everyone else these days I live and die by the computer.”
O’Herlihy clearly remembers his first encounter with a youthful U2 in his home town of Cork in the late 1970s. “It was September 1978 in the Arcadia Ballroom at one of the UCC Downtown Campus gigs,” he recalls. “I had a sound-hire company at the time and we supplied the sound system on the night. I think U2 were the fourth or fifth band on the bill. They barely knew how to turn on their own gear they were so inexperienced but we looked after them pretty well and they got a good sound. Things like that are noticed in this business and shortly afterwards Paul McGuinness contacted me and said ‘We’d like you to become involved with the band’ and the rest, as they say, is history.”
Not surprisingly O’Herlihy has amassed a veritable Aladdin’s cave of U2 tour memorabilia over the years, including several thousand Access All Areas laminates that hang from the back of his office door. “I generally keep most of them,” he says. “They’re a nice reminder and memento of some of the great nights we’ve had.”
Speaking of which, what would he consider among the highlights of working with the band over the last quarter of a century?
“There’ve been so many, but the first time we played Madison Square Gardens, which was on 1st April 1984, will always hold a place in my heart,” he says. “We always rock the Garden but that one was something very special and it stands out to this day.”
A long time Manchester United supporter, O’Herlihy is on friendly terms with fellow Corkonians Denis Irwin and Roy Keane. One of his most treasured possessions was presented to him by Denis Irwin, as he explains. “When Denis did his testimonial at the start of the 2001 season he asked me to come on board with Kevin Moran and a couple of others to take care of the usual stuff like organising golf outings and dinners as well as the game itself against Man City. When the team had won the treble in 1999/2000 they all received a trophy block with replicas of all three trophies.
“As a token of his appreciation he presented me with his trophy which was a lovely gesture. It would be probably be the first thing I’d grab in the event of a fire - after the wife and kids and the computer of course!”
Recently O’Herlihy has been back in the studio working with U2 on How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb.
“The album is finally done, now thanks be to Jaysus,” he laughs. “The quality of the product this time and the last time out is just fantastic. There’s one song on it that Bono wrote about his dad. If you can imagine the emotion that was in his voice at Slane just the day after he’d buried his father – I think he’s captured that emotion very well on record. My own thing on this record is just sitting in so I can appraise the way the songs are developing so that when it comes to playing them in the live context I can have some idea of what it’s all about.”
Finally, is he looking forward to hitting the road again when the band go out on tour to promote the album?
“Absolutely,” he says. “It’s what I do. I’ve lived out of a suitcase all my life and I consider myself absolutely blessed. Some people get up every day and go to a job they hate. But I wouldn’t change this for the world.”

Photography Cathal Dawson