BALLROOM BLITZ – New RTE series

U2’s Adam Clayton hosts Irish TV series Ballroom Blitz (2×60,1×90)

Dublin based Sideline Productions ‘Ballroom Blitz’ explores the unique phenomenon of the Irish showband which provided the soundtrack to Ireland as it danced its way through a revolutionary period of growth and prosperity in the 1960s. The bands – normally a 7 or 8 piece with powerful horn sections – interspersed waltzes, Irish music and jazz with the ‘pop’ hits of the day as they entertained young hungry audiences at a time when Ireland had no music radio or television. In a country where contraception was illegal, young men and women viewed the weekly socials as a chance to dance and romance with the most popular acts playing up to seven nights a week.

Sixty years before U2 dominated Las Vegas at the Sphere in 2024, Irish showbands entertained American audiences during sold out residencies in Vegas plus packed out Irish ballrooms in New York, Boston and Chicago. Their US success was managed by the mercurial Bill Fuller who emigrated to London in the 1930s as a teenager and, after a building a successful construction business, ended up owning over thirty ballrooms in Ireland, Britain, and the USA including The New York City Centre Ballroom in Manhattan; San Francisco’s Fillmore West and the Electric Ballroom in London which is today managed by his daughter Kate. Back home in Ireland future icons like Van Morrison and Rory Gallagher plied their trade in Irish showbands before leaving the ‘cover’ band to write and perform their own material. As some critics eyed Irish showbands as merely ‘human jukeboxes’, Adam discovered they were a vital part of a wider social and cultural narrative as ballrooms sprang up in rural parishes across Ireland as the emerging republic celebrated an economic boom, low emigration and investment in further education. At a time the Irish Catholic Church held power over sexual ‘morals’, showbands created an opposite effect as travelling bands packed out ballrooms nationwide offering an opportunity for a repressed young generation to meet up, lose their inhibitions and potentially meet their future spouse. 

For many ‘the music died’ in July 1975 when three members of Ireland’s most popular showband The Miami were murdered by a ‘rogue’ British Army patrol in Northern Ireland as they travelled south late at night. A year later U2 formed and in Ballroom Blitz their bass player Adam Clayton embarked on a passionate and personal journey to explore how showbands played an integral role in the development of an Irish music industry that today is a global powerhouse plus influenced the future cultural journey and musical careers of so many Irish/UK acts including The Beatles, Oasis, Dusty Springfield (Mary O’Brien), The Smiths and many more.

‘Ballroom Blitz’ is commissioned by RTE’s Head of Factual Programming Colm O’Callaghan from Sideline Productions and produced and directed by Billy McGrath – Citizens of Boomtown (BMG Films/BBC); Completely Pogued (Windmill Lane/C4) and Secrets of Great Castles (C5/Netflix) with long-time collaborator DoP Ken O’Mahoney; edited by Brian McCue (U2 Live at Boston DVD – Emmy nominee; George Michael Live in London; Willie Nelson in Nashville) and executive produced by Rockabillmedia’s Michael Murphy (Right Here Right Now, They  All Came Out to Montreux, Blitzed). The former general manager at Beyond Distribution is bringing ‘Ballroom Blitz’ to MIPCOM in Cannes this month (in association with RTE’s Head of International Edel Edwards) to discuss with international distributors. 

RTE broadcast date to be announced.