Gaughan's Irish tour Epistle, Part the Eleventh
Belfast, 4.00pm, Thursday 25th Oct 2001

Tonight is the last night of the Irish section of this bout of touring. It began on the 6th of September with a flight to New York and it'll end on the 14th of December in Carlisle.

In truth, I'm never really off the road. I have the odd week or 10 day gap every so often but most of the year is spent either touring or getting ready to tour. Ordinary working musicians like me read interviews with high-profile Pop and Rock performers talking about how gruelling their 3 months tour was and we laugh. Most of us don't fly business class or stay in 5 star hotels or have an entourage of managers, roadies, caterers, drivers etc to take the weight off us. We do our own driving, roadying and tour management and grab food and sleep where and when we can. We rarely have the luxury of even a dressing-room and most of the time we have to think and act on our feet. We're either totally insane or simply love what we do. Or both.

It's a good time to be in N. Ireland. I've been coming here regularly since my very first gig here in 1967 and have had first hand observation of the psychological damage done to the people here throughout the past 30 years of paramilitary activity and British Army occupation. I have sat in the nightmare checkpoint at Forkhill at 3am in the morning with spotlights and machine guns trained on my car as the security forces checked me out. I have stood with my hands spread against a wall as a soldier pointed his gun at my head and demanded to know who I was and what I was doing there, saw the fear in his eyes and prayed that there were no loud bangs anywhere near until he lowered his weapon. I was in Belfast during the height of the IRA bombing campaign in the early 70s, I was here when the random murders of catholic taxi drivers were happening, and I was here on the day of the Shankill Road bombing. I regarded all those as frightening, extraordinary experiences - but I could go home to Scotland and leave them behind me. The people here lived with them and a hell of a lot worse as a part of daily life. And people ask me why I'm so "political". So long as there is one frightened or hungry child anywhere in this world, how can any of us not be "political"?

So being here on the day the IRA began decommissioning weapons was a very moving experience. I have a great deal of affection for N. Ireland and for all the people I know on both sides of the sectarian divide. Throughout all the horror they kept their humanity and a very tough sense of humour. There is a resilience to the people here that I believe will carry them through the long period of healing and reconstruction that lies ahead of them.

I play the Errigle Inn on the Ormeau Road tonight. Belfast is one of my favourite towns to play in and so I'm really looking forward to it. Particularly at this time.

25th January 2005

Tour Dates - last update 30 August 2005

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