It is with deep regret that we record the death of Vince Power, who passed away on Saturday, 9th of March.
A native of Newtown, Kilmacthomas, he left the area at the age of 16 years in the early 60’s, taking the train to Rosslare from Kilmacthomas and ending up in London.
He was fourth child in a very large family and he was aged 76 years when he died in London. However, it was his wish to be buried in Ireland and there was a large turnout at Falconer’s Funeral Home last Friday and in Newtown, Kilmacthomas Church at his funeral.
He had gone to school in St. Declan’s prior to going to the UK where he had various jobs and lived with his aunt initially. London and the music scene would see him make a considerable fortune but the ups and downs of the music world would hit him hard and the latter period of his life would be challenging.
He was a great supporter, investor and director of Tramore Racecourse with Jim Harney and the recently deceased Peter Queally. He also invested in Beat Radio.
The Fleadh Mor was probably be the best gig to ever be held in Tramore and last year was the 30th anniversary. He told the Munster Express that he would love to see it revived in some way in County Waterford.
He was supportive to Lord Waterford in getting the All Together Now gig in Portlaw and introducing the late John Reynolds to Portlaw, who organised the first All Together Now over five years ago.
Vince Power was also famous with the Reading and Leeds rock music festivals in England. He had a number of music bars in London, starting with the Mean Fiddler in Harlesden, an Irish and now multi-ethnic area of north west London. Later, he would have bars in the Camden Town area and the famous Dingwalls.
He was feared a little in Ireland when he started the Fleadh Mór due to his strong UK experience and connections. The Dublin music promoters expected much competition but losses at the Fleadh Mor in 1993 of over £100,000 caused a re-think. He did have a Mean Fiddler bar in Dublin also later that year.
The Fleadh Mór brought Bob Dylan, Ray Charles, Joan Baez, Van Morrison, Shane McGowan and many more legendary groups to perform in July 1993 in what was a fantastic festival on a warm, sunny weekend. It is still talked about positively for those who were there, with about 20,000 attending over the 3 days.
Vince did many media interviews and noted that his first business was in the furniture trade in North London but the music business attracted him and he had great success with the early Reading festival in the late 70’s.
There would also be festivals in Spain near Barcelona. The Mean Fidder group was later sold to Clear Channel an American entertainment group now known as Live Nation. He would have made millions from that sale when the group was listed at one time on the stock market with Clear Channel taking it over.
Having much money in the bank, he would have been able to have a quiet life but Vince was energetic and determined to run more festivals. He did do other festivals and there was one in Liverpool called Feis that ran for a few years, featuring Irish rock and trad music. He had an interest at one point also in Beat FM, Waterford, which was later purchased by the Examiner group and the Irish Times, and more recently Beat was sold to German media group Bauer Media.
Vince had less fortune in some of the festivals when they were hit with bad weather and it is a risky business, with other issues like the Covid-19 pandemic affecting live music. He found the going tough in later years. He also had restaurants and jazz venues in London in up market areas near Kensington and Primrose Hill.
He clearly had a varied and interesting life. His family spoke well of him at the funeral in Kilmac. We found out that he was a regular reader of the Munster Express from his younger years, and bought the paper in London as he liked to keep in touch with events at home.
He was very personable despite his business success and the flotation of the Mean Fiddler in London gave him financial success. At one point, he bought Annestown House, where he would spend some of his summer.
He still loved his county of Waterford and gave his regular support to the Tramore Racecourse. He made it a duty to come over for race meetings in summer and in the new year, with regular attendance at the festival meetings, where he offered his business acumen and connections.
He will be sadly missed and had made many friends with his fellow directors such as Chairman Karl Casey and the Queally family. Willie Mullins, the race horse trainer and director, attended his funeral also and many from the music world like Mary Coughlan.
Even some people from UK theatre travelled over too. He was a very good conversationalist, was mild mannered and had a good wit about him too. He was very well-liked in the area and will be missed by many. May He Rest in Peace.
