Well put.

its a sad state of affairs when people will red thumb that comment.

Those kinds of red-thumbers are just trolls who aren’t articulate enough to actually post. Something to be glad about!

People who red thumb these posts are Moron’s

How did no one hop on this nut job after stabbing no.1? I’m not for an eye for an eye, but stabbing anyone is completely inhumane, but to get away with it 9 times in a packed arena is ridiculous. Where were the stewards/security? My brother was at it mind you, said he saw a guy with an 8 inch slash down his back, bleeding profusely, the guy continued reveling and was even carrying someone on his shoulders. Definitely out of his mind to not realize/care about such a wound.

Is is turning into True Blood series two kinda thing; not noticing being stabbed

What the fup were MCD at???

Now lets not start swinging blame at MCD. I was there last night as a reviewer and it was one of the most well staffed and heavily policed security teams Ive ever seen at a gig, and they DID turf a lot of people out and deal with things strongly. The reality is the sheer scale made it impossible for them to counter everything (or even see everything).

I left early as well I found the atmosphere of the whole concert very frightening you could literally feel the build up of Agro in the place..people literally trying to piss people the didn’t know off..people hugging others while covered in mud!? Didn’t go to shm to have a mud bath! Didn’t even get to see them play ? I don’t think there’s any one thing to blame but what definitely didn’t help was the gap in between acts there was people trying to cause trouble to pass the time!

Who were you reviewing for, I wouldnt mind giving it a read.

I remember some nutjob tried to stab people at a Faithless gig in the mid 90′s , seriously like its intent if they have a blade with them

Garda are meant to be policing these events and obviously they either don’t have the resources to clamp down on the drugs/ drink related behaviour or they need to re think the way these events are handled in the future. .. How responsible also is the promoter of the gig for these incidents??
Incidentally I was sitting in the sun last Saturday in a park in Berlin, people about chilling with friends, beer bottles in hands.. Someone collecting empty bottles.. Possibly to get deposit back for the recycling.. No trouble.. Was so nice chilling there until my partner told me about the nose biting back in Dublin.
Society is less equal here, there’s an underlying stress/ aggression in all classes, or often a basic lack of regard or understanding for others. Basic rights are being neglected by government on a daily basis in all areas.. If people would take a look at the regulations / directives from Europe as to our rights they’d see in many areas that irish governments have most likely been failing miserably re civic / social responsibilities.
Banking crisis is only just highlighting our ruling class’s priorities /lack of regard there is for actually managing a country and that millions of people are directly affected by this negligence!

I agree with most of your points Ruth but people knowing how to socially behave is not the responsibility of the system. People need to be made accountable for their own actions too.
The banking crisis and political corruption had nothing to do with what happened yesterday.
Blame games solve nothing, everyone needs to accept their share of responsibility including the people who actually committ acts like the ones yesterday by a very large number of people. The stabbings are the most extreme examples but I’d be more worried about thousands of people’s unwillingness to act responsibly

Yes, it’s a free country and we’d all like to see people acting their age rather than their shoe size. I agree.
But I still think the system we have here is pretty responsible, indeed I see a mindset across the board that doesn’t take responsibility, otherwise we would be witnessing radical changes in government. All were seeing are radical cuts.
Here’s an analogy, the last government overdosed on the most extravagant self gratification and now there’s no money left for feeding the “Kids”, managing the “housekeeping” or administering some law and order.
But that’s simplistic, the systematic neglect of communities has been going on for generations but, well I’ve had my vent…

Gavin as a huge dance follower I have to agree. Left a post on the overdose thread saying the same as you. It’s similar in the UK especially for major events, I prefer to go abroad now to
See my favourite dance acts for this reason.

Sure you have to be off your head on drugs to listen to that car alarm sh*te

Well, in relation to your comment, “It’s about time we kept people that have no intention of changing their ways locked up for good …”, I think that the incarceration system in this country is bursting at the seams as it is. The entire prison regime needs to be overhauled, such as house arrest/curfews enforced by electronic tagging for minor offences, e.g. non-payment of fines, etc, etc. There should be a dedicated prison for hardened criminals subject to a very draconian regime – some of these criminals have a very lenient time in prison – and minor offences should be invariably punished through community service, curfews, punitive fines proportionate to the net disposable income of the offender, and – controversially – capital punishment should be reinstated for a limited range of heinous offences. Therefore, prison should be reserved solely for persons engaging in very serious crimes, such as drug/people trafficking, homicides, organised criminality (upper echelons only), etc, etc. Petty offences would probably incur a “3-strike-rule” – 3 offences, and to jail you go, otherwise community service. And capital punishment should be re-introduced!

Great idea in theory, but unfortunately it would lead to major crowd jams as countless false alarms go off.

i wasn’t scanned

I was scanned and got a pat down on the way in- as did everyone else going in at the time…

I doubt it after last night! In fairness, we were shocked. We had no intention of bringing cans in, we just brought one each for the walk from Myo’s, but because there were no bins along the way we couldn’t discard them. But as you said, we arent and dont look like trouble makers so maybe that was the difference. Hope you enjoy it tonight and theres no trouble!

I’d say the roses gig was class. From what I can gather, techno gigs are always going to attract a higher amount of drug users, especially the harder stuff. Been to so many gigs before and have never seen serious drug abuse go on, evidently a very small minority. Rip to the young lads mind you, just out for a good time

Darragh, techno gigs aren’t really all that messy, here in Ireland at least the techno gigs attract a slightly more mature audience less interested in making a mess of themselves and more interested in the music. There will most likely be drugs, but not very many going overboard. Kinda like those people who can have a few drinks without getting paralytic.

Trance, house and all their variations are a different matter altogether, while techno remains largely underground, these genres are more popular and have a wider audience – and so if you’re gonna see the truly muntered sucking their eyebrows and lying at the side of the floor it’s more likely a trance / house gig :)

I feel like an oul wan saying ‘I agree’. And I’m in my early 20s!

Really wish we could all go back to the 50s and early 60s style of enjoying ourselves.

Sadly, the reasons for this carry on go back decades, when
we have allowed this ‘element’ of society not only to develop
in place like the so called ‘north side’, but to allow a generation
living on benefit to have children. Drink drugs violence is now
a way of life for an increasingly large section of irish society.
It’s a way of life hand down from parents, and most worryingly,
this demographic is the chief reason that ireland has still
got one of the highest birth-rates in europe. Crow all you like
about how ‘terrrible’ this is, but don’t expect it to go away,
or to be dealt with by anyone in irish politics.

Aside from our profound ability to reproduce, ireland’s other
great product is the brain drain. The only kind of imaginative
thinkers we have in ireland, leave. They do not go into
government. The government is for midlandian opportunists
like sean gallagher, who want to drive their big cars, and sell
housing estates, where we can spawn the next generation
of party going welfare teens. Go Ireland.

Michael, I’d say if we put someone like you in charge, we would be looking at ethnic cleansing as the solution to our problems. I’d imagine you are all for breeding a master race of Dublin south siders and prior to anyone being permitted to proceed with a pregnancy, their bank account would need to be thoroughly checked to ensure they have an income exceeding €100k per year. You are an idiot.

Were they smoking hash or rolled cigarettes? How can you tell the difference unless you walked up to them and smelled it?

They have given up they never take the drink off underage kids, because they are afraid of these kids. Its pathetic.

Hash does not exactly make you angry, other drugs do that like coke, speed or some other hard drug but mixed with drink it can be an even more powerful cocktail

The Pope, 1979, 1

And what if they’ve arrested the wrong person?

Most of the ordinary decent gum chewing, saucer pupils brigade are more into free hugs, shoulder massages and smiles. What you’re dealing with here is scobees

I was in the Luas yesterday too Jim. Most of them looked underage, openly drinking and screaming their heads off. Don’t want to sound like an old coot but I ask where was the Luas security or Garda presence?

Same thing, was in the park yesterday just gangs of kids drunk, crossing the road in front of cars without a care or concern for their safety or anyone else, no visible Garda till concert had started from what I could see

or where were the kids parents? its a novel idea, god forbid someone could responsibility for there own child!

It was also reported on the today FM news at 10am this morning

ah ok. there was nothing reported over an hour ago…

I hear you. I’m a massive arctic monkeys fan and couldn’t believe the ridiculous behavior of some of the crowd in both malahide in 2007 and the point in 2009. Seems like more mainstream acts (not that Metallica aren’t popular but they wouldnt dominate the airwaves like the arctic monkeys used to or eminem does) seem to get more of a rough crowd

I know. I was at that Metallica gig and it was great bant. funny thing is; I went to see SHM in Ibiza and it was a great atmosphere too. It’s just something about our psyche that this crap happens over here.
Ive been to a few overseas festivals but I’ve never seen anything as bad as the skangers who go to some concerts here (most obvious being Oxegen).

How about the parents having some responsibility for the values instilled in their off spring.

Same old nonsense there Eamonn. Tens of thousands of well oiled souls roamed the streets of Galway this week and no stabbings. Next thing you know you’ll be blaming the daemon drink for last year’s burning of London.

I don’t get it, Mr. McCann. What does that mean? What is that going to accomplish? What is it that parents can do to bring back the dead, to heal the stab wounds? What is it that “accepting responsibility” is going to do on the ground in Phoenix Park? Are they supposed to get up on the stage and rend their garments? What the flock are you talking about? The stabbers and most of the dead were of legal age. Do your grandparents accept responsibility for any run-ins you have with the law? Are you talking about parents paying fines because their offspring misbehaved? What exactly, are you talking about?

I don’t think that’s what he is trying to say Seamus, what he’s saying is that parents are responsible for bringing their kids up to know that, lets say, stabbing someone is bad, umkay!

I mean Seamus I have 5 sons and they are good lads. I know they are not saints but I also know that they would never behave in such an antisocial manner. I have hopefully taught them to be respectful of others and behave like men. Society should expect that parents bring their kids up in a manner that produces well adjusted citizens as most people do. Love and support work best and the odd clip round the ear helps underscore the occasional point.

Down with this type of thing

yep. wife and had a dance out the back.

Swedish house party?

I’d say it definitely is. Probably used same knife too, kept it under his pillow for a year :)

nothing surpirses me anymore martin !

not that people being able to walk the streets of the capital on a Saturday afternoon and feel safe should be a priority or anything! had the money been spent on overtime to help prevent things like this then much less would be spent in the long run when you take into account the cost of the resulting investigations and the damage to the reputation of the city regarding tourism etc.

This was supposed to be a reply to Paddy the Penguin above, but it seems the comment thread has become all messed up.

I know of one person who stabbed someone while out of his head, a friends cousin.
They’d been drinking and taken a few pills and they started arguing over the music and he stabbed his best friend.

The problem there wasn’t so much the drugs, nor the alcohol, nor the music. It was the fact that in his mind violence was an acceptable way to end the conflict. That was in his mind one way or another. He regretted it, his best friend died – and he’s gonna live with that for the rest of his life, as he should, because stabbing someone else is wrong. Getting violent with others is wrong.

How on earth do we have such a large portion of our society who don’t understand that?
This is evidenced by the amount of aggressive, violent kids we have. They don’t even need to be inebriated in order to be shouting abuse at people on the street, getting in people’s faces and smashing things up.. Give them something that lowers their inhibitions? That’s just asking for trouble.

The violence is a problem all by itself, you could make Ireland a 100% dry country and you would still get violence. So perhaps we should be trying to deal with that.

It looks like you are making this point:
Drugs are ok, Drink is bad.

That is a pretty helpful comment.
Well done.

Nah, I’d never express an opinion that lacking in nuance. I was in fact responding to a comment that made the exact opposite claim to what you said, i.e. drugs are bad, drink is ok. My actual position would be more like “some drugs are ok for some people sometimes, drink is ok for some people sometimes.” Both alcohol and drugs can have negative effects on the individual and society, I think it’s a bit ridiculous to try to deny that.

That’s exactly right Random.

Not sure about the random searches but knife crime really needs to be tackled. The Gardai and the judiciary need to come down hard on crime involving knives and guns. It seems very wishy-washy at the moment.

If you’re caught carrying any kind of blade, without cause (Chefs/plumbers/builders etc.), then there should be a mandatory sentence of 5 years in jail. The problem we currently have in this country is we don’t have a Mandatory system, so all crime and it’s punishment is very wishy-washy!

Mandatory sentencing is, hands down, the most idiotic way to try and police a problem.

Hitler hitler hitler

I agree Chris but Gardai can only bring people before the courts it’s up to the out of touch judiciary to impose the right sentence. District court sentences in this city are a joke and act as no deterrent to crime at grass root level

Searched by Who Stevie Wonder ?

I had no bag & was still required to empty my pockets, was frisked & then a metal detector was later used.

Alcohol is a drug

so u do drugs?the defenders are the offenders
drugs today are as normal as pints

people say alcohol is a drug. its not a drug, its a drink.

Joe, alcohol is a drug that you drink. Ask your GP.

Somebody please think of the children.

Crime, boy, I don’t know.

I think some of these unruly ‘youths’ who go about intimidating decent folk around events like this need a taste of the costa del crime response

Nice one Cliff. President Bartlet would be proud!

We should also appreciate those that saved for their own tickets & transport with money honestly earned & attended just for the music, succeeding in avoiding trouble, which was easily achievable yesterday & I’m speaking from experience. Not all of us went to act the fool, some of us enjoy electronic dance music, so fear not, your money certainly did not pay for my ticket or many many others’ for that matter.

really ?

they had metal detectors at the roses gig Thursday but were only screening random people and not every single person passing through the gate. to be honest i think mcd do have alot to answer for in regards to their concert organisation but can’t really blame them for drug over doses and some mad man going around stabbing people for no reason… i hope all the victims recover speedily especially mentally, it Will be hard to get over something like that! and condolences to the family of the drug od victim we all make mistakes…

Liberal?

@ ferg. Totally agree. Been to concerts like this the world over and never seen anything like the crowd I saw on saturday ( clearly not everyone- I met nice people there too) Yes the stabbings are awful but so many other sights I saw at that concert were horrendous- ashamed to call myself Irish and watch tricolours being waved at the concet!

Down with that sort of thing!

Yeah but just those nut jobs go to oxegen too just because they can cause huge problems and hide easily. Stabbing a and at least one reported rape at oxegen last year.

But really it’s the type of music that can really attract them. I don’t think we would get same problem at celine dion or west life gig :p

I went to one of these concerts many moons ago and it was wall to wall drugs and from what I hear it is still the same way.

So much for the modern Irish society, supposedly well educated and cant use their brains and say oh I am going to consume posion which could potentially kill me..

Oh modern idiot society..

I’m getting a massive clue!

nice generalization there

I’m sorry what?

.., and the free knife with every batch of crack doesn’t help either. #gunsdontkillpeoplebulletsdo

Yes, crazy, mind altering drugs.

Or just the Irish and our national inability to handle booze.

Like when “LSD” caused that man to eat the bum’s face, but then it turned out to be bath salts, but then it turned out to be nothing. Dangerous stuff.

Is it actual drugs or is it the herbal variants, it seemed the face eating in the USA was meow meow the herbal cocaine.

It’s called beer. Not exactly a new drug.

bit rough to blame the nation for one lunatic cliff, no?

Bilbo- it’s always just one lunatic.

But it all starts with alcohol and the fact the we have normalised the massive consumption of alcohol to such an extent that we never blame the booze. Just the one lunatic. Every time.

But how does this come down to a nation normalizing alcohol? what nation is any different. we don’t even know that this is alcohol related. millions of people enjoy a drink and there’s no issues. the laws if averages that a small minority of people don’t deal well with certain substances or activities. Regardless of their nationality…

Well said

My sympathies extend to his seven victims Sinéad! They are the ones who need help and compassion right now, so it would be nice to hear you say something in their favour instead of jumping to the defence of a probable drug-addled moron!

@conor kirwan think she was jumping to the defence of drink itself, aptly pointing out that if that truly was the problem, wouldn’t everybody have been stabbing each other?

Was in a&e in blanch hosp lastnight and seen for myself what happened at lastnights gig in the phoenix pk. Stab wounds broken bones you name it came through those doors. Some had been attacked early in the evening. I seen parents arriving in worried sick cause they got phone calls from their kids saying they were in hosp after being attacked. One poor lad got stabbed in the back for no reason! Plenty were brought in cause they made pigs of themselves with drink and drugs and took up valuable hosp beds to sleep it off. As a result of this the likes of my mother who was genuinely sick had to sit on a chair for 8 hrs while these pissheads slept off their hangovers!

Blanket on the floor and turned on their side followed by a phone call to their parents (if applicable) is all the attention they should get if they overindulge.

Are the have nots the employed or the unemployed in your mind?
Ireland has one of the most generous welfare systems in the world for people who either can’t or won’t work and it’s terribly regulated and widely manipulated by these “victims”. Too many excuses being made for these people. They’re a disgrace and no amount of facilities will change that. Spend a few years around them rather than watching from the sidelines and you’ll know that

@jim one of the few comments that actually makes sense …..!!

I’m being idealistic to be fair. I have lived in Dublin for years. Wasn’t on the sideline, working in many areas, but I’m a have when it comes to being lucky enough to have folks that put me through college. I’ve travelled since. I’ve been lucky. This might sound ridiculous, tree hugging, and I might be wrong, but one thing I noticed when living in Dublin is how little green life there is in the poorer areas. Richer areas, but especially outside Dublin, covered in trees, kids could grow up a bit more natural. For a country as green as Ireland is, the estates are concrete, grey, lifeless. I remember reading how there was an attempt to get trees growing on one of the worst estates, but the kids there pulled them all up! Not knowing what an effect an area full of life can do. By facilities I mean state provided, and business provided, same as in richer areas, but also natural facilities. Get some trees up there for kids to climb, young adults to relax a bit in, older people to enjoy, rather than living in concrete grey lifeless areas, cut off from all things natural and green like the rest of the country gets to enjoy. I’d imagine if there was an all out plant the crap out of the place, a lot would be destroyed before chance to grow, there’d be heroin addicts od’ing amongst the bushes, under age drinking, all the rest of it, but if it was there now, would be a nicer place to live in. It’s a complicated issue of course and takes more than planting a few trees, but it is one thing I noticed. The greyness isn’t good for the soul!

No need to go ape

did it occur to you that there might be more than one?
All watching each other’s backs? that’s obviously how it happened.
There are plenty of decent young lads in ireland who will
help out when they see a crime happening.

I would really like to see these guys given some corporal punishment
in the street.

So you were breaking the law & you blame the police for not chastising you? You are the one with the problem. If you are so great, try behaving yourself & not require a babysitter.

Well said Paul. Amy youre a hypocrite

Actually guys, I threw the can into the bin anyway. I don’t expect a babysitter, I walked towards the guards with the can in full view,ready to give it to them as there was no bins whatsoever for the whole walk up. wasn’t trying to hide anything. My point was that others, who would have been trying to hide alcohol, were not being searched, and instead were given tips on how to avoid it being caught. Not very responsible policing is it?

Dont worry Amy, you’re just one of the few journal commentators whose brother is’nt a Garda

Fair enough, but today is the day to look after the victims. We can deal with rehabilitating the criminal tomorrow. Clearly something has gone wrong in our society where an individual has been allowed to get to a point where he can commit seven heinous acts in a short time-frame. He does however have to bear some personal responsibility for his actions and needs to display a level of empathy towards his victims and society at large for his acts. As citizens in a society we have fundamental rights, but in order to maintain this entitlement, individuals have responsibilities to bear too!

You can make choices in life, that guy made the wrong choice and I hope he gets punished accordingly and if my son did that it would be no different but some how I think I’ve been a good enough parent to teach my kids right from wrong

Tal, you’ll see from the story that the Gardaí say that no one died as a result of any stabbing incidents. So I think the rumours are just that, rumours.

I know that Hugh, but gardai can get it wrong too!

I was just saying, I hope it’s not true

Ah here. I’m no fan of the cops, but I think they’d have noticed two lads lying around dead by now.

I think there’s a certain group, probably from a certain place, that go to concerts every year specifically to do this. Maybe they get off on stabbing people & a concert is the only place they think they can get away with it. Similar problems were had last year at Oxegen. No Oxegen, so they come to this.

wondered how long it would be before the holy moleys give this the once over!

Christianity is not in a position to preach on bad behaviour in ireland Karen. Get real.

Just read a similar article on the indo

It was also reported on the Today FM news at 10am this morning.

newstalk covered it and tweeted anout it.

It’s Sunday AM Wayne, lot of news outlets aren’t staffed yet. Garda statement on last night’s incident was issued this morning. No drama for the sake of it here.

it was on the radio from this morning dude.

It was on the BBC radio 5 news this afternoon.

What?
do you take the same drugs these morons are on?
Try to be a bit f****g responsible, please.
This is on the news all over the world, dj.

Look at the time I left the comment, early Sunday morning before I had seen of heard it anywhere else.