Trinity Ball | FEATURE
M
arking the end of the teaching term and the beginning of the exam period, the Trinity Ball has existed for decades, on and off as the vagaries of College life permitted. Similar to the May Balls of various Cambridge colleges, the Ball continues to attract thousands of revellers. These days, the chances of finding any of the tuxedo and ballgownclad students doing any formal dancing are slim, with hip hop, dance, rock and pop acts from Ireland, England and America dominating proceedings, but it is this sense of tradition which imbues the Ball with much of its special quality. In this year’s Ball Guide, the Trinity
on, they have seven platinum plaques, a Grammy and a plethora of other awards to complement their status of one of the biggest live bands in the world. In 2004, London grime MC Dizzee Rascal entertained students with his first hit, Fix Up Look Sharp. Six years later, with four number ones under his belt, he returned triumphantly to headline the 2010 Ball. If the Trinity Ball’s real history is not enough to create a unique atmosphere, plenty of myths have become attached to it, providing both points of pride for students and fodder for complaining about contemporary line-ups. Ask the average ticket-buyer about famous Ball performers past and you will hear tales of uncles who swear they saw U2, parents who gurned to The Clash at their peak and, perhaps, sensitive older siblings who threw daffodils at Morrissey when the Smiths performed. While these acts may have been brought to campus by the Students’ Union, they did not perform at the Trinity Ball itself, but that does not seem to matter regarding their place in the mythology. The collective College memory is short – four years before it resets, generally – and these sorts of stories inevitably spawn when undergrads try to peer back before the start of their own degree into the murky past. A seminal Clash gig in the Exam Hall in 1977 (featuring “continuous gobbing” according to The Irish Times) easily becomes a headline set at the Ball on the second telling. But precisely because the collective memory is so short, it makes no real difference. Legendary bands played the Ball in the past. Acts which may become legends in their own right continue to play to this day. And of course, the Ball experience is more than just the music. Though the modern Ball is effectively a self-contained, one-night-only private music festival on a par with plenty of summer festivals in Ireland and the UK, most of the attendees would only take some light convincing from the advance line-up announcement to buy a ticket. It is a night out, one which, for many, fulfils its promise to be the best of the year. Repeat attendees develop a routine for the day, often starting at
These days, the chances of finding any of the tuxedo and ballgown-clad students doing any formal dancing are slim, with hip hop, dance, rock and pop acts from Ireland, England and America dominating proceedings, but it is this sense of tradition which imbues the Ball with much of its special quality.” News publication which serves as a programme for the event, Senator David Norris recalled attending balls during his undergraduate days in the 1960s. “I remember suckling pigs being roasted on a spit in the now vanished Fellows’ Garden,” he said. The Fellows’ Garden became the Fellows’ Square at the end of that decade, and his recollection of seamstresses quartered beside the arch in House Six seems to equally belong to a fondly remembered past. However, when Provost Patrick Prendergast attended two decades later in 1984, it was still “a proper Ball with real waltzing,” with an orchestra performing Strauss in the Exam Hall. But, by 1988, change was in the air with militant American rap artists Public Enemy playing a set which became legendary on the Irish music scene whilst touring their politically-charged classic It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back. Writer, broadcaster and TCD economics graduate David McWilliams recalls witnessing the act and asking himself, “Are we not the power?” Still, it marked an example of a landmark show taking place at the Ball. It was not the last – the event has frequently featured sets from acts which go on to sell out stadia. In 2000, an English band called Muse played in the Main Tent as part of the tour for their first album. Eleven years
Trinity Today | 47
TrinityToday2011.indd 47
09/09/2011 10:02:24