The Original GoodFellas Wedding Band Ireland
Our Most Famous Member!
We have played with some big names in our time and even played on some classic Irish and international recordings but by far the most famous member of GoodFellas is Mick's Steinberger bass!
We get a lot of people coming up to us at our shows and asking about it - it's funny-looking yoke. A bit like it's owner! So here's the story...
This bass is the ACTUAL bass which played "Do they Know It's Christmas" at the end of the original Live Aid concert on July 13th, 1985. Pete Briquette of The Boomtown Rats played it that day.
So think about it...when the world was singing "Feed the world..." it was THIS instrument which was playing it. 400 million people tuned in on their TV sets. Now THAT'S famous!
Here are some screenshots from the Live Aid show:
Pete bought it in a London guitar shop in the early 1980's. It was the first Steinberger in Europe and it's one of the first ones ever made, being serial number 0011. This fact alone would make it very rare and collectable even without it's later star turn - playing the most important song on the biggest and most iconic gig the world has ever seen.
Serial number 18 with no "star history" was up for auction on eBay several years ago for over $6,500.
Pete went on to play it on several of The Boomtown Rats' recordings and the Irish Self-Aid concert before touring it extensively with both the Rats and Bob Geldof in his later solo career.
The bass is fe=atured heavily on the Rats' "In The Long Grass" album.
Number 11 is autographed on top by Bob Geldof and underneath by Pete Briquette.
Number 11 is Mick obtained this bass through our drummer Niall who also plays with Bob Geldof. Mick has played Steinberger basses for several years and one day Niall casually remarked he knew where there was another lying unused. Mick figured he could do with a spare so he made enquiries about it and bought it little realising it's history.
Mick played it extensively on his and Steve's album of original music, Sundrive's "Still Here".
Ned Steinberger himself made the first instruments himself by hand and number 11 came with the original hand-stitched bag Ned made to protect it. Sadly the bag has since been lost. There is no wood in the instrument at all as it's made entirely of graphite giving it a very unique tone.