Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Bowie was scared of being shot when he played Slane
Christy tells of singer’s Troubles fear
DAVID Bowie was terrified he was going to get taken out by a sniper when he played Slane in 1987, Christy Dignam has revealed.
The Aslan star was supporting the late singer during his headline gig at the Co Meath venue.
But the Dublin band said they were not allowed to get near the English artist as he was “paranoid” about playing in Ireland during the Troubles.
Bowie was also said to be concerned about his own safety following the death seven years previously of close pal John Lennon who was shot dead in New York.
Christy added: “At the time
Bowie didn’t want to meet us because he was over here as an Englishman in Ireland during the Troubles and Lennon was after being shot a couple of years before that. He was real paranoid because when he was going on stage we were backstage and he went on in a military formation. “There was about 12 or 16 of them in the band and they were all in grey boiler suits, so if there was a sniper there they could not have picked out which one was Bowie.”
Christy, who appeared on the Six O’clock Show on Virgin Media alongside bandmate Billy Mcguinness, also opened up about his battle with cancer. The 58-year-old had to cut short his treatment after doctors discovered the medication had been damaging his body.
He said: “My heart rate went mad so they had to stop the chemo. But I feel great.”
Aslan will play three sold-out gigs at Dublin’s Vicar Street on December 27, 29 and 30.