Hope Promotions Hope Collective

This gig is now known retrospectively as the last Hope gig. I stopped going to meetings and told the people now in the Collective - Pete, Clodagh, Damien and Stephen - that I was no longer keen to be involved. I offered them assistance if they wanted it and should they wish to continue but I was no longer eager to traipse around town putting up posters. There were plenty of bands in Dublin and other people were doing gigs by independent bands.
‘Hope’ evolved out of a neccessity for someone ...

Bambi had had this date booked well in advance as they were launching their latest record. Bluetip were looking to come back to Ireland for a third time and were in Dublin the same day.
Due to a lack of venues, and considering the fact that it would be crazy to have 2 gigs on the same day, we asked if Bluetip could gatecrash the Bambi party. Bambi said no problem and the gig went ahead

A new venue, Isaac Butts had just opened. It seemed like a good place but was really expensive to hire. Milgram came over on the recommendation of their compatriots Happy Anger.
Hope had finished for me at this stage. I was more interested in Ellen and anything she had to do than in any band looking to play Ireland. I was starting to feel that bands no longer cared about where they were playing. Ireland was just another country, Dublin just another city.
The buzz from ...

This was another new venue for ‘Hope’. The Funnel had closed its doors and Smiley Bolger (who had helped us out with the New Inn) was now looking after Slattery's so we held this gig there. Slattery's didn't last much longer as a venue. The curse of ‘Hope’?

Derek had settled down in Lyon and befriended the people in the band Happy Anger. They contacted us about doing some gigs. They were to be the last band that I would have dealings with.
Miriam was nearly due. Happy Anger were a really nice bunch of people but Fusion was full of smoke and no seats and Mir just wanted to get home. I was glad of the excuse and we left early with Mir feeling some pains. It was a quiet exit.
As we drove away from the Fusion Bar neither of us ...