Kinnitty warmly welcomes a musical legend

THERE was a touch of stardust in Kinnitty when former Oasis Drummer Tony McCarroll visited on Saturday evening.
There was a very warm welcome for Tony where a blue plaque was unveiled in his honour at the Parish Hall beside the Catholic Church, and the Hall was afterwards packed out for a Q & A between Tony and his lifelong friend John McFadden.
The elegant and beautiful plaque featured crossed drumsticks at its top and stated, “Tony McCarroll Founding member of Oasis - First pre-Oasis public performance, at Kinnitty Parish Hall, circa 1980 - Anthony (Tony) McCarroll (born 4 June 1971) drummer with Oasis from 1991 to April 1995. Tony played on their debut album, 'Definitely Maybe', selling over 8,000,000 albums worldwide, and on 'Some Might Say', Oasis' first number one single.”
Cllr John Clendennen, who organised Saturday evening's event, along with John McFadden, said this was a great occasion when the village honoured one of its own. “We first mooted the idea of erecting a plaque in Tony's honour back in 2019.” He said it was only coincidental that the event was coinciding with the selling of tickets for the Oasis concerts in Croke Park next year.
Cllr Clendennen said he would like to see more blue plaques in the village and parish commemorating famous people from the area. “For example, the famous Hollywood Director Rex Ingram was from the village. Nine years ago we held a big event commemorating Rex Ingram. There are also a number of GAA and sporting people who should be commemorated.”
The Councillor said Tony couldn't have been nicer throughout this project. “You couldn't meet a more relaxed fella than Tony.”
He also praised John McFadden. “This evening was John's brainchild,” he remarked.
The plaque was then unveiled in front of a crush of photographers, a number of them national media.
The Oasis drummer attended the local primary school and has family members living in the village.
He told the gathering that he was very proud to have a plaque unveiled in his honour.
He said he gave his first public performance in the school nativity in Kinnitty parish hall during which he played the drums, with another young boy playing the tin whistle. They performed Silent Night.
"It must have sounded ridiculous but the village have never forgotten that, nor my connection with the village,” he remarked. “They saw the success with the band, but now they’ve recognised me and the band, they’ve brought me back and unveiled this Blue Plaque and it's an absolute honour."
John McFadden said they invited the drummer to the village because his roots are in Kinnitty.
"Tony’s aunt and my mother went to Manchester, then Tony’s mother Bridie followed them over and met his dad Anthony, and their first born child was Tony McCarroll."
The family moved to Kinnitty for a few years and it was during that period that he performed for the first time ever (in the Parish Hall).
Despite the difficult period he went through when his drumming was criticised and he was asked to leave the band, Tony looks back on his time with Oasis with affection and nostalgia, pointing out that they were five lads from Manchester who grew up on council estates within a two mile radius of each other.
“We had a dream of becoming successful, we worked hard, did lots of rehearsals and managed to achieve the dream.”
Asked about the frustration with Oasis ticket prices, as 800,000 people scrambled to buy tickets for next year's two Croke Park concerts, and the associated accusations of price gouging, Tony defended the band, pointing out that he had been wondering if the rising ticket prices over the weekend (going from €86 to over €400) had even been down to the band.
“I don’t think it is, I’ve never seen prices like that. It isn’t any of my business I suppose, but between promoters, this, that and the other, who knows what’s going on behind the scenes.
"We haven’t seen the line up yet, I’ve got a feeling there’s going to be some amazing bands on that line up. They [the tickets] are a little bit expensive, considering, back in my day, to be in Oasis and selling the tickets for a pittance we really did think about the fans. After seeing the statement issued by Oasis last night in relation to reselling tickets, I believe the band is on the fans' side.
"When tickets roll onto certain websites for triple, six times or more, I don’t think that’s fair. There really should be some control over that."
After leaving Oasis in April 1995, Tony continued with music by opening a little studio for "latchkey kids" in Manchester teaching them drums, keyboards, guitar, singing and dj-ing. "There was one guy who came out of there and he joined up with Shaun Ryder of the Happy Mondays. He actually plays with his other band called Black Grape. So there was a success story that did come from there."
John McFadden pointed out that the former Oasis drummer is the first person who has had a plaque or any kind of similar acknowledgement in Kinnitty. “He's really, really proud, and we're really proud that he's been attached to this village. We're talking about somebody who made an album that sold over eight million copies worldwide. So, for Kinnitty to be attached to an artist of that calibre and proud of it, we're just really, really proud.”