A New Life: A former U2 stage manager is turning his back on rock 'n roll for Cork city and its year as culture capital, writes Barry Roche, Southern Correspondent
Dubliner John Kennedy has packed a lot into his 50 years on the planet, working first as a primary teacher before forsaking the classroom for the rock 'n roll lifestyle when he stage managed three of U2's biggest world tours.
Although he had worked with groups like De Danann and Planxty as well as Rory Gallagher and with U2 as early as 1981, he became an integral part of the U2 set-up in 1987 and worked with them for the next 11 years on their Joshua Tree, Zoo TV and Pop Mart tours.
"There is nothing to compare when the lead singer or the band walk on stage in a stadium and meets the audience," says John, recalling that the Pop Mart tour was 100 shows in a calendar year with the band playing to 5 million people across five continents.
"There was a huge touring entourage of about 250 people and we trucked everything in a fleet of 70 trucks and the crew travelled in 13 buses and when we moved from continent to continent, we used two jumbo jets, two Antonovs and the band's own airplane."
But that was then, this is now and the former concert lighting expert is well ensconced in the outwardly sedate surroundings of 18th century Civic Trust House on Cork's Popes Quay where he is now working as director of Cork 2005 European Capital of Culture.
"The interest in the Capital of Culture is phenomenal - it's not like any other project I've done whether it be U2 or the 25th or 30th anniversary Woodstock concerts in the US in 1994 and 1999 where you can predict a time line with a fair degree of accuracy," says John.
"I've said this before about U2, it's essentially about putting four guys on a stage for two hours and then you do it all again the next day somewhere else - it's like a military operation and it becomes very predictable, whereas this is very much a voyage into the unknown.
"The Capital of Culture project is the biggest cultural event that's ever been done in this country and we've tried to marry the approach taken by other cities with what's possible in Cork and it's proving difficult to predict the course of any day, let alone week or month."
John came on board Cork 2005 on October 21st, 2002 and since then it's been all go, particularly since the launch of the programme on October 8th with around 200 media interviews with national and international media as well as visiting other host cities such as Lille and Graz.
"I suppose the difficulty for somebody like me is that for 20 years, I've made my living by being almost invisible behind the scenes. It's a personal challenge now to be so out front so the balances between those two aspects of my personality challenges me sometimes."
John's wife, Una, son William, 20, and daughter, Julia, 17, live in the family home in Rathgar and John stays in a rented apartment in Cork from Monday to Friday. He drives up to Dublin late on Fridays to join his family before heading Leeward again on Monday morning.
"I usually drive because I enjoy the time on my own in the car - I can make a decision to listen to my own music. I'll listen to anything but if I want to get my head cleared, I'll put on Led Zeppelin at volume 10 and make no apologies for it," he says with a smile.
"I'm a non-drinker so the parties when I was on tour were never much of an attraction. I suppose I've learned over the years to relax with myself - I read a lot of detective stories, fairly mindless stuff, to be honest. There's a great deal of escapism in it but it works for me. As for music, I think I'm probably too familiar with U2's music - as soon as I hear a riff, I get a vision of a stage show in my head but I like listening to Led Zep, Hendrix, Jackson Browne, Rory Gallagher. I suppose my musical development stopped in the 1980s," he says with a wry smile.
"I think I will be able to relax on January 9th and 10th next after we have the opening weekend - that's really important. It parallels that other moment I mentioned where the artist meets their audience for the first time. It's a gathering of breath and things really roll on after that.
"Realistically, I suppose I'll be able to relax some time in early 2006. I will have done my job but my job is only part of what's being done here over the next five or 10 years. Life will go on in Cork after the Capital of Culture. It's only a beginning for the city, not an end."