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‘WHEN THE BAND is going full flow up against the audience, it’s really special.’
Whelan’s on Wexford St first opened in 1989, and while it has had a number of different owners over the years, the charm of the venue for audiences and acts has rarely wavered.
The staff tend to stick around too: venue manager Dave Allen has been working there since the 1990s (aside from a quick break during the noughties).
Allen, started off working at Whelan’s as a sound engineer, and can still recall how quickly the venue became popular with international musicians.
“We started booking bands, it started to take off and it hasn’t stopped since.”
Allen puts a lot of the attraction of Whelan’s down to the raw energy and excitement that fills the room during a gig:
The atmosphere in the room is very special. There’s a sense of history… new bands love it.
Some of the “new bands” who have played at Whelan’s have gone on to become all-star global names, of course.
Allen tells of a flyer that he recently “dug up” from 25 years ago:
David Grey was playing his first gig here, Jeff Buckley was lined up and The Corrs too… It’s a privilege to have had so many amazing bands play here through the years.
As for what gigs stand out in his memory, Allen (understandably) couldn’t just pick one:
I think that Jeff Buckley resonates with so many people. He launched his album Grace in 1994 and played here shortly afterwards. Glen Hansard has been very loyal to us over the years. The Arctic Monkeys, Bloc Party… there are so many legends. It’s a long list.
Unsurprisingly, he has quite a few tales to tell from working at one of Dublin’s most popular venues over the years.
“The Amps played a secret gig here in the nineties and the place was thronged. Someone from the audience stole one of the band’s guitars and security (and punters) had to chase him down the street. It was chaotic.
And then there’s the time that Glenn Tilbrook from Squeeze played here in the early 2000′s and the power went out, so he took everyone outside to St Kevin’s Park for an acoustic session.
“Another one is when Arcade Fire wanted to play here after their Malahide Castle gigs,” he adds. “That was very special. ”
Not to forget welcoming one of the most well-known artists of the last ten years:
“Oh I should mention when Ed Sheeran played here in 2015. It was broadcast live worldwide. He chose to play here after seeing Damien Rice play here when he was 14. He said it inspired him to be a singer-songwriter.”
Asked about any stories of romances that blossomed between Whelan’s condensation-soaked walls, Allen says: “We’ve an awful lot of that!”
“There have been quite a few proposals. I haven’t seen anyone propose, but no one’s said ‘no’!
In 2004, the bar featured in the film version of PS I Love You, which only added to its popularity as a location for popping the question:
People even fly in from Brazil to propose here after seeing PS I Love You. We get questions every day from people asking about it.
But what is it that makes Whelan’s a continued success in its 30th anniversary year? Allen says it’s a combination of the team, the venue and the acts.
“We’ve a small team on the inside and a large team on the outside. It’s a good complaint that there’s such a huge demand. We’re nearly booked out for this year and every year it’s further and further in advance,” he says.
We’ve two venues now. It’s great to have artists here when they’re starting out and seeing them go big.
As for plans for the 30th anniversary, Allen says it’s being celebrated in true Whelan’s style, with a number of surprise gigs from “very special guests” in the pipeline for later this year.
Cheers to that.
Sure it’s only tax payers money….
@Martin Smith: I wonder how many wasters were fired over that loss?
@Martin Smith: exactly, that’s the thinking throughout the public sector
@Jonathan: thats 315 houses LPT tax at average house price, or 10 days needlessly renting the convention center for the dail…… How this DERELICT property wasnt fully assessed before purchasing is bad enough, how it wasnt maintained after purchase is even worse…… Poor management again and probably more unaccountably…… We’re hemmorhaging money everywhere and the net result of government inefficiency and unaccountably is to raise taxes….. God help everyone in this mismanaged country. Imagine how better off we would be as a society if the country was run with some sort of competence and efficiency.
DCC must be the only property dealer to loose money when selling a property while property prices have been rising more than inflation in the last 5 years, regardless of the bad condition of the building.
@Goran Josifov: Anyone know why they bought this property in the first place.
@Michael Reilly: The pub, had been a popular meeting spot for theatre goers, but closed more than a decade ago. The four-storey Victorian building, which is on the record of protected structures, became increasingly dilapidated and by 2014 had been boarded up.
In 2017 the council bought the pub to stop it from falling into further decay. An inspection noted parts of the roof were missing with a “large number of plastic bags containing bird droppings stored throughout the building”.
The council had initially hoped to reach a deal with the Abbey Theatre, which had “expressed an interest in utilising the buildings when refurbished”. However no agreement was reached.
@Daniel O’Connor: Lovely, so now they’re going to sell it off to some crony at a bargain price, no doubt.
City Council spending tax payer’s money with no consequences for loss, unelected bureaucrats leaving people sleeping on the street’s to die & yet another building empty & derelict due to their collective negligence. Time they were told to sling their hook.
I know there is a loss here to the council (which is bad enough) but the more important questions are:
What was the intended use for this building when they bought it and what has changed since?
Why are DCC using taxpayers money to buy commercial buildings that they have no intention of using?
Who was the previous owner of the building before DCC bought it?
@The next small thing: This explains it all a bit more… https://www.irishtimes.com/news/politics/city-councillors-block-sale-of-dublin-s-plough-pub-1.4536468?mode=amp
@William Tallon: Cheers for that, bit more detail there alright. So basically they bought the property for speculation, in that they hoped the Abbey would want it, they didn’t so now want to flog it to a developer and then rent 6 apartments back for circa 150,000 p.a. They will then rent these for social housing where they will probably get about 15,000 rent for the 6 apartments and never actually own them. They should have just impossed levies on the original owner under the Derelict Sites Act and could have netted about 24,000 until the original owner refurbished the property or sold it onto someone who would.
@The next small thing: That would make sense, but someone will obviously benefit from having left it to crumble into the street instead. It shows how the rest of the city can be left with derelict buildings standing empty as well. Great management.
Only in Ireland, can the council buy property and loose money in the middle of a property boom. Incompetence doesn’t come close to describing these people. I wonder is there a friend looking to buy this property on the cheap?
ah the plough, over fourteens only
@Dave: happy memories. I waited until I was 15 though
That’s on just one building wait until they start building housing estate with there very own workers
Don’t worry. Our increase in property tax will cover such things…
They will sell it to one of their mates who will sell it for millions in profit
Not fit for purpose Thats the Council not the Building..
How did they manage to lose money on Dublin property?
Its easy to be incompetent when you get paid every week regardless.
Only taxes nothing to see here.
What the hell is going on here?, they paid 800k (and the rest) and they didn’t bother to fix the effing roof or deal with the vermin problem. That’s a bread and butter job for the council surely or with help from OPW?
Sorry, but there should be a sacking for the persons who stood over this.
Why is the council speculating on property deals instead of busying themselves with actual council business because last time I looked organizing some bins and port-a-pottys was a herculean task for them.
Did someone in the Abbey ask the council to buy it so that the pub could be saved?
Some ex-NAMA greaseball developer will now buy this for 500k and sell it in a few years for 4 times that.
How many other properties like this have Dublin City Council bought, how many have they also ignored and allowed to rot, and how much is the taxpayer on the hook for?
No.1 Rule, do not pish away taxpayers money.
@Eddie O’Neill: Plenty of abandoned buildings all over the place, and not a bother on them. I’m beginning to think that every single Councillor and TD should be required to walk through our capital city once a month to see all the empty buildings growing weeds.
Typical of the council. They must be getting their advice from the OPW
Another shower of wasters
@Mike Heelan: after dealing with some departments within the OPE I strongly oppose your generic view.
They’re actually pretty good.
But sure, keep bashing but don’t step up.
Some businessmen
Bought a naggin there when I was 16
@Maalouf: Back then you would have got money back on the bottle!
All councils should be disbanded and replaced with a new body. They are totally useless
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