Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
Johnny Logan onstage in Dailymount Park last night. Darren O'Hanlon via Flickr
Seriesrockin the suburbs
A black bra thrown onstage and Hold Me Now four times as Johnny Logan belts it out for Bohs
The Eurovision legend was feeling the love as emotional fans said their farewells to Dalymount Park. What do you say when words are not enough?
In this series, journalist and spoken word artist Cormac Fitzgerald travels to a different town or suburb each week to cover the gigs and cultural experiences you rarely see covered by Irish media outlets.
This week’s subject: Johnny Logan at Dalymount Park.
———
EUROVISION LEGEND JOHNNY Logan emerged onto the stage at Dalymount at exactly the appointed time of 8.30pm and launched right into his 90-minute set.
A smouldering sunset had just disappeared over the western rooftops of Phibsboro, and a decent crowd were standing around the makeshift marquee concert space chatting and drinking from cans and plastic glasses as the performance kicked off.
Accompanied by two female backing singers and the six-piece Eugene McCarthy Big Band, it was clear from the off that Logan had gotten the brief.
Decked out in tight black jeans, black heeled boots, a long black overcoat with silver sequins over a Guinness-sponsored Bohemian FC jersey, and draped in a club scarf, the silver-haired crooner knew exactly what he was there to do – give Bohs fans what they want and give Dalymount Park the send-off it was looking for.
Dalymount is, of course, the home ground of the Bohemian Football Club, who have been playing there since 1901.
Located in north Dublin, and squeezed in between rows of houses and the Phibsboro Shopping Centre, ‘Dalyer’ was a significant football stadium for much of the 20th century, in the past hosting Republic of Ireland international matches and big concerts, including Bob Marley and The Wailers’ only Ireland show in 1980.
Many years of underdevelopment resulted in the decline of the grounds, however, and in recent decades it has mostly only been used for League of Ireland matches.
The twists and turns in the saga of Dalymount and Bohs are too numerous to recount here, but suffice to say Dublin City Council eventually purchased the grounds, and after many delays and ballooning costs, it is now earmarked to be fully redeveloped.
Bohs will finish out this season, before demolition and construction begin next year, with the project expected to be completed by the end of 2028.
The Last Days of Dalymount, a series of concerts, was organised for the weekend just gone as a farewell to the grounds.
The likes of Fontaines DC (performing a DJ set), Annie Mac, rapper Mango and traditional musicians John Francis Flynn and Cormac Begley, among others, all took to the stage.
On Sunday night, however, it was all about Johnny Logan.
Hold me now
At first glance, Logan might seem like an odd choice for the weekend’s closing act, sitting on the bill among all the bright young things of Irish music.
Still a legend for winning two Eurovision Song Contests in 1980 and 1987, as well as writing Linda Martin’s winning entry in 1992, Logan’s star doesn’t shine quite so bright in Ireland as it once did, though he is still big in Europe and huge in Eurovision-mad Scandinavia, where he’s known as the King of Eurovision.
But as any Bohs fan will tell you (or sing at you on match days), the Irish icon’s 1987 Eurovision winner Hold Me Now is the club’s official anthem.
The full tale of how that came to be is also outside the remit of this article, but in short, it was down to club member Ger Byrne, who sang the song with gusto on an away trip to Trondheim in Norway, in 2003, and it stuck. (Journalist Tony Considine wrote a full account of this following the untimely death of Ger Byrne in 2024, which you can read here)
Whatever about the origins, the song cemented a relationship between Bohs and Logan, who has played gigs for the club on a number of occasions over the years, including fundraisers during times of financial difficulty, and is now an avowed Bohs fan.
Putting on a show
I was sceptical at first about how the night would go. Rumours had been circulating of low ticket sales, and there did indeed seem to be gaps in the crowd when I first arrived. I had no trouble walking straight to the front as Logan emerged to rousing cheers from the crowd.
“We are Bohs!” he said to loud applause, before launching into one of his more recent releases, It Is What It Is.
“What an honour! What an honour it is tonight to be here to sing for you!” He said, clearly delighted to be there.”
I didn’t know the opening track or the second song either, Endless Emotion, which had a bizarre medley in the middle of Oops Upside the Head, Bille Jean, and I Can’t Get No Satisfaction, as the 72-year-old strutted and gyrated onstage.
I could hear a lot of chattering at the back, though everyone around me seemed to be enjoying the show. Would this be it? A professional musician working through the back catalogue before hitting the crowd with the grand finale right at the end? It could be a long 90 minutes if so.
But no. You don’t last 50 years in showbusiness without knowing how to read a crowd. And by the third song it was already time to drop Hold Me Now.
The effect was instantaneous – the empty gaps in the crowd filled with bodies and suddenly there were grown men and women hugging each other, shoulder to shoulder, belting out the chorus, the stage lights illuminating their faces.
Performance is a two-way street, and I could see Logan onstage absorb the energy and the love coming his way and sending it back to the crowd.
He kept the momentum up with a rendition of Galway Girl, before working through a mixture of his classics (What’s Another Year, of course, and Why Me), his lesser known material (“this one reached number two in Germany”) and some covers (including a questionable No Woman No Cry, in honour of Bob Marley, a Janis Joplin medley, and, eh, I’ll Tell Me Ma).
A consummate showman, Logan kept the energy up throughout, wearing his 72 years lightly. The band and backing singers were also excellent.
“I’m getting too old for this,” he said, though it really didn’t seem like he was. Clearly, after all the years, he still loves performing, and his voice seemed to hit all the same notes as before. At one point, someone threw a bra onto the stage and Logan picked it up, clearly delighted.
The singer has spoken in recent interviews about how he doesn’t feel fully appreciated in Ireland, and about how he had to travel and live in Europe to make a proper name for himself as a musician.
At the end of the day, like all performers, he just wants to be loved by the crowd, and on the night at least he was. It went both ways as he thanked the audience, his band, and the Bohs executive team again and again throughout the gig.
What can you say?
It’s fair to say that Johnny Logan’s fanbase in Ireland tends to skew older and female, and there were certainly plenty of women in the crowd belting out every line.
Catherine, Linda and Nicola were in attendance with a life-sized signed cardboard cutout of the man himself – a gift for Linda during the Covid-19 pandemic. The trio said they never miss a gig.
But there were plenty of men and women of all ages there, too, many of them decked out in home or away Bohs jerseys, to say goodbye to the park where they had spent so many Friday evenings.
The interest and music ebbed and flowed throughout the night, but Logan knew how to get the crowd going. He played a more stripped back version of Hold Me Now in the second half of his set, and again the place went wild, singing out the whole song in the reflected light of the overhead disco ball.
Then, he sang it again at the end the of the set.
Not once, but twice.
Why the hell not?
The crowd loved it more and more every time.
I’d say Logan could still be singing it now and there would be people left in the crowd shouting the words back to him.
Watching grown men hugging each other, women swaying arm in arm, of all ages, I was reminded of all the positive aspects that sports and a club can bring to people and a community.
Logan left the stage after the fourth and final rendition of Hold Me Now. The crowd shouted football chants and he emerged for an encore of Hey Jude – an anthem to end the night.
As people filed out onto Connaught Street, a spotlight shone on the back of the imposing Phibsboro Tower:
“THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES. DALYMOUNT 1901-2026.”
Groups of men stood around chanting and singing their Bohs songs, while others stood at the edge of the floodlit football pitch in silence, arms around each other’s shoulders, looking out over the grounds.
What do you say when words are not enough?
have your say