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Boyzone pictured in the year in question. Alamy
so good
Fans hospitalised for 'hysteria' at Boyzone gig in '95 had the Irish State all hot and bothered
The Attorney General wrote to Justice Minister over the need for tougher laws on holding gigs for younger people.
TWELVE PEOPLE WERE hospitalised from “heat and hysteria” at Boyzone gig in Tallaght in 1995, leading to the Attorney General writing to then justice minister Nora Owen about the “urgent need” to amend legislation around the holding of concerts.
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The concert was held at the National Basketball Arena on 31 July, with a number of people fainting and having to be “carried outside”, according to a garda report of the event.
Garda reports and correspondence among officials are contained in a file held by the Office of the Attorney General that has been released to the National Archives under the 30-year-rule.
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The file is titled as being related to an application to acquire a temporary dance licence for a “Boys-Zone” (sic) concert on 31 July 1995.
The concert happened just as Boyzone had entered a different level of stardom, with the band’s single Love Me For Reason peaking at number two in the UK charts in January of that year.
Their third hit single in the UK, So Good, was released on the same day as the concert and ultimately reached number three in the UK charts.
In Ireland, So Good became Boyzone’s third straight number one single.
In advance of the gig in question, a report from an inspector from Dublin’s ‘M’ District, which covers Tallaght, noted that there were “serious local objections to the Arena running events of this nature”.
The inspector said that the proposed event was different to other live music events previously held at the venue because “most of the audience will be in the age group from 12 to 18 years.”
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In the end, a temporary licence was not applied for by the owners for the event despite a garda recommendation and instead a “compromise was reached” whereby “gardaí could enter the Arena during the concert at any time the Gardai considered necessary”.
During the gig a number of incidents were reported, although gardaí were clear that “no arrests were made and no troublemakers were encountered”.
Instead, the incidents related to people fainting and being carried outside, with problems also with the stricken fans being brought to hospital.
“Dr. Brendan Whelan Order of Malta informed me that there were no serious injuries, they were mostly caused by heat and hysteria,” Inspector E. Dolan wrote to a superior after attending the gig.
All those attending were 12 to 16 years and a large number had been standing in a queue in the heat from 9am until the doors opened at 7pm and had not enough to drink during the day.
He added: “No arrests were made and no troublemakers were encountered during the course of the concert. I would add that difficulty was encountered after the concert in getting ambulances into the Arena as all the cars were leaving out through the exit at the Penny Black.”
The legislative regulation which allowed the concert to go ahead however did not go down well with the Attorney General Dermot Gleeson SC, who wrote to the minster six weeks later saying that there was, “an inadequate statutory basis for dealing with music concerts where large numbers of people, particularly young people, congregate.”
[Document reference in National Archives: 2025/1/1135]
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