It cost £2 to attend the U2 concert in Ballina, Co Mayo in May 1980 – and that included a support slot by teenage band, Polar Moon.
Sadly, that gig in the Town Hall Theatre led to a fracas between some local youths who had wanted to hear more of the Ballina band, and U2 band members and crew, eventually leading to a court case in Ballina.
Polar Moon’s front man and lead guitarist was Patrick Walshe, who – like U2 – continues to make great music, carving out quite a career in the music business in the UK and USA since then.
Patrick has been living in the UK for several decades, performing and writing music across an eclectic range of genres from rock to orchestral and folk to dance, and even taking to the stage as an actor and opera singer. He will be playing a hometown show once again in Ballina on June 17.
Polar Moon featured Patrick’s siblings Kathryna and Ronan, cousin Anne Glacken, and friend Gerry McGurrin. His mother Sheila Walshe was a musician and singer too, and a strong champion for music in Ballina and beyond. She was the person behind the successful Ballina International Song Contest, which was held over several years in the 1980s, and appeared on a popular live RTE television show in the 1990s to sing ‘The Ballina Song’, which she co-wrote with Frances Glacken.
The early Polar Moon recordings were produced by Barry Devlin from Horslips and recorded in the legendary Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin.
“Late 70’s and very early 80’s was our heyday and then we all drifted off to other spheres”, said Patrick about the young band. “We all, kind of, started off doing trad stuff and used to play in the Crúiscín Lán in Killala before the rockier days of Polar Moon”.
“Barry Devlin has remained a great friend and is a lovely bloke. I also worked on an album with Mick Abrahams, the original guitarist with Jethro Tull, where I got to play with some great musicians. Sadly, Mick passed away last Christmas”, added Patrick.
The Ballina-born and raised musician, songwriter and film composer also spent time in the USA before returning to the UK for a second stay.
Patrick’s time across the Irish Sea has been fruitful, writing music for stage, singing for a while with English National Opera, doing some Shakespearian acting, and completing a Masters in Music Composition.
His American sojourn saw him compose music for 11 films and he has also written and produced a dance track for German band, Rheinpulse.
“I now have a recording and mastering studio where I write, record and release my own material, ” said the Mayoman.
These days he uses the stage name Suttlefish, with some really strong tracks released under that handle in the past few years.
Patrick’s most recent EP ‘Wrapped’, released in 2024, is well worth catching up with. The ‘Put on Your Shiny Shoes’ dance mix is an epic six minute track of cross-genre music which ends in a climactic outro, while ‘Wrapped‘ is a gentle rock ballad that reveals his fine vocal qualities. ‘Missing Pages‘ takes the listener to Patrick’s Irish trad folk roots, complete with fiddle and banjo, and is a song about looking after someone you love who has dementia.
“My sound is quite an eclectic mix, but all my songs have a message,” said Patrick.
Suttlefish is a solo project for Patrick but he does like to get a band together for bigger shows.
He will be back in his hometown for a free gig at 1.15pm on Wednesday, June 17 as part of the summer Music at Lunchtime series in Ballina Arts Centre.
