Sorry Christy, with all the great talk here recently of Sean and Gay McKeown it brought me reminiscing back to the “Iron Behind The Velvet”. Always loved Gay’s piping on it and he only a young lad! Pulled out the album and was looking at the photos on the back, weren’t some taken in the Botanic Gardens with Noel Hill standing beside the statue of Socrates with a bit of skulduggery going on. I think the photo was taken around the same time the urban legend goes that the footballer of the same name was studying at UCD. Its true what they say isnt it, “Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be”!
Christy's reply
I gotta pinch here..gettin on for 50 years since that album started coming together…we gathered on The Protestant Road, Coolcullen, high above the village of Cuan on the Castlecomer Plateau…Barry Moore, Gabriel McKeon, Jimmy Faulkner, Andy Irvine, Noel Hill, Tony Linnane……I had 2 Joe (Galway)Dolan songs and a basket of others as we set sail….we rehearsed and recorded, cant recall what studio..then we did a wee tour…Merriman Scariff, Hidden Inn Kilmanahan, Meeting Place ,Dorset St Dublin, (the real) Pat Dowlings Prosperous ( when Pat was still running the show….back then i had no manager..booked the gigs myself and had my own modest PA and van ( 200 watt H&H , Peugeot 404 Diesel with Box on back 5118 IP ) 50 years on only John O’ Dreams gets an occasional outing….Dunlavin Green I sing to myself,
Hi Christy
I am sure you be tuned in to Conleth’s Park this evening for the battle of Lillywhites and Royals is your two feet firmly in The Lily’s camp ? Or would there still be a bit of Boyne blood flowing through you passed down from Nancy ? Am I right in thinking your home house not much more than a stones through from Conleth’s Park ? , I enjoyed tea and sandwiches there once after a match in the good company of your Mother Nancy and my Father.
Maybe you be watching in Slane House in company with your cousins Paddy and Harry ?
Christy's reply
gets very confusing, The Boyne rising in Kildare, The Liffey in Wicklow….When Meath came to play in Newbridge we always had callers…our Nancy would be talking with a Meath accent and very happy to be meeting old friends from childhood days…Packy Tully called once with two players from the Meath team but her happiest time would be when Conor visited…… I think Peter McDermot was one…
The jury will always be out on if Socrates ever played Soccer and Sigerson for UCD! What we do know though is…. He wore Noel Hill’s glasses and had a smoke in the Bots in 1978!
Hello Christy,
Thankyou for posting the set list. Your gigs are always full of fabulous music, crack and good people. But for pure musical quality and enjoyment, last night was the best time I’ve had in years. Bar none. I guess at some point I’m going to have to start coming back down, and then maybe I’ll stop harping on about it.
We’ve just arrived in Skerries. A couple of nights and days looking at the sea. It’s a beautiful place.
Great Gig last night Christy – you were on fire from the get-go & had the audience up to 90 in no time- the atmosphere was raised then to another level with Sean McKeons Uilean Pipes, magical!! Mighty set-list
Thanks – until next next time
Noel
Christy's reply
good to hear from Delvin
last night’s set:
City Chicago
Quinte Brigada
Black & Amber
Magdalen Laundry
Delerium Tremens
Ride On,
Cumann na Mná
McIlhatton
Voyage
Cable Street
Lisadoonvarna
Burning Times
Lingo politicao
(enter Sean McKeon)
The Vicar St Set ( Salamanca/Trim The Velvet)
Raggle Taggle
Tabhair Dom do Lámh
Middle of The Island
The Gold Ring
Cliffs Dooneen
Smoke & Whisky
They Never came Home
Fairytale New York
North & South of River
Palestine
Beeswing
Joxer
No Time for love
Curragh of Kildare
Ordinary man
Thanks Christy..HSP play Barrowlands 4th Dec this year.. tickets on sale this morning since 10am.. I heard someone shout “come all you dreamers” last night.. Listening to Sean McKeon’s album Salamanca this morning.. magical..
Christy's reply
will you sing “Come Dreamers” when you play Mags McIvors ??/
Good man Christy! Keep at the pre-match rubs. See you in Vicar St. 19th March. This time my wife Gabi is coming over with me, last time she saw you was in Frankfurt, a good few years ago!
Christy's reply
The Darcys return from The Rhine…..let us gather, sing loud and welcome their arrival….
Always good to start a day ,reading about a great gig.
Talk of you and a piper brings back golden memories of Liam Og and Planxty. Also,McKeon family ties…a Winter night in the late 70s and you playing to a packed pub at ‘Slane House’…the night began in style with pipes played by young Gabriel McKeon…Sean’s dad
Now,knowing some of your family history,I’d say there was a good family turnout that night…not far from ‘ The Yellow. Furze to Slane…great times.
All the best
Dave
Christy's reply
well remembered Dave….yes, the cousins were out in force that night and ,if memory serves, there was a bit of a “lock-in”
Thanks for a great gig.. Having not had the fortune of seeing Planxty in concert, watching yourself and Sean play was a real treat..Cable Street is a powerful song.. nice guitar lick in there too..
Hi Christy,
Thanks for an incredible night at HQ. An engaging audience, who you took hold of from the get go. I noted you were totally engaged in Sean’s piping, and i was wondering was your memory flooding back to performing on stage with his Dad, or indeed Liam Óg. Another super set list, thoroughly enjoyed.
Ride on.
Patsy
Christy's reply
engaged, perplexed,enthralled,ecstatic…..no memory flood…my head full of what was happening beside me
but this morning I reflect on many of the Pipers I’ve encountered ,and sometimes accompanied..Liam Óg O’Flynn, Michael Crean, Davy Spillane, Willy Clancy, Seamus Ennis, Dan Dowd, Paddy Moloney, Gabriel McKeon, Louise Mulcahy, David Power, Felix Doran, Paddy Keenan, Martin Rochford,Colm Broderick…..memories of many wonderful occasions..
Fair play Patsy..you were in fine fettle yourself last night
Hi C. An awesome gig, from start to finish, two hours of Magic. GRMMA. Beir bua agus beannacht. H
Christy's reply
and I must remember the Gay Bachelors of Ballybunion…..anyone here ever attend this annual event ? I played at it once about 40 years ago ..the cheque is still bouncing …I returned a few years back to a beautiful Community Arts Centre…and the Bomber was there
Thank you so much for my shout out tonight Christy!!! My husband Chris was also delighted even just to be mentioned as my husband!! Truly outstanding work, a bucketlist moment for us both, we’ll be sure to see you again.
Christy's reply
hi Sarah….where exactly is Ards ? Is it a peninsula or a place ? google tells me its a condition !! but I know there’s more to than than !!
glad you and Himself had a good gig
Hello Christy,
OMFG!!! Thankyou so much for the amazing gig tonight. Nobody knew, it blew me away. All parts of it. The acapella, the slow air from Sean McEwan. And the Gold Ring. GLORIOUS!!! I’m still out of breath with it all. I feel so privileged to have been there and heard it all and felt it all. My heart is full.. thankyou.
Rebecca
Christy's reply
Sean fairly rattled the rafters last night….sitting beside him last night was enthralling…hearing that chanter, those drones and regulators, all perfectly in harmony and unison…the very air
Christy, maybe Tom Barry is referring to the special release by Claddagh records of A Terrible Beauty, who offered to the first hundred or so a special signed printout, A4 Page, of the lyrics of Boy in the Wild, signed by yourself. I was lucky enough to get one as a gift for my son Christo. He has framed it and it is hanging proudly on his wall.
Christy's reply
sound Pat…I made contact….
just in with the physio now
1 hour to go
I gets the Tadgh Furlong pre match rub
be burstin out of me calvins come 8pm
Well Christy, two weeks into the year of the horse and it’s fast approaching time to saddle up the old grey mare for this years Grand National. Do you think you will make the starting weight this year, rumour has it you’ve been spotted wearing a black bin bag under your tee shirt at recent gigs? Bet wise I’m still not sure weither to go for half a crown each way or five bob on the nose, what do you recon? John
P.S. good luck for tonights gig, odds on it will be another winner.
Christy's reply
I’m still buzzing from being on Mr What at 18/1 in the 1958 Grand National
I was 12 yo (going on 13)….. I had a shilling e/w in Dickie White’s bettin shop in Newbridge ( Kathleen Donnelly was behind the counter with a Carter girl from out Milltown way)
Such celebrations; myself and Meg McGowan went to the Palace Cinema that night … Audie Murphy gun slingin….we were in the good seats with a half pound of Double Centres, 4 bags of Tayto cheese and onion ,2 Patsi Pops (each).. after we went to Mrs Dunne’s Chipper down the back street..two fourpenny bags with extra salt and vinegar and we gave Buddy Holly a few spins on the Juke Box at a tanner a pop
I never backed a winner since
My husband and I are so excited to see you tonight! I grew up listening to you, my mum always had ride on playing but I only introduced my husband to your music recently and happily he also loves you! Beeswing is our favourite!
Christy's reply
excitement mounting here as well… a week is a long time without a gig…the roar of the greasepaint, the smell of the crowd,
Sorry Christy, with all the great talk here recently of Sean and Gay McKeown it brought me reminiscing back to the “Iron Behind The Velvet”. Always loved Gay’s piping on it and he only a young lad! Pulled out the album and was looking at the photos on the back, weren’t some taken in the Botanic Gardens with Noel Hill standing beside the statue of Socrates with a bit of skulduggery going on. I think the photo was taken around the same time the urban legend goes that the footballer of the same name was studying at UCD. Its true what they say isnt it, “Nostalgia ain’t what it used to be”!
I gotta pinch here..gettin on for 50 years since that album started coming together…we gathered on The Protestant Road, Coolcullen, high above the village of Cuan on the Castlecomer Plateau…Barry Moore, Gabriel McKeon, Jimmy Faulkner, Andy Irvine, Noel Hill, Tony Linnane……I had 2 Joe (Galway)Dolan songs and a basket of others as we set sail….we rehearsed and recorded, cant recall what studio..then we did a wee tour…Merriman Scariff, Hidden Inn Kilmanahan, Meeting Place ,Dorset St Dublin, (the real) Pat Dowlings Prosperous ( when Pat was still running the show….back then i had no manager..booked the gigs myself and had my own modest PA and van ( 200 watt H&H , Peugeot 404 Diesel with Box on back 5118 IP ) 50 years on only John O’ Dreams gets an occasional outing….Dunlavin Green I sing to myself,
Hi Christy
I am sure you be tuned in to Conleth’s Park this evening for the battle of Lillywhites and Royals is your two feet firmly in The Lily’s camp ? Or would there still be a bit of Boyne blood flowing through you passed down from Nancy ? Am I right in thinking your home house not much more than a stones through from Conleth’s Park ? , I enjoyed tea and sandwiches there once after a match in the good company of your Mother Nancy and my Father.
Maybe you be watching in Slane House in company with your cousins Paddy and Harry ?
gets very confusing, The Boyne rising in Kildare, The Liffey in Wicklow….When Meath came to play in Newbridge we always had callers…our Nancy would be talking with a Meath accent and very happy to be meeting old friends from childhood days…Packy Tully called once with two players from the Meath team but her happiest time would be when Conor visited…… I think Peter McDermot was one…
Gipp….I thought Socrates played hurlin in Kilmacud along with Pele? They won the Dublin division 4 league in ’78……
fágaimíd siúd mar atá sé
The jury will always be out on if Socrates ever played Soccer and Sigerson for UCD! What we do know though is…. He wore Noel Hill’s glasses and had a smoke in the Bots in 1978!
thats for sure,never a truer word was spoken
Hi Christy, Ards is the ards peninsula up in the north. We live in a tiny village called Ballywalter!
Up Down….now I know where it is..Thank You
Hello Christy,
Thankyou for posting the set list. Your gigs are always full of fabulous music, crack and good people. But for pure musical quality and enjoyment, last night was the best time I’ve had in years. Bar none. I guess at some point I’m going to have to start coming back down, and then maybe I’ll stop harping on about it.
We’ve just arrived in Skerries. A couple of nights and days looking at the sea. It’s a beautiful place.
Rebecca
your harp is in tune
Great Gig last night Christy – you were on fire from the get-go & had the audience up to 90 in no time- the atmosphere was raised then to another level with Sean McKeons Uilean Pipes, magical!! Mighty set-list
Thanks – until next next time
Noel
good to hear from Delvin
last night’s set:
City Chicago
Quinte Brigada
Black & Amber
Magdalen Laundry
Delerium Tremens
Ride On,
Cumann na Mná
McIlhatton
Voyage
Cable Street
Lisadoonvarna
Burning Times
Lingo politicao
(enter Sean McKeon)
The Vicar St Set ( Salamanca/Trim The Velvet)
Raggle Taggle
Tabhair Dom do Lámh
Middle of The Island
The Gold Ring
Cliffs Dooneen
Smoke & Whisky
They Never came Home
Fairytale New York
North & South of River
Palestine
Beeswing
Joxer
No Time for love
Curragh of Kildare
Ordinary man
28 tracks in…2 hours 3 minutes
Thanks Christy..HSP play Barrowlands 4th Dec this year.. tickets on sale this morning since 10am.. I heard someone shout “come all you dreamers” last night.. Listening to Sean McKeon’s album Salamanca this morning.. magical..
will you sing “Come Dreamers” when you play Mags McIvors ??/
Good man Christy! Keep at the pre-match rubs. See you in Vicar St. 19th March. This time my wife Gabi is coming over with me, last time she saw you was in Frankfurt, a good few years ago!
The Darcys return from The Rhine…..let us gather, sing loud and welcome their arrival….
Hi Christy
Always good to start a day ,reading about a great gig.
Talk of you and a piper brings back golden memories of Liam Og and Planxty. Also,McKeon family ties…a Winter night in the late 70s and you playing to a packed pub at ‘Slane House’…the night began in style with pipes played by young Gabriel McKeon…Sean’s dad
Now,knowing some of your family history,I’d say there was a good family turnout that night…not far from ‘ The Yellow. Furze to Slane…great times.
All the best
Dave
well remembered Dave….yes, the cousins were out in force that night and ,if memory serves, there was a bit of a “lock-in”
Thanks for a great gig.. Having not had the fortune of seeing Planxty in concert, watching yourself and Sean play was a real treat..Cable Street is a powerful song.. nice guitar lick in there too..
Good Man Kevin…..
keep us posted about the
HIGHSTOOL PROPHETS
Hi Christy,
Thanks for an incredible night at HQ. An engaging audience, who you took hold of from the get go. I noted you were totally engaged in Sean’s piping, and i was wondering was your memory flooding back to performing on stage with his Dad, or indeed Liam Óg. Another super set list, thoroughly enjoyed.
Ride on.
Patsy
engaged, perplexed,enthralled,ecstatic…..no memory flood…my head full of what was happening beside me
but this morning I reflect on many of the Pipers I’ve encountered ,and sometimes accompanied..Liam Óg O’Flynn, Michael Crean, Davy Spillane, Willy Clancy, Seamus Ennis, Dan Dowd, Paddy Moloney, Gabriel McKeon, Louise Mulcahy, David Power, Felix Doran, Paddy Keenan, Martin Rochford,Colm Broderick…..memories of many wonderful occasions..
Fair play Patsy..you were in fine fettle yourself last night
Hi C. An awesome gig, from start to finish, two hours of Magic. GRMMA. Beir bua agus beannacht. H
and I must remember the Gay Bachelors of Ballybunion…..anyone here ever attend this annual event ? I played at it once about 40 years ago ..the cheque is still bouncing …I returned a few years back to a beautiful Community Arts Centre…and the Bomber was there
Thank you so much for my shout out tonight Christy!!! My husband Chris was also delighted even just to be mentioned as my husband!! Truly outstanding work, a bucketlist moment for us both, we’ll be sure to see you again.
hi Sarah….where exactly is Ards ? Is it a peninsula or a place ? google tells me its a condition !! but I know there’s more to than than !!
glad you and Himself had a good gig
Everybody knew….
Sean McKeon…
I might find others later..
Hello Christy,
OMFG!!! Thankyou so much for the amazing gig tonight. Nobody knew, it blew me away. All parts of it. The acapella, the slow air from Sean McEwan. And the Gold Ring. GLORIOUS!!! I’m still out of breath with it all. I feel so privileged to have been there and heard it all and felt it all. My heart is full.. thankyou.
Rebecca
Sean fairly rattled the rafters last night….sitting beside him last night was enthralling…hearing that chanter, those drones and regulators, all perfectly in harmony and unison…the very air
Christy, maybe Tom Barry is referring to the special release by Claddagh records of A Terrible Beauty, who offered to the first hundred or so a special signed printout, A4 Page, of the lyrics of Boy in the Wild, signed by yourself. I was lucky enough to get one as a gift for my son Christo. He has framed it and it is hanging proudly on his wall.
sound Pat…I made contact….
just in with the physio now
1 hour to go
I gets the Tadgh Furlong pre match rub
be burstin out of me calvins come 8pm
You got on a lucky one, came in 18 to 1.
hopin for some info from Ted Walsh
Well Christy, two weeks into the year of the horse and it’s fast approaching time to saddle up the old grey mare for this years Grand National. Do you think you will make the starting weight this year, rumour has it you’ve been spotted wearing a black bin bag under your tee shirt at recent gigs? Bet wise I’m still not sure weither to go for half a crown each way or five bob on the nose, what do you recon? John
P.S. good luck for tonights gig, odds on it will be another winner.
I’m still buzzing from being on Mr What at 18/1 in the 1958 Grand National
I was 12 yo (going on 13)….. I had a shilling e/w in Dickie White’s bettin shop in Newbridge ( Kathleen Donnelly was behind the counter with a Carter girl from out Milltown way)
Such celebrations; myself and Meg McGowan went to the Palace Cinema that night … Audie Murphy gun slingin….we were in the good seats with a half pound of Double Centres, 4 bags of Tayto cheese and onion ,2 Patsi Pops (each).. after we went to Mrs Dunne’s Chipper down the back street..two fourpenny bags with extra salt and vinegar and we gave Buddy Holly a few spins on the Juke Box at a tanner a pop
I never backed a winner since
My husband and I are so excited to see you tonight! I grew up listening to you, my mum always had ride on playing but I only introduced my husband to your music recently and happily he also loves you! Beeswing is our favourite!
excitement mounting here as well… a week is a long time without a gig…the roar of the greasepaint, the smell of the crowd,