February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
According to the band’s manager, Ollie Jennings, the Saw Doctors are officially against the impending U.S. war with Iraq. They wrestled with the thought that their appearance at the political function — where President Bush was to be the honored guest — would send the wrong message to their fans.
“We don’t see this as a pro-war event,” said Jennings. “It’s an event that’s being held to
celebrate Ireland and the majority of the people there will be Irish.”
Among the expected guests were Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, Foreign Minister Brian Cowan, UUP leader David Trimble and John Hume.
The band were uncharacteristically mum about the gig before leaving Ireland. This was due, said Jennings, to security concerns, and to limit the number of wacky congressional requests for “Tommy K.” And, of course, because they didn’t want people thinking that they were “playing for President Bush.” Perish the thought.