Paul McGuinness

Good evening ladies and gentlemen. I’ve known Gavin and his band the Virgin Prunes for as long as I’ve known U2 and for quite a while in the early days the Virgin Prunes were the obligatory opening act for U2, so I saw them many times. Perhaps more often than I liked. And on one occasion… the Virgin Prunes had some extreme theories: Dada, Theatre of Cruelty, things like that, which didn’t always mix with the… the rock and roll. But on one occasion I do remember after the performance, excellent performance, given by the Virgin Prunes, Bono arrived in time for the U2 gig and he said to me: Why are the audience in such a bad mood? And I said: Well, Bono, it might have something to do with the fact that your friend Gavin has just been throwing pigs entrails over them. They were a very unusual band and one of their earliest fans was Ms Courtney Love…

Courtney Love

Hi. I’ve never actually even been inside Carnegie Hall. I wasn’t asked to do this show, I demanded to do this show.

I didn’t expect the task of introducing one of the most important precious figures and bands and siren call that framed my rock and roll life for better or for worse. Nor do I have any idea of who I am speaking to, so I will just simply speak my truth about Virgin Prunes and about Gavin Friday.

Courtney Love - by Wout-er

I was a pudgy 15-year-old from San Francisco who thought randomly and maybe… I just, I don’t know to just go to Ireland and blag my way into Trinity College and become a theologian, seriously, and I would maybe get to meet that guy with the angelic voice that sung I will follow. Why I picked Ireland? I don’t know, accident or intelligent design… random, I don’t know, but it was one of my life’s great experiences. I saw the band with the singer with the angelic voice and the guitar player who I just knew from the I will follow riff was beyond words in their return of their station wagon tour of the States to do their show at Punchestown.

It was excellent, however a few nights later at a pub called McGonagles I had my ass truly handed to me. They were magnificent. Can I curse? Anyway, un- ff-ing genius they were, they would obviously take over the world. Swagger, charisma, shamanism, fury. I had never seen and have rarely ever seen since so much sex, snarl, poetry, evil, restraint, grace, filth, raw power and the very essence of rock and roll which was [ ? ] that night by the Virgin Prunes. The storm that raged on that stage astonished me. At that time their reputation was on a par with my own – minus the stuff that we should all just forget.

I loathe, I seriously hate this concept that rock musicians are somehow vulgar and stupid, idiots and that we’ve never read a book – and some of us haven’t – that we haven’t read Middlemarch or that we don’t know that Shakespeare’s last play was [ ? ]. The Virgin Prunes are geniuses. Lucifer; arch and cunning to U2’s Gabriel; angelic and gorgeous, I can honestly stand here and truthfully say U2 gave me lashes of love and inspiration and a few nights later the Virgin Prunes fucked. Me. Up.

So for the first time in 20 years from the council estate of Ballymun to the most prestigious venue in the world where one brings ones diamonds, I am so proud to present for the first time in many years per incendia ut astrum – which means through the fire to the stars: The Virgin Prunes.

After Courtney’s introduction, the original members of the band: Gavin, Guggi, Dik were joined by J.G. Thirlwell (Foetus) to perform two classic Prunes songs: “Sweethomeunderwhiteclouds” and “Caucasian Walk”. Later during the show, Courtney and Gavin sang Magazine’s “The Light Pours Out Of Me” together.

And while you are enjoying the slideshow, remember it’s Gavin’s 50th birthday today… come add your wishes (no registration required).

Pictures by Eva van der Valk for GavinFriday.com, all rights reserved.

Pictures by Wout-er

Photos by Babette Ross

Photos by folie rufie

Photos by Gerry Visco

Photos by aphrodite in nyc

Photos by tibetjb

photos by cafeconflores

photos by Peddieart

Gavin Friday was interviewed outside Nou Camp stadium in Barcelona on June 20th where he is working on the production of U2’s 360 tour, which starts on June 30th. The brief interview was broadcast in U2Valencia’s podcast. Gavin discussed his role in U2’s production, calling himself an ‘aesthetic midwife’ and in a message to the listeners he sent his greetings and the news: “Next year I’ll be sending you my own music, as I will be releasing my record, which I haven’t done in 10, 12 years.”
Download the full podcast (mp3) which also features interviews with Catherine Owens and Bono. (Fan commentary is in Spanish.) or continue for a transcript of Gavin’s complete interview.
Pictures taken during the interview.

U2valencia: Is it possible to have a small interview?
Gavin Friday: Very small, because they go on stage in about 15, yeah?
U2V: Hi. We are with Gavin Friday, best friend of Bono. We know you have worked with U2 before, on Vertigo. What are you doing now, with 360? What is your job?
GF: What I always do. I… Let’s say ever since they’ve done Joshua Tree and most tours. Because we grew up together. I’m an aesthetic midwife, you know, when the baby is in the mother, I help the baby be born. I look at all the things… they’re on stage, they can’t see everything, so I’m their eyes and their ears, and I understand the four of them very well, cause I know them 30 years, or more. And so we speak the same language. I don’t blow smoke up their ass. Do you know what I mean?
U2V: Eh… you don’t smoke?
GF: I don’t *blow* smoke up their ass. Like… I talk the truth. I’m not afraid of them either. I’m just… the truth. But also… all the different departments, it’s such a big, complex show, so I help glue it all together. And then I deliver the baby and say ‘Bono, Edge, Larry, this is the bambino. I christen the bambino 360 degrees, and Padre Friday is going now, back to Dublin to work on his own stuff.
U2V: Do you think this one will be their best tour?
GF: I don’t know… the baby is still coming out. It’s not born yet. It’s born on the 30th of June. I think it’s like most U2 things, it’s always a challenge finishing a new thing. You look at U2, they keep taking risks, and trying to get better and better. What’s incredible about this, it’s that it’s so big, but for me it’s very intimate. The audience are going to feel this intimacy like I’ve never seen at a U2 show. But what is the best, what is the biggest? I don’t know, I just love it being what it is today.
U2V: Can you say a message to the Radio Vertigo listeners?
GF: Say a message? OK, this is Mr Gavin Friday, in Barcelona. Outside the stadium, a week before the U2 tour and I send you all my love and greetings and next year I’ll be sending you my own music, as I will be releasing my record, which I haven’t done in 10, 12 years.
U2V: Can you sing for us?
GF: Sing? Sing? Sing… I still sing, but… I’m shy, you make me shy and embarrassed. What could I sing? I’m trying to think of, eh, (sings) ‘Una Paloma Blanca…’