'I passed my driving test, and tootled off to see Pearl Jam at Millstreet'

It was perhaps a sign of the changes going on in music in the mid-1990s when you consider that Pearl Jam played their first Cork gig, at the Green Glens Arena in Millstreet, just a few weeks after Oasis played two massive sold-out gigs in Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

Despite the increasing love at the time for all things Britpop, there was huge demand for the Pearl Jam gig, as the American grunge superstars kicked off a European tour after the release of their album, No Code.

For any grunger, Pearl Jam albums like Ten, Vs and Vitalogy were classics, up there with Nevermind, Blood Sugar Sex Magik and Superunknown.

This gig offered Munster fans the opportunity to hear one of the most distinctive voices in rock up close and personal and Eddie Vedder delivered in spades.

The sound was excellent, his voice was on top form and they played nearly every fan favourite that night, October 24, 1996.

Thirty years later, I still remember it as one of the best music gigs I have attended.

I had skipped the Oasis concerts because I had already seen them the previous year supporting REM at Slane Castle, but despite all of Cork claiming it as one of the best Cork gigs, I had no regrets picking Millstreet over Páirc Uí Chaoimh.

It was a much smaller gig than when Pearl Jam played Slane in 2003 but, based on what I heard in Millstreet, I believe they are actually more suited to indoor venues.

Despite being only 13 at the time and not having a clue who they were, I always regretted not seeing Nirvana support Sonic Youth at the now legendary Sir Henry’s gig in 1991.

Sadly, they would never return to play Cork or anywhere else in Ireland, so there was no chance I was going to miss the chance to see the other ‘fathers of grunge’ play in my home county.

By 1996, I was 18 and finally able to drive myself to concerts, which meant I could bring as many friends as I liked, as long as their parents didn’t mind them travelling in the back of a tiny Suzuki van with no seatbelts, and an unsupervised driver on a provisional licence.

We also had to fork out the £16 to Pro Musica for the tickets.

Back then, Pearl Jam were fighting a very public battle with TicketMaster so we were glad to avoid getting stung by the various booking fees loaded on for other concerts.

It was the only time I was ever in the Green Glens Arena, but it was a great venue for a concert.

On stage, Vedder was chatty with the crowd. He joked of how they had flown thousands of miles and it was raining just like it was when they left Seattle.

Their classics, Jeremy, Alive, Daughter and Betterman, all made an appearance. Their encore included Even Flow and they couldn’t have finished it any better than with Yellow Ledbetter.

The rock bible Hotpress even named the Pearl Jam gig in Cork as one of Ireland’s Top 50 Gigs of all time, coming in at number 24 ahead of classics such as Bob Marley in Dalymount Park or The Waterboys and The Clash.

“Confiding that the Rebel County reminded them of home and then blasting through a greatest hits parade, this was Eddie Vedder and Co at their ear-splitting, cacophonous best,” Hotpress said.

Even in the 1990s, Cork was already suffering from a lack of a decent mid-sized music venue and for a while I thought Millstreet was the answer.

The Green Glens had already hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in 1993 and then the Chris Eubank v Steve Collins world super-middleweight boxing championship fight in 1995.

After Pearl Jam performed, I truly believed Cork had finally secured its own concert arena that would regularly draw top acts, and save music and entertainment fans the regular trips to Dublin to see big gigs.

Sadly, it was not meant to be, and we are still left waiting here in Cork as Dublin and Belfast take our money.

If the event centre is ever built, it would be the ideal venue for the return of Pearl Jam to Cork.

Let’s keep our fingers crossed and hope we will not be here in 2036, wondering where our concert venue is.