March 23 1990
D.I., The fFlaps (cancelled on night) New Inn
The next band Jabs wanted to send to Ireland was D.I. The New Inn was a new venue being run by Smiley Bolger. Smiley lived around the corner from my parents and he was infamous, due to his friendship with Phil Lynott from Thin Lizzy. This venue was bigger than the Grattan and had space for people to dance so we decided to book it. It was on the outskirts of the city but we hoped that people would be willing to travel that little bit extra. However 2 days before the gig we heard that DI weren’t willing to travel at all.
They needed to cancel their Irish leg of the tour due to lack of finances. We were in a dilemma. What to do? If we were to cancel the whole thing at this stage we would be letting the venue down plus people might not hear about it. They would still go out of their way for no gig. I rang Anhrefn to see if they could come over at short notice. They were busy but some friends of theirs, The fFlaps, were available.
We told The fFlaps that we would pay their ferry costs if they could make it for the gig. They agreed so we went ahead with it. But worse was to come. On the night someone managed to sneak into the venue, break a toilet and flood the place. The electricity went so the gig couldn’t happen after all. Maybe it was a gig destined not to take place but the results of one person’s stupidity had a profound effect. They managed to spoil The fFlaps trip to Ireland, ruin many peoples’ evening, cost us nearly £300 AND get away with it. The craze of abusive heckling was giving way to toilet smashing.
