While passing through central Belfast is frequently a depressing experience today, there can be no comparison to the way it was at the height of the Troubles back in the 1970s.
Another column could be devoted to the contemporary state of the city, but the responses received to last week’s piece on the arrival of the Australian rock group AC/DC, and their celebrated lead singer Bon Scott, almost half a century ago has prompted some further thoughts about social life back then.
Most of the few remaining city centre bars routinely closed at 6pm, there were a handful of cinemas but effectively no restaurants and it was only occasional gigs at the Ulster Hall, and a couple of smaller venues, which interrupted the ghost town atmosphere descending as soon as darkness fell on what should have been our regional hub.
Music was of major importance in keeping younger people relatively sane, as readers have been pointing out, but it only had a limited presence on television, apart from Top of the Pops, which, while we all watched, was often beyond parody.
Although the much-missed Old Grey Whistle Test was our saviour, it was relegated to obscure, late night slots on BBC2. The handful of other channels, confined to BBC1, Ulster Television and, only in some parts, RTE, were disinterested and the era of streaming services was still decades away.
We endlessly played our LPs, and obsessively argued over our favourite performers, sustained by long disappeared weekly publications like the New Musical Express, Sounds and Melody Maker, but live music was king.
Rory Gallagher was regularly at the heart of it all, and completely deserved the statue which was unveiled outside the Ulster Hall earlier this month, while Horslips were also very much among our Irish heroes, and I can still recall the raw excitement when the megastars of the period, Thin Lizzy, fronted by Phil Lynott, swaggered on stage in Bedford Street in June 1978.
However, the contribution of locally-based musicians at all levels was also immense in the most difficult of circumstances, and has probably never been given the credit it fully merits.
They routinely faced a range of serious dangers while travelling at night through largely deserted urban and rural areas to get to bookings in the limited number of bars, clubs and hotels which were still open.
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Their repertoire was varied, including covers and original material, but they featured many hugely talented individuals and their shows were greeted with enormous appreciation.
I had a degree of insight into the scene, as a close friend, Paul ‘Fitzy’ Fitzpatrick, was the gifted keyboard player and vocalist in a Newry-based outfit, Dreams, which built up a strong following and stayed on the road for decades.
The contribution of locally-based musicians at all levels was also immense in the most difficult of circumstances, and has probably never been given the credit it fully merits
Fitzy and I went through school together at St Louis in Kilkeel, getting the bus from Newcastle in and out every day before sharing a house in Belfast as we completed our journalism course at the former College of Business Studies.
He then decided to concentrate on the band, but we kept in contact and went to the memorable 1978 Thin Lizzy concert together, among many other nights out.
Fitzy was a big AC/DC fan but missed the Ulster Hall show, as he was on a motor cycling trip to England, although the bass guitarist from the Dreams, Sean Keenan, was among the euphoric crowd, celebrating the purchase that week of his new business, Bogart Menswear in Belfast city centre, which he has now been running for over 45 years.
Two days later, Fitzy died in a motorcycle accident outside Newry. I have attended many other poignant funerals, but the grief among his relatives, the musical fraternity and his former school mates as he was buried in his family grave in the bright sunshine of Kilcoo in Co Down was overwhelming.
Sean Keenan and I both still think of Fitzy, and wonder what he might have achieved in his career, and the rest of his life, as he should have gone on to grace the Ulster Hall and beyond.
While he did not have the prominence of Rory Gallagher, Phil Lynott and Bon Scott, who all also died before their time, Fitzy was equally irreplaceable to his family and friends, and I could see his face in my mind when I visited what is officially known as AC/DC Lane in the centre of Melbourne in Australia last November.
It is a shrine to Scott, packed with vibrant street art and floral tributes, showing why musicians hold such a special place in our affections. Rest in peace Fitzy, forever 20.
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