‘Next thing a cop car comes' – Red-faced Irish music icon reveals mortifying brush with law on way to history-making gig

The Irish Sun

5 days ago

SUPERSTAR singer Mary Black feared that she would be arrested when stopped by gardai for leaving a petrol station without paying for fuel.
The No Frontiers icon had been keeping her head down to hide from crowds in
6
Mary Black revealed an embarrassing brush with the law
Credit: Paul Bergen/Redferns
6
The singer feared she'd be arrested for leaving a petrol station without paying for fuel
Credit: Independent NewsBut instead of avoiding recognition, red-faced Black ended up with a police escort to Semple Stadium after paying the bill.
She told The Irish Sun's
'You know the people were all over the streets, and I had to keep my head down because everyone was looking at me, and he was in an old banjaxed car.
'He filled up with petrol while he was there, and I got whatever I needed.
Read more in Showbiz
Listen to
Fields Of Dreams
on
'He got his cigarettes and got back in the car, and we're driving back up and going slow because people were everywhere. The next thing, a cop car comes.
'What the hell's going on? He stops us. In our haste to get back into the car and back to the gig, we forgot to pay for the petrol. Holy God!'
Black was convinced she would be arrested and miss the gig, which also featured Van Morrison, in the first of five events in the Co Tipperary town which would go down in Irish
Did the
Most read in the Irish Sun
She told our podcast, right: 'He knew me the minute they looked into the car. He knew who I was, and I said: 'Oh, my God, I can't believe it'.
'He said, 'Come on, Mary, I'll drive you up to the ­stadium'.
GARDA ESCORT
'Pat paid for the petrol, and he brought us right in, so we didn't have to go through all the crowds. There was a kind of escort, and everyone had to move over.'
Black was never one who seemed to enjoy the major star treatment, unlike Van — whose unwillingness to share his space with fellow artists opened him up to criticism.
Tom Dunne was there with his band Something Happens, who weren't allowed near the Days Like This crooner at breakfast time.
'STAR QUALITY'
Tom said: 'I think he got the backstage closed down when he went into it. We all had to stay in our dressing rooms. We were all staying in the same hotel. We saw him coming down for breakfast.
'I felt he wanted to emanate that star quality. He wanted everyone to know there's a star in the building.'
But the Saw Doctors were having none of it.
The Galway band became legends at the Tipperary event, and found time for some fun off-stage.
'COULDN'T HELP THEMSELVES'
Tom said: 'Van Morrison was a guy you didn't walk up to.
'We had the backstage area, and then we had a tunnel going out to the pitch, and he insisted every time that the tunnel would be cleared, and that absolutely no one would be in the tunnel, and of course, the Saw Doctors couldn't help themselves.
'They decided to disturb it, so they jumped out in front of them, and that didn't go down too well.'
'What the hell's going on? He stops us. In our haste to get back into the car and back to the gig, we forgot to pay for the petrol. Holy God!'
Mary Black
Episode Six of Fields of Dreams tells the inside story of the Trip to Tipp, the event which made a summer festival a must-have event and changed the rules forever.
MADE IT HAPPEN
Local TD Michael Lowry was the man who made the event happen, in order to pay off stadium debt racked up for the 1984 centenary All-Ireland final.
It was a chance for up to 90,000 mainly young people to get away and let loose for a weekend before it moved to Cork's Pairc Ui Chaoimh in 1995 and then eventually wound up.
By 1993, though, it was being billed as bigger than Glastonbury — attracting the same headliners as the English event.
Among them were Rage Against the Machine, and The Stunning's Steve Wall — who ended up headlining in 1992 when Bryan Adams asked to leave early — was blown away, especially by frontman Zack de la Rocha.
'KIDS WERE IN A FRENZY'
He explained: 'I watched from the side of the stage and I never saw anything like Zack.
'He could have told the audience at any point, 'Tear up the place!' because these kids were in a frenzy.
'The energy was unbelievable. It was amazing, and it was so energetic that there was a cloud over the crowd, a cloud of condensation.
'You know at the end of the Grand National, and you see the steam rising off the horses?
'I don't know how many tens of thousands going crazy and moshing and jumping up and down. I'll never forget it. The sight of it. It was fantastic.'
'We had the backstage area, and then we had a tunnel going out to the pitch, and he insisted every time that the tunnel would be cleared, and that absolutely no one would be in the tunnel, and of course, the Saw Doctors couldn't help themselves."
Tom Dunne
Dunne insists the Feile gigs were the benchmark.
He said: 'That whole idea was forming around Thurles and you can see the kind of development after that, from Witness to Oxygen to Electric Picnic. And you know this idea that that's the norm. You see the best bands of the day and food is great, and you can camp, and it's all safe and good.
'Well, you really say it all starts with Macroom. I think Macroom is the first modern festival in Ireland.
'But it really starts to get a form about it around Feile.'
The first six episodes of Fields Of Dreams are available on
6
The Saw Doctors became legends at the Tipperary event
Credit: Steve Gullick
6
Steve Wall ended up headlining in 1992 when Bryan Adams asked to leave early
Credit: Dave Mitchell/Avalon/Getty Images
6
Tom Dunne said Van Morrison was a guy you didn't walk up to
Credit:6
By 1993, Feile was attracting the likes of Rage Against The Machine
Credit: