trip to tipp 1991 lineup

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Feile Festival 1991 Setlists

Date Friday, August 2, 1991 - Sunday, August 4, 1991

So far, there are setlists of 34 gigs in one venue .

Artists (A-Z)

• Semple Stadium, Thurles, Ireland

Friday, August 2, 1991

13 attendees

17 attendees

6 attendees

8 attendees

16 attendees

15 attendees

7 attendees

10 attendees

Saturday, August 3, 1991

12 attendees

4 attendees

5 attendees

11 attendees

9 attendees

3 attendees

Sunday, August 4, 1991

14 attendees

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Feile Festival Timeline

1991 marks the 2nd festival ( 8 total). Incorrect?

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Féile 1990: Trip to Tipp 25 years on

Ireland went to italia ’90, nelson mandela was released, the berlin wall was demolished – and the féile festival changed irish music forever.

Fearghal McKee, lead singer of Whipping Boy at Feile. Photograph: Frank Miller / The Irish Times

It was a hell of a year. It was the year Ireland went to the World Cup in Italy and the country turned upside down and inside out. It was the year Nelson Mandela was released from prison in South Africa, the year the Berlin Wall was officially demolished, the year Saddam Hussein sent Iraqi troops into Kuwait, the year the United States went in to get them out and the year The Simpsons aired for the first time.

And 1990 was also the year when a generation of Irish youngsters began to associate Semple Stadium, in Thurles, with live music rather than hurling. Twenty-five years ago this weekend the first Féile music festival took place in the Co Tipperary town.

Whatever about the run of seismic events elsewhere in the world that year, Féile was groundbreaking in Irish pop culture. There had been plenty of music festivals before, shindigs such as the Mountain Dew Festival, in Macroom, Siamsa Cois Laoi, in Cork, and Lisdoonvarna, in Co Clare, but they were all in the past. The kids who were coming of age in 1990s Ireland wanted their own party – and a campsite.

Without Féile there wouldn’t be the bacchanalian excesses of Witnness and Oxegen – and you can join the dots between Féile and Electric Picnic with relative ease

‘It was a time before big screens’: the Sawdoctors at Feile

Féile gave them that and more. For five heady years the festival welcomed music fans, freaks, head-the-balls, messers, chancers, eejits, rogues, hard chaws and musicians to Thurles. There were probably some “revellers” in the mix too.

The hordes came, caroused and left the town needing a clean-up on the bank-holiday Monday. The residents experienced every emotion over the five years, from unsuspecting and welcoming to eager to cash in and, finally, fed up.

After five years in Thurles, Féile moved to Cork in 1995, called to the Point in Dublin in 1996 and went back to Co Tipperary for a one-day bash in 1997. It was never the same as it was during the first five years, though, and it’s those weekends at Semple Stadium that ensure the festival’s legend.

Féile was the first modern Irish music festival. Without Féile there wouldn’t be the bacchanalian excesses of Witnness and Oxegen – and you can join the dots between Féile and Electric Picnic with relative ease.

The RTÉ broadcaster Will Leahy has been delving into the festival's history for his radio documentary Féile: The Untold Story of the Trip to Tipp .

Back in 1990, he says, very few outdoor music events were on the summer calendar. “People may find that bizarre now, but there was nothing. There was no rite-of-passage festival, there were even few big gigs. In 1989, which was my Leaving Cert year, there was no major outdoor gig. Then, in a year of monumental change worldwide, Féile came along.”

Trip to Tipp

The Féile backstory begins in September 1989, with the homecoming for the All-Ireland-winning Tipperary hurling team and a performance at Semple Stadium that night by

Michael Lowry, the local TD, was chairman of the stadium's management committee. He looked at the reaction to Dolan, saw the £1.2 million debt the stadium was carrying after the 1984 GAA centenary celebrations and reckoned a gig might bring in cash. Eamonn McCann of MCD Concerts showed the most enthusiasm, and the Trip to Tipp was born.

Lowry's role was key. Eugene Hogan of the Tipperary Star says that "he was the only person who could put this together. He was a risk-taker and could bring people with him to enable this to happen."

Leahy agrees. “Whatever you might think of Michael Lowry the politician, this was Michael Lowry the GAA man. The GAA were faced with the prospect of losing Semple Stadium and seeing it turned into a housing development if they didn’t do something about the debt.

“They had to come up with something, and that allowed him to sell the concept to the county board, despite the huge opposition on the county board to the idea of a rock festival on the sacred soil of Semple Stadium.

“It couldn’t have happened without his political know-how. You needed someone who could weave the local council, the guards, the health board, the GAA and the residents together, and he was the only man who was common to all those interested parties.”

The 1990 line-up would not set pulses racing today. “It was quite parochial the first year,” says Leahy of a bill topped by Meat Loaf, Van Morrison and the Hothouse Flowers. “But it felt like an international music festival by the second and third years. You can see the evolution of the line-up and the promoters realising they were on to something. They could see there was a market for what they were doing in Thurles. The fact that it was in Thurles meant it was something quite unique and different. It was in the middle of the country, easy to get to, and the locals welcomed it with open arms.”

During its pomp Féile had its pick of international acts. But while the event attracted Simply Red,

Deacon Blue

, The Prodigy, Blur and Björk, it also packed in Irish acts.

Christy Moore

, The Pogues, Therapy, The Sawdoctors, Chris de Burgh and The Stunning all featured near the top of the bill.

"The breadth of success of Irish acts at the time was unprecedented and never seen since," says Leahy. "When you talk to the bands who played Féile they point out how different things were then. You'd one radio station, one TV channel to speak of and one music festival. If you were an Irish band who were played on 2FM, who got a slot on The Late Late Show and played Féile, you got a year's work out of it. You got to your target market with ease. People still remember the hits from those bands 25 years on."

His documentary has many colourful tales about the exchanges between the Féile faithful and the people of Thurles. Lowry recalls “a sense of fear about what was to arrive” the first year and watching “a scruffy-looking crowd” going past his office.

There were complaints about religious cults drumming and keeping residents awake. One of those locals, Archbishop Dermot Clifford, came out very strongly against Féile. “Bishops had far more influence then than they would now,” Lowry says, and the archbishop’s opposition generated a lot of publicity.

“The Ireland of today and the Ireland of 1990 are two different worlds, but 1990 was when things started to change and tilt right across the board,” says Leahy.

Within a few years the circus had left town. “Once the debt was paid it was very hard to sell it to the local community,” says Leahy. “The man who was the driving force, Michael Lowry, became a cabinet minister in 1994, so he hadn’t the interest to be the man on the ground taking care of Portaloos, gardaí and campsites.”

Rite of passage

Féile set a template. It was the rite-of-passage summer festival and the big annual gathering for young Irish people getting away from their parents for the first time. Witnness and Oxegen followed in the next decade with much the same mix of big bands, little bands and camping.

“We have no similar rite-of-passage festival now,” Leahy says. “And Electric Picnic’s age demographic has got younger to reflect that. The average school-leaver probably sees the Electric Picnic as their rite-of-passage event.”

But the festivals of today are very different affairs from the unbridled Féiles of old. “Today there wouldn’t be the opportunity for locals to make money by having a chip van parked in their driveway,” Leahy says. “The famous ‘subject to licence’ didn’t come in until 2000. Most of the waste-management regulations came in the Waste Management Act of 1996.

“I’m not saying it was the wild west in 1990, but it was certainly a far less regulated Ireland. I don’t think the regulated-Irish-festival story is half as interesting as Féile.”

They were there: Musicians remember Trips to Tipp

Steve Wall, The Stunning : "Driving into Thurles, it was like Sodom and Gomorrah, like a scene from a Mad Max film or something. People had set up stalls in their front gardens, selling bowls of cornflakes, cups of tea and anything they could sell."

Leo Moran, The Sawdoctors : "We felt under pressure to put on a show. It was a time before big screens, so we felt we needed something more than singing to captivate the crowd. We had Mike Scott, a troupe from Macnas and someone going across the stage on a Honda 50."

Tom Dunne, Something Happens : "It was like the fall of Rome. There was no catering, no toilets. People were buying large sliced pans and packets of ham in shops and sitting at the side of the road to eat them."

Iggy Pop: "I was coming to Ireland, and it was summer, and I thought it would be a lovely green place, kind of like a Renaissance fair, with people playing flutes and singing folk songs. Instead it was 20,000 really intense little Irish people going, 'Up yours, Iggy,' and it got me really nuts. And I enjoyed it."

Féile: The Untold Story of the Trip to Tipp is on RTÉ Radio 1 on Monday at 2pm

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Your memories of the Trip to Tipp

Now that Trip to Tipp - or Féile Classica l as it will be known - is making a comeback in September we asked for your memories of the original Féile from the nineties and here's a selection of your responses.

Gráinne aged 47 & three quarters from Dublin met her husband at Féile in 1991:

"Romance with my now husband started in 1991 at Féile 91, a day after my 21st. We had our first kiss on the Trip to Tipp. We were at Féile 90/91& 92, we got married in 1997, still married and in love in 2018! My husband was part of a group of friends at Féile 90. They were dancing in the stand between the bands' sets, getting the crowds going by dancing in unison. The crowds in the stands and on the pitch joined in and the the late great DJ Tony Fenton saw them from the stage and called them The Semple Four. Lots of great memories."

Trevor (45) from Wexford remembers mountains of greasy chips and empty beer cans:

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"Trip to Tipp 1991. 3 day ticket cost £35. The Farm, Happy Mondays, Something Happens, and of course Transvision Vamp. Stayed in a camp site just down from the Anner Hotel and got breakfast in that hotel every morning. I will always remember Thurles square packed with people and the street was so slippy from greasy chips and the big mountain of empty beer cans outside the entrance to the stadium. Let's not forget the local houses selling sandwiches from their front door. I will never forget not brushing my teeth for 4 whole days. Never let that happen again. The memories of an 18 year old."

Micky (43) from Cushendun on the best waste of 30 punts:

"One of the boys with me was a huge Pogues fan so we got in early on Sunday so we could get front row to see them. We stood in the pit at the front of the stage all day and, due to some changes in the running order, The Pogues ended up headlining. Knowing full well that if we left the pit we weren't getting back in we give two young fellas doing first aid 30 punts to get us burgers and something to drink .They said they'd be right back... never saw them again! Eight hours of top class acts like The 4 Of Us, The Stunning etc rounded off with what I think was the Pogues' last ever Irish show with nothing to eat and only water from the bouncers to drink. What a day."

There's still time to share your story:

The Trip to Tipp is back

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Trip to Tipp 1991 and 1992

• Thread starter SpóirtFest
• Start date Jan 10, 2014
• Jan 10, 2014

Patty Flowers

hmmm  

Crisp Sandwich

No wonder the punters got themselves into those conditions. Look at the state of the line-up. The Wonder Stuff. The Levellers. Simply fuckin' Red.  

How bad boy

Full member.

I was trying to work out when I went, checked out the wiki: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Féile_Festival In the 1992 entry: The 1992 'Trip to Tip' was attended by Karen, Cathy, Louise, Denise and Charlene a staggering 22 year ago! Of the acts listed below I can actually only remember seeing The Wonder Stuff, the Saw Doctors and Primal Scream. I do however recall a wine and cheese party in the tent (liebfraumilch and cheddar - classy), getting lost and missing Simply Red and splitting my head open on the way home. Come on girls we need to make more holiday memories. Anyway, went to the 1997 trip to tipp. It got messy enough, between the rain, the lack of booze onsite (and the compensatory boozing before and after) and the replacement drugs. Will never forget the sight from the back as the whole crowd threw flattened red drink cups in the air during the Manic's Australia. Looked weird, but cool. Anyway, the fuck up during the 1995 Feile resulted in the cancellation of any multi day festival until 2001. I blame that for the shit state of music in ireland when I was in college...  

Happy days. I remember it well.  

I went to see Feile '97 only to see the Manics.  

Crisp Sandwich said: No wonder the punters got themselves into those conditions. Look at the state of the line-up. The Wonder Stuff. The Levellers. Simply fuckin' Red. Click to expand...

Crisp Sandwich said: I went to see Feile '97 only to see the Manics. Click to expand...

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20 years on, féile '95 still boasts an incredible line up.

AS THE LEGACY of the few short years of the Féile Trip to Tipp festival is being celebrated, more and more nineties Irish memorabilia is coming out of the woodwork.

At the weekend Will Leahy presented The Untold Story of The Trip to Tipp on Radio One , while a Facebook page dedicated to the festival has been collecting hosting priceless images from Thurles and beyond in the early-mid nineties.

We couldn't find this Tweet

Meanwhile today marks the 20th anniversary of Féile’s relocation to Páirc Uí Chaoimh in Cork in 1995, with The Prodigy, Blur and The Stone Roses leading a frankly impressive lineup.

20 years ago today, the beginning of an amazing weekend. pic.twitter.com/4aXC3541w6 — Marcas Ó hUiscín (@MarkHoskins) August 4, 2015

These early nineties Irish music festival photos are pure gold

These early nineties irish music festival photos are pure gold – part 2.

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30th Jul 2016

VIDEO: Féile, 23 years ago this weekend, had a hell of a line-up

Tony Cuddihy

It’s not often you get to write the line, ‘from Iggy Pop to Chris de Burgh’.

The Trip to Tipp on the Bank Holiday Weekend in 1993 was a very, very special time judging by this fairly eclectic line-up, posted by former Whipping Boy (who were on the bill on the Friday) member Paul Page on Saturday morning.

Let’s just say there was fun for all the family.

https://twitter.com/pagep195/status/759308201598812160

This clip pretty much sums up the atmosphere of the weekend, long before artisan food stands and poetry recitals in the woods.

Incredible…

Irish bands like Therapy? and The Cranberries mixed it with massive international acts like INXS and Iggy Pop, all the way through to housewives’ favourites like this man…

You can’t beat Longitude or Electric Picnic, two of the best festivals in Europe, but something tells us we’ll never see the likes of Mary Black mixing it with Spiritualized again.

Which is a shame.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9G7n8DBpO8

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The ‘Trip to Tipp’ festival is back

The festival, officially known as the Féile, was Ireland’s first ever multi-day music festival and took place at Semple Stadium from 1990 to 1994.

The 'Trip to Tipp' festival is making a comeback, 28 years after it invaded the streets of Thurles.

The festival, officially known as the Féile, was Ireland’s first ever multi-day music festival and took place at Semple Stadium from 1990 to 1994, and then again in 1997.

Now, after its long hiatus, Féile will finally make an electrifying return to Thurles on Saturday, September 22 as Féile Classical.

With a line-up featuring several of the bands who took to the stage nearly three decades ago, The Stunning, Something Happens and Hothouse Flowers.

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