COMMEMORATION EVENTS ARE taking place today to mark the 50th anniversary of the Miami Showband massacre.

Surviving members of the Miami Showband, including Des Lee and Stephen Travers, will join the band’s former road manager Brian Maguire at the site of the attack near Newry to remember their murdered bandmates.

Additional commemorative events are being held in Newry and Dundalk.

In Dublin, a special ceremony will take place at the Miami Showband Monument in Parnell Square on Saturday evening, attended by family members and survivors. A memorial concert for the band will take place in Vicar Street in September. 

On the night of 31 July 1975, three members of the popular Irish band were shot dead by loyalist paramilitaries at Buskhill, near Newry in County Down.

The victims were lead singer Fran O’Toole, guitarist Tony Geraghty, and trumpeter Brian McCoy.

Two other band members, Stephen Travers and Des Lee, survived the attack but sustained serious injuries.

The band was returning to Dublin from a performance in Banbridge when they were stopped at what appeared to be a routine British Army checkpoint.

It was later revealed to be a bogus roadblock set up by members of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF), some of whom were serving soldiers in the Ulster Defence Regiment (UDR).

The attackers attempted to place a bomb on the band’s minibus with the intention of it exploding later, implicating the musicians in transporting explosives for the IRA.

However, the device detonated prematurely, killing UVF members Harris Boyle and Wesley Somerville.

Other members of the gang then opened fire on the musicians.

In September, a memorial concert for the band will take place in Vicar Street. All profits from the concert will be donated to the Irish Cancer Society.

The massacre led to widespread shock and condemnation in both Ireland and the UK.

A report by the Historical Enquiries Team in 2011 raised serious concerns about collusion between loyalist paramilitaries and members of the security forces.

It linked UVF commander Robin “The Jackal” Jackson to the murders through fingerprint evidence, although he was never convicted.

While remembrance events for the victims are taking place this week, a controversial parade is also planned for Saturday in Portadown to commemorate Harris Boyle, one of the UVF members killed while planting the bomb.

The Harris Boyle 50th Anniversary Memorial Parade is expected to involve over 400 participants and 15 bands.

Boyle, who was also a UDR member, has been linked to the Glenanne gang and was a suspect in the 1974 Dublin and Monaghan bombings, which killed 26 people.

Despite the controversy surrounding the loyalist commemorations, Miami Showband survivor Des Lee has previously expressed support for reconciliation.

Speaking to Belfast publication Sunday Life last April, he said that “people have a right to respect their dead, as far as I’m concerned.”

“I’m very much for peace and reconciliation. It’s been 50 years,” Lee said.