I’m a 61-year-old punk and still pull all-nighters to go to gigs

Jumping up and down amidst a crowd of sweaty bodies, I was in my element pogoing to loud feminist punk music.

It was my birthday in November 2021, and I’d put on a gig at a local venue in Belfast with a contemporary punk band called Problem Patterns.

Not your usual 60th party – that’s for sure – and a few of my guests did leave early, admitting that the music was a bit too loud. But I was determined to be the last to leave the dance floor. And I was!

Life is for living and I still go to gigs and festivals most weeks. It’s like that Sticky Little Fingers lyric – ‘Grab it and change it, it’s yours’. You’ve only got one life so you have to give it a lash, don’t you?

I grew up in Donegal, listening to Irish folk music and playing the traditional Irish drum. My parents often took me out to trad music sessions in a nearby hotel and we had parties at home too.

I still go out to gigs most nights of the week. Life’s for living – that’s my motto

As a teenager I fell in love with rock and spent the 70s partying as the punk scene swept Britain, pogoing – a type of dance that involves energetic bouncing up and down on the spot – the nights away in some of the Belfast’s most iconic venues.

One of my mates was in a band, so he let me have a go on his drum kit and it felt quite natural to me. I’ve always had a good rhythm so was able to pick up the basic four-time beat.

I met my now-husband Jonathan at university. He was a roadie with The Stranglers, wore a leather jacket and rode a motorbike. I thought he was so cool and good looking. We soon found out we had a lot in common with our love of music too.

I’m not ready to hang up my biker boots just yet (Picture: Dolores Vischer)

Dolores’s husband Jonathan (Picture: Dolores Vischer)

He was impressed when I told him how I’d ended up playing drums on stage with The Stranglers at the Ulster Hall in 1979. I’d been in the audience and I jumped on stage and started pogoing.

I remember jokingly shouting to the drummer to let me have a go. He said ‘well I do need the loo actually’, put down his sticks and left me to it! They’d just started playing their famous single Peaches so I took a seat and started gamely drumming along.

I don’t think the audience even noticed there’d been a change to the line-up!

My husband was a roadie with The Stranglers (Picture: Dolores Vischer)

Jonathan and I moved to London and I forged a career in book publishing, before we moved back to Belfast and raised our two children. I worked in Belfast’s entertainment and arts industry, in PR and latterly for the local university. Playing the drums fell by the wayside because of all my other commitments.

Being a mum didn’t cramp my style; in fact as my kids, now 30 and 26, grew up, I took them to all the music events I could. We went to circus schools and child-friendly festivals, as well as local concerts and gigs.

In middle age, I noticed some of my peers changing – my friends wouldn’t necessarily want to go out to the same loud gigs any more. I still loved to wear bands’ badges on my coats and jackets, and patterned checked trousers.

But I wasn’t ready to hang up my biker boots. I still had loads of energy; still found myself dancing until dawn if the music was pumping, or camping out in fields at festivals.

I love sharing my passion for the music and it doesn’t feel like work at all (Picture: Dolores Vischer)

If the music is good, I’ll still happily pull an all-nighter (Picture: Dolores Vischer)

In 2018 I joined a local course called Girls Rock School Northern Ireland and we formed a band, with me picking up the drum sticks again for the first time in 30 years.

It meant I had friends who wanted to go out to concerts again. Getting back involved in the music scene and playing in a band again was brilliant; there’s nothing more fun than jamming along with people. It was a real game-changer for me.

As my 60th birthday approached I was due to retire from my role in public engagement at Queen’s University Belfast, but I still had so much energy and ambition – I wasn’t ready to be put out to pasture.

I’ve seen picked the drumsticks back up again, for the first time in 30 years (Picture: CIARA McMullan Photography)

So I decided to found my own business, Creative Tours Belfast, with the signature event being a walking tour around some of the city’s most iconic music venues. With my decades of first-hand experience I was the perfect person to bring the history to life.

Seeing people enjoying my stories brings me such joy – I love sharing my passion for the music and it doesn’t feel like work at all.

I enrolled on a tourism course during lockdown to gain Green Badge status and, in March 2022, I officially launched my new venture. Most people were really supportive of me launching a new business aged 60 – I think lockdown changed our views on life and seizing the moment.

Now I love taking tourists on my Belfast Music Walking Tour, telling them stories about the music legends of Belfast, including Ruby Murray, who was a massive pop talent in the 50s and 60s, and showing them places like Kelly’s Cellars, the oldest pub in Belfast.

I also play relevant music as we’re going around. Most tours end with a private gig at the Oh Yeah Music Centre.

I’m now a member of a group of local musicians called the Over the Hill Collective and a couple of months ago we released a single I wrote called Carpe Diem and an album called Isobars.

These days I will admit I’m becoming a bit like Cinderella. I like to be in bed by midnight – unless there’s a really good band playing. But if the music is good I’ll still happily pull an all-nighter.

As for what society thinks about older women – I have always been a feminist and a campaigner, and I do think older women need to be respected more for their maturity and experience.

In November I marked my 61st birthday, but why would I slow down? I still go out to gigs most nights of the week. Life’s for living – that’s my motto.

I still love to pogo, it feels so exhilarating to totally let myself go and get absorbed by the music. When I hear a brilliant band I just can’t sit down.

As told to Jade Beecroft

For more information about Creative Tours Belfast, visit www.creativetoursbelfast.com

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Life’s for living – that’s my motto.