Last year Whelan's, the Dublin venue on Wexford Street, celebrated its 25th year in operation. In that time, it's gone from a regular bar and venue with a calendar of roots and blues bands to arguably the most iconic venue in Ireland. It's the venue that every new Irish band wants to play, where rising international bands receive the warmest welcome and where Ed Sheeran played a secret televised gig for 400 people last year. It holds a special place for many a musician and gig goer.
Dave Allen, the bookings manager with Whelan's has been there for most of its quarter of a century and says the place creates a unique atmosphere.
“All you need in the room is 100 people and a good band can create a special atmosphere there,” says Allen. “When it’s at capacity of 450, with the balcony full, it really is hard to beat. Size-wise it's intimate but not small. Bands really get up close and personal with their fans. When you look at festivals these days, you could land a plane between the stage and the crowd. I think bands love getting that close.”
Allen's career in the music industry is indelibly intertwined with the history of the venue but he started out a couple of years before helping out at the Sound Training Centre and setting up and taking down a PA system at gigs around the country.
“It was really when I was in Kevin Street DIT that the bug hit,” remembers Allen. “I was doing electronics and friends of mine there were in a band called The Prayer Boat. So I started doing sound at their early gigs.”
That lead to a role in the newly-opened Whelan's as a sound engineer in late 1989/early 1990. A few months later Allen found himself booking acts when the main booker left. Allen brought in the first indie and rock bands to the venue on Thursday nights, with Engine Alley and The Harvest Ministers among them.
“They were great nights and it was such a buzz to be part of something building, as it did quickly,” says Allen.
Still, at the start of the decade and its operations, it wasn't long before Whelan's became a primary place for indie and rock gigs in Dublin and it attracted a higher calibre of band.
“We added drapes to help with the acoustics of the room and put in a bigger PA. This made it more attractive to the better rock/indie bands. Also Whelan's was a cost effective place to run a gig. The overheads were quite small. So Irish acts who could fill the Olympia for example twice a year, realised they could make a lot more by playing Whelan's six or seven times a year.”
Allen learned a thing a thing or two about the music industry and how to grow the venue's reputation from contacting journalists and publications like the Dublin Event Guide and InDublin along with printing flyers and advertising. The promotion and booking of a show has changed a lot in those intervening years.
“Almost all communication with bands and journalists is by email now,” says Allen. “Back then it was a case of landline, fax or just someone dropping in for a chat. I remember having a pager back in 1994 and thinking I was very advanced. Most of our advertising is through the likes of Facebook now. We rarely use outdoor on street posters which were the mainstay in the nineties.”
In 1995, Whelan's did more than just attract bands. It invested in the second album by the then upcoming band The Frames.
“We lent the band some money towards recording their album Fitzcarraldo,” recalls Allen. They were to play a number of gigs to pay back this loan. The first single was Revelate and the crowds went from 250 to 300 people before the release to huge queues around the corner for every show after.”
The Whelan's singer-songwriter scene
As the venue's reputation grew during the decade, so too did the reputation of the burgeoning singer-songwriter scene, which to many, became to represent Whelan's during that period.
“It bugs me that people say that Whelan's was a singer-songwriter venue,” says Allen. “I thought the music we put on was much broader than that but I suppose I can understand it. When the likes of David Gray, Paddy Casey, Mundy and Damien Rice bloomed here and became huge acts, it did seem to cement that.”
But a venue cannot endure on a single scene, perceived or real. Allen namechecks gigs from Wilco, Jonathan Richman, Placebo, Georgie Fame, Townes Van Zandt and Interference, along with two Jeff Buckley shows in 1994 as personal highlights.
It's the returning bands who give Whelan's its exalted reputation in the music industry. Allen credits one member of staff in particular with the treatment bands receive.
“Our secret weapon is a chap called Gram. He really does go that extra mile to help bands out and make sure they are treated well. And all our other staff would work well with the bands. I think they are treated with respect here. And in a lot of cases reverence.”
Since Allen started, booking for the venue has changed and not just in terms of promotion since the nineties.
“The number of touring acts has increased vastly,” explains Allen. “Back then we may have had twelve to twenty international acts a year. Now we could have that number a month. Cheaper flights and travel would be one of the main factors. Also back then, most of our shows would have just sold tickets on the door on the night of the show. These days 80% would be sold in advance with very little walk up.”
Leaving and returning to the fold
Allen left Whelan's in 1999 and worked as a booker with The Tivoli, Isaac Butt and the Temple Bar Music Centre before returning to the Mercantile Group (who own Whelan's) in 2010. Just a few weeks later, the head booker and manager, Derek Nally passed away suddenly.
“It was a big shock for all of us. It wasn't the immediate impetus for me returning but a few months later it seemed right to start working Whelan's again.”
Recent years has seen the venue expand its offerings with the upstairs live room, The Parlour - a private bar and an outdoor smoking area on the second floor, where many a band member can be found on any given night. The venue's club nights remain as popular as ever, which generally, Allen describes as “indie classics with the odd new track thrown in.”
With their 25th anniversary now passed, Allen and Whelan's are looking to the future rather than looking back. Recent renovations haven't left much room to change things but there's always something on the list, including a planned Whelan's record shop as part of the anniversary.
“We may tweak our main venue next year. We have a few ideas that would improve it without affecting the special atmosphere. We would also love to revisit our record shop idea. We didn't have the manpower or resources to do it last year but it's something we would love to do.”
As long as that “special atmosphere” remains, Whelan's reputation will continue to draw bands, punters and well-known people alike.
“There was the time that Gerry our security guy closed the venue door saying there was a well dodgy guy walking up the street, and it turned out to be Morrissey coming to a Mary Coughlan show. Bono came down to have a goo when we had Nick Cave in to do a spoken word event. There was also the time Iggy Azalea walked through our rundown office last year looking like some kind of exotic bird.”
