Born in 1964, Tony O’Donoghue grew up in Magazine Road, Cork city. He worked in the music industry in his 1980s, managing the bands Cypress, Mine!, running gigs at MCD, and hosting The Rock Slot on RTÉ Radio Cork. In 1989 he did his first major sports broadcast, covering the Cork County Senior Hurling Final between Sarsfields and Glen Rovers. Since then, he has covered the Olympics, World Cup and World Athletics Championships. He will be a presenter on RTÉ TV for this summer’s European Football Championship in Germany.
Simple Minds, held at Cork Town Hall in February 1984, was amazing. The sound system and lighting were great. The production was huge, with drum risers and drum kits so large that they almost took up the entire stage. It really made my head spin. I was enrolled at UCC at the time. I met them this afternoon while walking along Patrick Bridge. I asked them to do an interview for a university magazine. Guitarist Charlie Burchill replied, “Yeah.” True to his word, the show took place that night, and the next day I went to the Metropol Hotel where they were staying and had an exclusive interview with Simple Minds, who were now becoming big names.
I’ve always been a big fan of Micro Disney. I met Cathal Coughlan when he returned to Ireland with his band Fatima Mansions. MicroDisney’s The Clock Comes Down the Stairs is one of my favorite albums of his. It has an atmosphere. He was a great lyricist, with a lot of edge and anger, but also tenderness. Katar was a truly mesmerizing performer. It continued on to Fatima Mansion and his final project, Telefis. He was a unique and wonderful artist.
I love Michael Moore documentaries. he speaks the truth. He is showing America its ugly side, whether America is ready for it or not. His documentaries are simple, but the message is clear. The problem is that the messages aren’t getting through. As Post-Smith’s Morrissey says, “America, your head’s too big/Because America, your belly’s too big.” I loved the 1990s movie True Romance. I’ll never forget that scene with Dennis Hopper and Christopher Slater. It’s a tragic/feel-good movie. It’s terrible – it has a lot of horror and violence, but it’s also a love story with a strong soundtrack.
In my home office, I have a poster for the August 1985 Lark by the Lee concert. The bands I managed, Cypress and Mine! were on the bill. I was involved in organizing the River Lea Safety Divers, collision barriers with local Gardaí, security, changing rooms and staging. This was the gig that U2 played, but I didn’t know until late the night before. It was around the time of U2’s “The Unforgettable Fire,” and a few weeks after Live Aid, it put U2 into another stratosphere. They played in the back of a 40-foot truck at Lee Fields. People were feinting. It was phenomenal. The thousands of people who were there are simply outnumbered by the thousands who said they were there but didn’t actually go.
I’ve always loved The Smiths. “On my flat bike/On a desolate hillside/Will nature make me human again?” I mean, start with that line. Johnny Marr’s melodies and Morrissey’s songwriting are to be admired. Morrissey may not be on everyone’s radar these days, but he’s an original. He captures the mood of the North West of England and of course people will say The Smiths are more Irish than U2.
Van Morrison’s Moondance and Astral Weeks are great. My favorite album is “No Guru, No Method, No Teacher.” It’s sublime and transcendental and there’s something meditative about it. He will take you to another place. he’s special I was lucky enough to play a gig with him. I remember one time he came to Cork City Hall. It was a Tuesday night. He was in great shape, which is unusual for Van, and wanted to go out. He didn’t find any places open late. He called Dominic O’Keeffe, the owner of the Reds nightclub, a famous Cork nightspot, and he opened the club to him, and Van Morrison wanted to go out, so a few of us went out. I did.
In the field of sports, George Hamilton is one of the best commentators in the world. George Hamilton seems to be the soundtrack to every great moment in Irish sport. He continues to be a great rugby commentator, both in soccer (Euro 88, Italy 90, USA 94) and at Olympic level. He’s the perfect broadcaster. He has vocabulary, intelligence and knowledge, an awareness of drama, the gears of his voice, the ability to find the right words at the right time, and sometimes a sense of silence.
My hero, unfortunately now deceased, was the great Jimmy McGee. Who can forget his explanation of Maradona’s famous goal against England at the 1986 World Cup? He can fill in the time between the moment Maradona picks up the ball on the halfway line and the ball past Shilton and into the goal, but most of the time Jimmy McGee just says, “They’re in a different class.” It was just that. Different classes! ” How he intoned that phrase. Just like he did at the ’84 Olympics when he timed it to bring in John Tracy’s medal. “We’re in a different class.”
1984 I was young and idealistic, so I volunteered at the Quay Co-op on Sullivan’s Quay. It was a vegetarian restaurant and a meeting place for various groups. I worked at a bookstore. When I think of this, I am reminded of George Orwell’s “1984”. I first read this novel before his 1984. It was only meant to be a book about sometime in the dystopian future. It’s scary to think about propaganda, the wars going on around the world, Big Brother watching over you, the role of facts in society and how they can be manipulated. It contained a lot of truth about where we were going. And this was long before the internet and social media. It was given the name Orwellian.
Brian Keenan’s Wicked Cradle is a beautiful book. Although it’s about a horrifying hostage situation, this is a book about love. You can feel claustrophobic. His relationships with his fellow hostages, his relationships with his captors, what was going on in his head, and the writing style were amazing. I lived in Dalkey, Dublin, and we met there once. I didn’t want to go up and see him. I was afraid it would break my spell. They say, “Never meet your heroes.” I was very moved by the book.