A sensational night at the NI Music Awards 2022 at the Ulster Hall, Belfast yesterday. Horslips founder and all-round good egg Barry Devlin (born in NI) was ennobled as this year’s ‘Legend’ and, amazingly, a variation on the theme of Horslips performed (for unequivocally the last time) – on the very stage on which the band had performed its original swansong 42 years previously, on 8 October 1980.
Earlier this year, on 17 March, I had the honour of compering a launch event in Dublin for the forthcoming (next month) 50th anniversary 33CD / 2DVD / 2 books Horslips box set ‘More Than You Can Chew’. Horslips guitarist Johnny Fean had decided to retire on health grounds during lockdown – so the rest of the band were adamant that performing at the event or indeed on a filmed BBC Radio Ulster (extended interview) programme around the same time wasn’t possible or appropriate.
Since then, the approach has been more nuanced, with a handful of sort-of-Horslips performances of 3-4 numbers within larger events, a couple of various-artist public concerts in Ireland and Greece curated by Ireland’s poet laureate (in effect) Paul Muldoon, a private party for a long-term roadie and » Continue Reading.
