Blundering An Post is marking the 50th anniversary of rockers Thin Lizzy a year early.
The firm is issuing two stamps on Thursday and holding a ceremony at the GPO to mark the event, with a live performance by the band’s drummer Brian Downey.
However, the Jailbreak rockers’ first manager Terry O’Neill is telling fans: “Don’t Believe A Word.”
He insists the band wasn’t formed until 1970, making this year the 49th anniversary.
And Terry thinks An Post took their information from the band’s Wikipedia page.
The Dubliner, who became the band’s manager aged just 18, told the Irish Mirror: “Wikipedia have it that they formed in December 1969 when they met up.
“This happened, I met them, I already knew them. We talked about a band but nothing happened.
“In 1969, there was no band called Thin Lizzy, it was only an idea.
“In January [1970], the band started rehearsing in the Countdown Club and I started booking shows for them, without them having a name.
“At some point the name had come up but we couldn’t agree on it.
“Eventually, about three or four weeks before the first gig, I said, ‘We have to have a name’.
The band came up with Thin Lizzie, later changed to Thin Lizzy.
Terry, 68, added former member Eric Bell had a 50th anniversary tour this year which may have added to the confusion.
But he insisted: “The fact is there was no such thing as Thin Lizzy in 1969. It didn’t exist.”
An Post told the Irish Mirror yesterday it calculated the band’s lifespan from the point they decided to play together – rather than the date it formed.
A spokeswoman said: “An Post is issuing two stamps to mark 50 years of Thin Lizzy, including the decision to play together, right through the many firsts for the band in that year.
“Stamps will be available from October 3 for a full year until October 2, 2020.”
