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2024-12-02 Me First and the Gimme Gimmes - The Academy, Dublin

Christmas came early this year for me.  Never did I think that  Me First and the Gimme Gimmes  would be playing Dublin, and never did I ever think I'd get to shoot one of their shows! Well, that all changed last week when they played the Academy in Dublin on a cold, damp, Monday night! I've been a fan since 1997, when one of the lads I worked with, brought in a copy of Have a Ball . It was love at first listen! I did manage to catch them live back in 2019 when they played the O2 Forum in Kentish Town , London, and it was every bit as good as I'd hoped, but it paled in comparison to Monday night in Dublin. So, how did it come about?  Well, back in 2013, I interviewed the band for a now defunct Irish website called Chunk.ie .  Over the years, I've stayed on their PR roster, so I took a chance and emailed my contact there.  Lo and behold, a few emails later and all was sorted, I was down to photograph the show. How was it?  Brilliant, amazing, fantastic,...

2019-08-21 Foo Fighters - RDS Dublin

Back in the early '90s, Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Stone Temple Pilots and Nirvana ruled the rock world.  We were in the middle of the 'grunge' era and I, for once, was fashionable.

There's been a lot of casualties along the way since the early '90s.  Layne Staley, Chris Cornell, Scott Weiland and Kurt Cobain have all passed away unfortunately.  Thankfully, Pearl Jam are still going strong. Alice in Chains and Stone Temple Pilots also still carry on to this day, but with different vocalists. Soundgarden and Nirvana are no more.

Out of the ashes of Nirvana, came the amazing Foo Fighters fronted by the now legendary, Dave Grohl.  They are, for me at least, one of the greatest live acts in the world. So obviously when they announced an Irish show, there was only one thing to do and that was to buy a ticket.  So I did!

It rained last night in the RDS (and probably other places!), it rained a lot! But no matter how much rain fell, it didn't, couldn't and wouldn't dare dampen the spirits of the crowd. No way, we were there to have fun and we were going to have it, even if it meant swimming home!

As you can see from the setlist below, they pretty much covered all the bases, leaving the crowd extremely happy.

Setlist:
  1. The Pretender
  2. Learn to Fly
  3. Run
  4. The Sky Is a Neighborhood
  5. Times Like These
  6. Drum Solo (with Sunday Bloody Sunday snippet)
  7. Sunday Rain
  8. My Hero
  9. These Days
  10. La Dee Da
  11. Walk
  12. The Boys Are Back In Town / The Rocker / Jailbreak / Good Times / Ziggy Stardust / Day-oh / Where the Streets Have No Name / Sunday Bloody Sunday
  13. Under Pressure (Queen cover) (with Jon Davison)
  14. All My Life
  15. I'll Stick Around
  16. Wheels (slow version)
  17. Monkey Wrench
  18. Hey, Johnny Park!
  19. Big Me (slow version)
  20. Best of You
  21. Happy Birthday to You (Mildred J. Hill & Patty Hill cover) (played for Lisa the backing vocalist)
  22. Dirty Water
  23. This Is a Call
  24. Everlong
Anyway, look, the Foo Fighters are a phenomenal band live. I'm not quite sure if that was my 4th or 5th time seeing them live, but I know, should the opportunity arise, I'll definitely go see them again!

Oh just a quick word on the pitch layout.  I'm sure someone in MCD thinks that putting a barrier across the pitch and splitting it in two is a great idea.  It's not, it absolutely sucks for punters. It makes life stupidly difficult for punters and when your're paying nearly €100 a ticket and spending another €50 on food and drink, they deserve better.

Angry minor rant over.

Check out the photos below:










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