Fibbers!

Fibber Magee's is a slightly illegal nightclub on Dublin's Parnell Street. In the last few years, it's had a host of different names (The Aquarium, Bacchus, Subterrania), but it'll always be Fibbers to me and the little band of college misfits who practically lived there from 1995-1998.

There were three (or four) sections to Fibbers.....on the ground floor, there was the beer garden, two bars, a little alcove containing a few pool tables, and the main dancefloor. The beer garden was a great place to just hang out after hours of bouncing on the dancefloor, but a bad place to skin up, due to the sudden, very irritating gusts of wind. Then, there was the basement, containing another bar, another few pool tables, and another dance floor. I think they've added some more bits and bobs upstairs now, but I'm not sure...

The mad nights we had....

Fibbers is generally stuffed with Goths, Punks, people with piercings in the most unlikely places, people with tattooes in the most unlikely places, people called Fuck, people who call other people Fuck, terrified college freshmen who are "up from the country" for the first time, indie kids, even the occasional lost raver...and, of course, the scary people in tattooes, piercings, interesting facial hair and black leather who play pool all night.

The music in Fibbers was, of course, excellent. On a given night, you were guaranteed to hear Boys Don't Cry by The Cure (usually the extended mix), Temple Of Love by the Sisters of Mercy, something by Nirvana, a little of the Smiths, a host of old baggy stuff (early Blur, early Charlatans, The Stone Roses, Happy Mondays), a liberal sprinkling of metal (usually Enter Sandman by Metallica); an interesting mix that suited us down to the ground.

The drink was usually watered-down beer, as not many of us were brave enough to go down the usual (for Fibbers) Snakebite 'n' Black route....although one of my friends, who had a huge tolerance for alcohol, used to drink a mixture of 2 shots of Malibu, 2 shots of vodka, 2 shots of Peach Schnapps and blackcurrant from a pint glass. More often than not, we would get very drunk very quickly on very cheap alcopops in the now defunct students club behind the Virgin Megastore on Aston Quay before sprinting up O'Connell Street to get into Fibbers before 9 (so we wouldn't have to pay to get in!)...so by the time we got there, it really didn't matter much what the beer was like.

After about 1am, there was always the danger of getting raided by the Gardai (as I don't think that they actualy had a club license...). So, if a Garda was spotted in the area, a siren would go off inside, and suddenly all the shutters would come down on the various bars, the music would stop, and the lights would come on.....revealing the sheer squalor that was Fibbers. Dirty concrete floor and threadbare upholstery. Ah, but it was our club...

To learn more, there's a website of sorts at http://fibbermagees.freeservers.com/index.html, maintained by one of the scary pool-playing people mentioned above, containing photographs of the clientele, and news of upcoming events or gigs happening there.

Fibber Magees' Disclaimer:
The management does not accept responsibility for loss of virginity on the premises.

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