Good Vibrations

I went to see this last night having been looking forward to it for months, and yet not expecting too much. In fact it turned out to be a pretty wonderful little film, and quite true to what it really was like back then, as far as I can remember, having seen Rudi etc regularly in the Harp Bar and elsewhere back in the day. And the accuracy of the details is pretty remarkable - even down to the cut-out Elvis who used to stand on the pavement in Great Victoria Street. Richard Dormer is also really excellent. I am going to have to go and see it again, I think. My other half who is neither Irish nor particularly interested in little known NI punk bands, also thought it was marvellous, so its appeal is not limited to members of the audience of the Harp Lounge from 1976-1982. Or whenever. Incidentally, I've always thought that "The Pish Counts" would be a great name for a band (see the inside of the foldout cover of Teenage Kicks). Feel free to use it.

A league above your average rock biopic - you are enthused by the music but particularly importantly, of the music's role as a unifier and energiser, a vehicle for Hooley to carry his 60s socialist background and sense of hope from diversity, through against the oppressive prison / oppressively narrow prism of the Troubles. As Hooley says in the film: "I used to have lots of friends: socialist, Marxist, anarchist, feminist and of no stripe at at all. Now I only have two types of friends: Catholic and Protestant." Well worth catching - I hope it's still on at more than just the one cinema listed by TO.(5-11/4/13).

This looks like a terrific movie, why the hell is it being shown at just one venue in the whole of London!!!!!?????

I posted earlier but obviously screwed it up. The story line in the review is not myth. It's spot on. I wrote a pop column at that time for the Belfast Telegraph when I was not covering the daily butchery. The city centre was a truly horrible place at night. The pubs closed as darkness fell. There was no social scene for young people as the paramilitaries on both sides deliberately destroyed it so they could force kids into their own shitty social clubs. It was the era of the travelling gunmen, the Shankill Butchers and Murder Mile. I disagree with the earlier comment that there was some kind of great disco scene. There wasn't. I would remember as that was my kind of music. And "Rock against Racism/Sectarianism" was a niche thing. I am delighted this movie has been made and can't wait to see it. The two people I know who have seen it rave about it - wtf is happening with its release.

I wrote a pop column for the Belfast Telegraph during the period when not covering the daily butchery. The city centre was horrible at night and I don't remember any big disco scene - my kind of music then. It was known as the era of the travelling gunmen, the sectarian assassins from both sides who killed people on their way home. It was the period of Murder Mile and the Shankill Butchers and no-warning bombs. The city centre pubs closed as darkness fell and it was menacing and eerie so those kids were brave or foolhardy. The Rock against Racism/Sectarianism were niche things. I am delighted this movie has been made and can't wait to see it - wtf is keeping its release. There has also been some awful drama about this period and people who I know who have seen Good Vibes rave about it. (Including Elizabeth, Terri) Incidentally, everything in this review about Terri and GV is accurate.

What a terrific film. Well made, highly enjoyable with a great cast and some classic tunes including the obvious (the Undertone's Teenage Kicks) and the less obvious (Rudi's Big Time). This is a must see film.

What a dreadful film. This music bringing a generation of people together notion is errant nonsense. There were twenty one bars, lounges and discos all within 2 minutes walk from the Harp Bar -Hooleys punk hangout (happy to list these if anyone is interested). In fact there were two large discos in the city centre the ‘King Arthur’ and the ‘Celebrity Club’ catering for up to 2000 kids between them every weekend, whilst the crucible of punk the Harp bar held only 200 at best. Disco music was the most prevalent music in Belfast and indeed in Ireland at the time so if music did bring a generation together it could not have been punk it must have been disco. I believe that the directors, producers and writers of this movie had a social responsibility to take an issue as dangerous and complex as sectarianism seriously. Over the 30 years of the civil strife in Belfast many thousands of individuals and organisations worked at great personal risk to oppose sectarianism e.g. community workers, social workers, youth workers, The Peace People etc. This movie does an appalling disservice to these heroic people in suggesting that the owner of the Good Vibrations record shop was some kind of messianic figure who delivered Belfast from a sectarian hell. Considering the amount of public money used to support this movie the least we could have expected was some semblance of accuracy and not the flippant approach to an issue that resulted in thousands of deaths. Where is the evidence that Good Vibrations brought opposing religious groups or bigots together? The punks appear to have been people who found common ground in a music genre and fashion style and by nature were not sectarian. There were opportunities for punks to address Belfast’s sectarianism in the late 70’s when there was a fledgling Rock Against Sectarianism movement trying to get underway similar to the UK’s Rock Against Racism but the punk bands did not want to get involved! So Belfast’s punks hid from the serious issues of their city in the Harp Bar were they would not be bothered by real life. However this does not make the movie that different from other rock/music movies which usually have a social/political redemption/justification as a subplot and Good Vibrations’ entree here is no different. You know the ending from the very first and so its up to the lead to carry the weight of "Good Vibrations is more than just a shop it’s a way of life " ballast, which Dormer pulls of admirably, so its "mission accomplished!". I believe that it is worth mentioning that punks were irrelevant to the armed elements of the Belfast conflict and were not singled out for attack by paramilitaries for being punks. Most of the violence associated with the scene was for the most part punk on punk.

As someone who was there and photographed much of the contemporary scene of both the Northern Ireland troubles and the limited Belfast social scene (everywhere shut by 10 o'clock and there was GENUINE risk you could either be picked up by a murder gang or caught up in a terrorist incident) I have to say that necessarily what the film depicts is pretty much true and gives a pretty good idea of what living in Belfast in those times was like. TERRI was very much the one ray of light in those dark days, plus his parties were always a great way to end the night.