April 7th 2008 Whelan's Dublin

Last played here twice before with Jim Page and Donal Lunny.  Played another night with Andy Irvine and Donal Lunny.  Been to many gigs here over the years and nearly always enjoyed myself.  Amongst many gigs I remember Bert Jansch and Jacqui Mc Shee, Norma Waterson and Martin Carthy, The Handsomes, John Prine, all at Whelan's over the years.  It has long been a mainstay of roots music and has just undergone an overhaul.  It now has two venues and dressing rooms and the new policy seems to be music comes first.  Good luck to Leagues O'Toole and Derek Nally and all concerned. Dublin needs this venue.

Our set was:
1.Yellow Furze Woman
2. Magic nights in The Lobby Bar
3. Companeros
4. Allende
5. McIlhatton
6. CoCo Moon
7. Go Move Shift
8. Beeswing
9. Cry Like A Man
10. Stitch in Time
11. Little Musgrave
12. Lawless
13. Hiroshima Nagasaki Russian Roulette
14. Pity The Poor Immigrant
15. Shovel
16. Aisling
17. Two Conneeleys
18. Smoke and strong Whiskey
19. Anne Lovett
20. Hattie Carroll
21  Biko Drum
22. Delerium Tremens
23. Cliffs of Dooneen
24. No Time for Love
25. Ride On.

Next up was two nights in the INEC Theatre in Killarney.  I have always loved this town.  It was rain swept, windy and soggy but once the lights went down we all forgot about the weather for two hours.  Took a trip down The Black Valley, then sat in the car park of Kate Kearneys and watched the capers and antics as the world passed by.  Washed the feet at Torc, ran from the midgies up Mangerton - no sign of Bill Cullen who may be selling apples on the moon.
Then it was a midnight flit on up past Ladies View and over the top on down into Kenmare.  Passed through there at midnight Saturday and it was Puck Fair.  Back up the mountains and through the tunnels over the top for a first glimpse of Bantry Bay with the lights of Whiddy Island guiding me down towards Glengariff.

We played two nights in Dzogchen Beara, the Buddhist Centre located outside Castletownbere high above The Atlantic Ocean. These were fundraisers for the hospice being built, under the spiritual guidance of Sogyal Rinpoche, by the community who live and work in this very special place.  We performed there with no PA which was challenging at first.  Forty years of singing through microphones changes a singer's technique.  It took a while to adjust and to project out to the back of the room.  Matt from the Centre suggested that if I sang the songs The Dalai Lama would take care of the rest.  We had a most memorable visit to this Holy place.
The moon was high was we took our leave to head across Bantry Bay towards the Sheep's Head.  We set up camp high above Ahakista in anticipation of our next gig in St.James's Church just outside Durrus. The lovely chapel was built in 1745 and we had a grand night there with the kind permission of Rev.Paul Willoughby who was delighted to welcome the nearby parishioners of Ahakista as Declan and myself gave it our best shot (and…. there were cushions on the pews).
                           
Finally on to Belfast where I pen these words. We returned here yesterday.  It was a beautiful day.  Sun shone down as The Belfast City Marathon ran all around the place.  It was a happy and bright town yesterday as we made our way to The Waterfront Theatre.  It was the 27th Anniversary of Bobby Sands passing.  His son was at last night's concert.

We played;
After The Deluge
Natives
Back Home in Derry
The Time has Come
McIllhatton (for Gerard Sands)
Missing You
Quiet Desperation
Merseyside
Quinte Brigada
Contender
Metropolitan Avenue
Biko Drum
On The Bridge
Brown Eyes
Sacco and Vanzetti
I Will
Shovel
Minds Locked shut
Beeswing
As I Roved Out
Only our Rivers run free
Ordinary man
Stitch in Time
Joxer
Chicago
Black is the Colour
Lisdoonvarna
Cliffs of Dooneen
Ride On............................a quiet half hour with friends in The Green Room and we were ready for the scratcher......
 
After three more gigs here in Belfast we will move on to Holland and Scotland. We will do a one off gig in The Tripod, Harcourt St. Dublin in mid June - see gig page.   I will sing with three of my favourite singers when Declan and I will be joined by Damien Dempsey, Jinx Lennon and Paula Flynn.  We will be singin' the heads off one another.
 
Talk soon.........
 


6th May 2008

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