Twenty Years Of Rhythm N Booze

Seated in the back bar at The Baggot Inn beneath the venue s newly positioned sound desk, Charlie McGettigan, the man who has booked the bands for 17 of the club s 20 year history, reminisces over times gone by.
20 years? Yes indeed. It s hard to believe but since 1969 The Baggot Inn has been on the go, gradually establishing its position at the nerve centre of Dublin s rock n roll. A cursory glance at the list of bands that have passed through its hallowed doors reveals all, reading as it does like a Who s Who of the Irish music scene: U2, Thin Lizzy, The Boomtown Rats, The Radiators From Space, The Bogey Boys, Moving Hearts, Paddy Reilly, Mary Coughlan, Colm Wilkinson and Brush Shiels among others have all played here at one time or another.
This list does not, of course, include the great unsung heroes, those bands that may have played one gig outside the garage, often supporting some equally anonymous band on a Monday night. For them to play The Baggot stage would have been like a dream come true.
Perhaps not as famous as London s Marquee (now moved from its original Wardour Street site), perhaps not as infamous as New York s CBGB s and certainly not as plush as LA s Roxy, The Baggot Inn has nonetheless played its part admirably, providing many nights of sweaty rock n roll along the way, and acting as Dublin s most important and mot consistent music venue. Hell, if Eamonn Dunphy is to be believed, monitoring systems were invented here by some subsequently moderately successful four piece . . .

But it wasn t always quite like this. Charlie starts the story back in 1969.
The Baggot opened not as a rock venue but more as a cabaret pub. Mr Pussy, still Ireland s only drag artist, played six nights a week, Monday through Saturday. Then in the early 70s we tried all sorts of things the Ken Campbell Roadshow whose main highlight of the evening was sticking ferrets down his trousers! and there was folk and traditional nights. It wasn t until 1973 that we moved downstairs to this back bar and knocked down the garage which is where the stage is now and started a rock night every Thursday.
So what kind of acts were featured then?
Spud (then managed by one Paul McGuinness) were, I think, the first resident band. Then we had Ghandi s Dancer which featured Declan Sinnott among others and of course Brush Shiels (a man who was so taken with Thursdays in the Baggot that he played every week for seven years). At that time Colm Wilkinson, Brendan Grace and Paddy Reilly were still playing regularly it was still mostly cabaret.
So it wasn t a conscious decision to switch from cabaret to rock music?
No, we just sort of drifted into it. It just went that way. It really depended on who came good on the scene at that time. By 1978/79 we had established a residency system, we had the likes of Katmandu, The Bogey Boys, Stepaside, Christy Moore and The Rhythm Kings regularly playing here and all packing the house out. It just seemed natural that the cabaret and folk bands would be phased out. U2, The Boomtown Rats, DC Nein all played here. These were exciting times. There were a lot of great bands on the scene. In fact there were probably too many of them there wasn t enough venues nor enough nights to put all these acts on. Everybody wanted to play weekends but it had to be spread out over the course of the week.
At that time there were arguably more (and indeed better) venues in Dublin than there are now. The Baggot aside, The Magnet, the Ivy Rooms, The Sportsmans Inn and Belfield Bar all ran regular gigs. Why do you think that The Baggot has outlasted them?
Modesty prevailing, he puts the success of the venue down to its excellent location.
We have no outside interference here, no neighbours, no residents that might complain. We could put on music 24 hours a day if we were allowed and we d have no complaints.
The Merrion Row Strip is a good metropolitan area so we rarely have any trouble.
But surely there s more to it than that?
The consistency of bands playing here must be a factor as well. We ve been able to book international acts. (Dr Feelgood, Tracy Chapman, The Waterboys, Roger McGuinn etc.) as well as the best of the Irish talent. We ve catered for all types of music and we don t try and rip bands off. At least I don t think so! (Laughs)
How do you feel about the criticism that The Baggot doesn t book enough bands from outside Dublin?
It s probably true, he admits. Unfortunately while I would like to book more acts from the country I ve got to book bands that are going to pull a crowd or who I think might pull a crowd. I ve got to pay wages here for the staff and generally keep things ticking over and I can only do that by having full houses. In saying that, The Fireflys from Cavan have done well here recently as have Belsonic Sound from Cork. Also Those Nervous Animals from Sligo and Quarterdeck from Donegal have pulled in some of our biggest crowds ever.
Others I ve missed . . . Cry Before Dawn plagued me for years for a headline gig but I never felt that they would do the business. I gave them some support slots it was the best that I could do. Like everything else it s a business. With Cry Before Dawn or, let s say, Something Happens! or A House, we worried whether they would pull a crowd if we put them on. Now we can t put them on because they d pull too big a crowd.
Hopefully recent changes at The Baggot will work in favour of out-of-town bands.
Yeah. The upstairs bar that has been recently opened for gigs will help those smaller bands and bands from the country so that they can prove themselves in a smaller room. It s like a new venue really.

Over the years, a promoter inevitably develops his own favourite bands? Rumour has it that Charlie has a soft spot for Moving Hearts.
They actually formed and started here. Christy Moore used to play here on Tuesday nights billed as Christy Moore and friends and each week he d have various guest-spots but also a constant core of players. Eventually he came to me and asked me to advertise it as Moving Hearts instead of Christy Moore and Friends. I was worried that no-one would know who they were and that they wouldn t be able to pull a crowd. But as it turned out the opposite happened and they ended up playing three nights a week instead of just one. Also they used to rehearse in what is now the pool room. When they moved out to bigger venues there was a real gap.
Freddie White did well on Mondays but at times the rest of the week might be struggling. The only night that was guaranteed to be filled was on Saturday night with Full Circle. And they ve done that now every Saturday for about seven years. They ve drawn crowds that, to be honest, possibly subsidised the other nights. In my opinion there isn t a band anywhere in the world that can compare with Full Circle on any Saturday night. I don t care who you compare them with even though they do covers there s a great atmosphere and every person here thoroughly enjoys themselves.
Any particular standout nights? Magical nights that make it all worthwhile?
Nearly every Moving Hearts gig had a magic all of its own, Roger McGuinn two years ago had grown men crying in their beer. (Mea culpa C. O M) Tracy Chapman of course last year launched her career here. And The Joshua Trio with their Donkey brought it full circle. The first animal in the Baggot since Ken Campbell s ferrets. The Rhythm Kings on a good night were great.
For a man who claims that he can t categorise bands ( This thrash metal is a new one on me! ) and knows little about the difference between new wave an punk rock, Charlie is still quite an astute judge of talent. Is there anybody that he felt should have made it but in the end never really got any further than The Baggot?
The Blades I saw for the first time when they supported U2 here, before U2 went to England. After listening to the two I would have picked The Blades, I can t understand why. Paul McGuinness must take a lot of credit for U2 s success he s got a great business mind and always, even then, was very well organised. But they ve never let themselves down.
Paul was always very ambitious. In those days with U2 we were turning away more people than we were letting into the show mind you a lot of them were underage. In fact (he laughs) one night Bono, who I didn t really know, was carrying a guitar and I stopped him thinking that he was some chancer trying to get in only to be told that he was the lead singer! Aside from The Blades, Those Nervous Animals and Katmandu I always thought should have done a lot better.

There s no doubt about it: The Baggot Inn has hosted some magnificent nights of rock n roll. What is it that makes the venue so special?
Atmosphere, without a doubt. I ve seen U2, Moving Hearts and The Boomtown Rats in bigger venues and it s just not the same. They never seem to recapture the same vibe, the same impact. I don t know why. You talk to U2 and they ll tell you that their best gigs were in The Baggot. In the past months I ve seen The Big Noise and No Sweat, both in bigger venues with more lights, a bigger stage and more PA and while the shows were a success, for me it just wasn t the same.
For a long time you wouldn t book The Boomtown Rats is that true?
Yeah, even at that time Geldof would argue with you (laughs). He kept coming in looking for gigs but I honestly had none to offer him. Anyway about a month of this later he stormed out shouting that when he was famous he wouldn t set foot inside the fucking door. Just at that moment my boss came in to see what all this commotion was about and when I told him he said Charlie come on give the kid a gig! When I saw them they were really good.
Thin Lizzy?
Those were some of the worst nights. The place was so packed people literally couldn t get to the bar and when they finished, the place would be littered with broken glass. Even if people could get to the bar, there would be no glasses for them to drink out of.
With the thousands of bands that have come through the door looking for gigs can you remember any particularly funny ones?
God there s been some strange ones alright. Recently one night we had Just A Philistine, Harvey Discovers and The Immaculate Misconception on one bill. When you read names like that out over the phone to the listings people you can t help think What the hell am I doing?
Have there ever been moments when you thought that it was time for jacking it all in? There used to be a restaurant here, did you ever think of cancelling all the bands and selling food in earnest?
While we could do that I wouldn t like to see it happen. We ve played a very big part in the rock scene. It s a unique place in many ways.
It s hard to beat live music we ve tried disco bars but it just wasn t my scene. People want to know how the hell I stick it and sometimes I wonder as well. But I ll tell you, if I go to any major gig in the RDS or Croke Park or wherever I ll recognise half the audience as people who come through here at one time or another. That kind of makes it all worthwhile.
So what are the future plans?
There s a few plans afoot. I d like to do a double album of the best acts that played here do it properly and make it worthwhile. Also we might try and reform some of the older bands and get them back with some of the others for a week of gigs, maybe for charity. That would be good fun.
So Charlie, another 20 years
Maybe another ten and then I ll retire . . . (laughs)
Whatever, The Baggot will be here for years to come, providing a vital forum for upcoming local acts, more established ones and of course some international visitors.
With few viable venues in Dublin right now, it s clear rock n roll needs The Baggot more than ever.