Archive: June 28th, 2003

Having spent the day sampling the culture of Trinity College and the cuisine of The Bad Ass Cafe, Jessica and I spent our first evening in Dublin sweating it up in a loud room full of slam-dancing bodies.

Ministry played at the Temple Bar Music Centre and they rocked.

Preparation for the concert began early that evening. Jessica and I met up with my old friend Diarmaid and after we had dropped off our bags, we convened to a bar and began imbibing pints of Guinness.

The concert itself was great. Ministry churned out one great song after another, "Scarecrow", "Breathe", "Stigmata", "Jesus Built My Hotrod" and most pertinently of all, an extended version of "New World Order".

It’s been a long time since I did anything approaching slam-dancing or moshing but I just couldn’t resist Ministry’s pounding beats and heavy guitars. I figured I was going to get ridiculously hot and sweaty in any case so I thought I might as well enjoy myself.

Moshing is like riding a bike. Actually, it’s nothing like riding a bike but it’s one of those things you never forget how to do.

Of course, today I’m pretty sore but it was worth it. Great gig.

My trip to Dublin has been a blast so far.

The flight over was short and uneventful, just the way I like it. Jessica and I took a bus into the city centre and proceeded to kill some time till my friend Diarmaid got off work.

We had lunch at The Bad Ass Cafe in Temple Bar and then went over to Trinity College which was an oasis of calm in the middle of an otherwise noisy and bustling city.

We went to the old library to see the Book Of Kells, a truly astonishing piece of work. The whole exhibition had a real "Canticle For Leibowitz" feel to it.

I was expecting the Book Of Kells to be wonderful but what came as a surprise was walking into The Long Room of Trinity College library. It’s a tall and, as the name suggests, long room filled with the oldest books in the library and lined with busts.

If you decide to visit The Long Room, you may, like me, be overwhelmed with a strange feeling of familiarity. That’s because the Jedi library in Attack Of The Clones is architecturally identical to The Long Room at Trinity.