The second part of the blog takes in the second half of the year. 2002 shaped up to be a pretty busy year for gigs, so to make it a bit easier to read I decided to split 2002 three ways and keep the festivals on a separate page (4 festivals to cover this time!).
Ok, first up is the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I must admit that I am not their biggest fan but have seen them twice now. The second gig will be covered at a later date. Anyway, I was more into Faith No More than the Chili Peppers. Missed a chance to see them in 1993 at Sunstroke. That was the year they pulled out and Faith No More replaced them and missed them again the following year 1994 at same festival which I am told was one of their best gigs.
Lansdowne Road was the venue for their Dublin show for the 2002 tour. Kenny and myself went down for this and we ended up in the south terrace which was probably behind where the rugby goal posts were.
Support came from New Order which I was excited to see. Sadly they didn’t live up to my expectations and they were pretty awful.
The same can also be said for the Chili Peppers. They were truly awful on the day. Definitely the most phoned in performance I had seen. 1/10 for effort guys! Sadly I would give them another chance but we will find out how they fared at later date.
Witnness 2002 is covered in the festivals section but one of the bands from that weekend ventured north a few days later to the Limelight.
Rival Schools were considered godfathers of the emerging emo scene that was coming through. I caught their set at Witnness and they were a brilliant band to watch.
The gig in Limelight was great too. They are a band I would love to see again.
The first Tennent’s Vital took place in September at Botanic Gardens. Again I will cover this one as part of the festivals blog.
October was a pretty busy month for gigs. First up was Queens of the Stone Age at the Ambassador Theatre. 
This was the first time I had seen the band on Irish soil after getting to see them at the Reading festival in 2000. I think they were due to play Belfast in 2001 at the Limelight but pulled out. No idea what the reason was.
A band at the peak of their powers, Songs for the Deaf was one of my favourite albums that year. With guest vocals from Mark Lanegan and Dave Grohl from Foo Fighters taking a time out to drum on this album, you can guess that I am really looking forward to this gig. To say you had seen Dave Grohl drum in two different bands would have been great.
Standing tickets were pretty hard to get so I settled for a sitting ticket. A rarity but I done it before.
A fantastic gig, I was dripping in sweat and that was being in a seat. I think pretty much anybody around me were headbanging like mad! Sadly Dave wasn’t on board the tour for this one as he got the Foo Fighters back together and was going on the road with them. Mark Lanegan would come on stage at several points when he was called upon for vocal duties.
Hundred Reasons returned to Belfast following their sell out show at the Limelight back in May. This time they played at Mandela Hall with support coming from the remaining members from At The Drive In, who went on to form Sparta.
The last three gigs of the year all involved a trip down to Dublin.
Dave Grohl did come to Dublin this time but brought his own band with him! This was the first Foo Fighters gig at the Point Theatre. 
They had just released One By One and this was the biggest venue at the time I had seen the band play.
A few days later I would be back in Dublin again to see Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. A band becoming a firm favourite for me I first them at the Ambassador Theatre on the NME Brat Tour the year before. 
Again another highlight from Witnness 2002 which I will go into a bit more detail in festivals.
They played at the Olympia Theatre which is one of my favourite Dublin venues and were awesome.
Manic Street Preachers brought their Forever Delayed tour to Dublin in December with support from Ian Brown. 
Last time I saw Ian Brown was the Big Day Out in Galway in 1998. Still wasn’t any better this time round.
A tour with a difference as this was basically a Manic Street Preachers greatest hits setlist. Kind of ticked all the boxes and played all the songs you wanted to hear with no encore. Result!
Paul’s Gigography 