Category Archives: Gigs

Frankly, Mr. Turner

Frank Turner Galway 2012

Last Wednesday night, I went to bed earlier than usual as I had a big day ahead of me on Thursday. I had to be up before 9.00am the next morning to try to buy tickets for the Cork leg of Bruce Springsteen’s visit to Ireland next year. Across the city, my friend John was going to try to get tickets for Limerick and later that day the two of us were travelling to Cork to see Wessex boy Frank Turner play Cyprus Avenue on the opening night of a short trip around Ireland. We’d already seen Frank play a storming set at Wembley Arena in March this year and we caught The Boss in top form in Dublin in July. Unfortunately I awoke at four in the morning with a terrible pain in my stomach and made a few journeys to the bathroom to talk to God on the great white telephone before somehow managing to secure tickets for Springsteen in Cork. John got the tickets for Limerick as well and then I told him about my eventful night. We agreed that I’d go back to bed and would only make the journey south if I made a recovery. I didn’t

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Such a Night

I’m not usually a fan of tribute bands, but I saw one last weekend that proved to be the exception to the rule. It took place at Dolan’s Warehouse in Limerick, though it would be more correct to call it a tribute to one of the greatest musical events in rock & roll. The show being celebrated was the 1976 farewell performance by The Band that took place at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco during Thanksgiving Day. This spectacular concert not only featured The Band along with an impressive horn section, but also some of the biggest names in music at the time. Thankfully, the show was filmed by Martin Scorsese and given a cinema release two years later as The Last Waltz. I first bought a copy on video cassette over twenty years ago and upgraded to DVD a few years ago. I’ve watched it dozens of times over the years and it always cheers me up no end when I put it on. It was no different at Dolan’s last Saturday night

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Lonely At The Top

A few weeks ago, my friend John and I caught the first in what promises to be a busy few months of checking out some of our favourite songwriters at various venues around the British Isles. First up was Randy Newman who played two gigs at Dublin’s Vicar St. at the start of March. We had hoped to catch him there a couple of years ago, but he caught a sore throat and had to cancel. On the opening night this time, he began with Mama Told Me Not To Come and it was obvious that he was under the weather again and should probably have heeded the song’s advice. Fortunately, his head cold only affected him on a few songs and the rest of the show made me forget my own dose of the man ‘flu for a couple of hours

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Mixing Pop & Politics

“It’s surprising how quick a little rain can clear the streets,” sang Billy Bragg on a wonderful rendition of The Saturday Boy at Dolan’s last night. The Limerick streets are used to rain, of course, and if they were empty on a Monday night it was because everyone was at the Warehouse to welcome the Bard of Barking to town for the first time. It’s hard enough to get people to come out any night to see a solo singer backing himself on guitar, but it was a testament to his standing that he attracted a full crowd on a cold and wet Monday night in October. I got to Dolan’s early and filled my stomach with some tasty Guinness stew and later washed it down with pints of porter in the Warehouse as I joined some friends to check out the opening act. Paddy Nash hails from Derry and he did a fine job warming up the crowd. He was quite comfortable with the audience and explained that he had walked out on his job in the film industry when they wouldn’t give him the week off to follow Billy around the country. A song called Billy Bragg Jeans was inspired by a story Paddy heard about Billy buying a pair of jeans for a few quid in a charity store. He also gave us a song called Rubber Bullets that was sung from the perspective of a child growing up in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. His best song, and the one the audience enjoyed the most, was called Ballad of a Nobody. This was a witty song that told the story of an average man with an average life and had everybody in stitches as its key line was repeated each time

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Three Is The Magic Number

It had been a while since my friend John and I had been to a gig in Limerick, but we made that right last Wednesday night. John’s a big fan of British and Irish folk music and I quite like singer-songwriters. Both categories were catered for at the Belltable on October 5th as three talented musicians from the British Isles came to town. James Yorkston, Adrian Crowley and Alasdair Roberts were the trio and Limerick was their first stop on a four-night tour that would take in Cork, Dublin and Kildare on the subsequent nights. It was my first visit to the Belltable since its refurbishment earlier this year and I must say I was impressed with what they’ve done to the foyer and the theatre area. Fife native James Yorkston was first up and he tried out a load of new songs on us. I’ve been a fan of his music ever since I heard his song Woozy with Cider and it was a pleasure to finally hear his wonderful voice in person. I’m afraid I can’t recall any of the titles of the new songs, but his quiet delivery and plucked guitar on one was reminiscent of Thom Yorke. He’s no Jimi Hendrix on guitar and spent some time tuning it between tunes, but also engaged in a bit of banter with the audience while fiddling with his strings. Yorkston was joined by Alasdair Roberts at the end of his set as the two paid tribute to a folk legend. Bert Jansch had passed away that morning and Yorkston revealed that his very first paid gig was supporting the Glasgow-born musician. He last met him when he supported him in Paris a few years ago. He admitted that he didn’t know him that well, but you could tell that Jansch’s music meant a lot to him. He and Roberts delivered an emotional version of a traditional ballad about a sailor who takes advantage of a servant girl that brought the first half of the show to an end

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The North Sea Scrolls

Luke Haines recently announced that he’s about to release the follow-up to 2009′s 21st Century Man. The new album has the rather improbable title of 9 1/2 Psychedelic Meditations On British Wrestling Of The 1970s And Early ’80s. And, apparently, it does exactly what it says on the tin. I’ve been following Haines’ career ever since the release of New Wave by The Auteurs in 1993. The band were always on the margins of Britpop and Haines later changed musical direction to form the electonic group Black Box Recorder. Haines has also collaborated with other musicians and has released a few solo records. He’s even written a couple of memoirs, beginning in 2009 with Bad Vibes: Britpop and My Part in its Downfall. Haines was quite uncomplimentary about his fellow Britpoppers, with Blur and Radiohead amongst his victims. I’ve seen him once in concert, when he performed recently at Cabaret Voltaire during the Edinburgh Festival. The show was advertised as the North Sea Scrolls and all I knew beforehand was that he’d be joined on stage by a number of companions. When I got to the gig, I was delighted to discover that Cathal Coughlan was one of those guests and that they would also be joined by the writer Andrew Mueller and the cellist Audrey Riley

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Wastin’ Time

Yesterday my friend John and I took a day out to see a wonderful Ron Sexsmith gig at The Academy in Dublin. After a nice late breakfast at The Wild Onion in Limerick, we got into John’s car and headed out on the new motorway from Limerick to Dublin. We listened to Ron’s fine new album called Long Player Late Bloomer. I think it’s his best album since the first two he released about fifteen years ago. It’s full of his trademark hooks and melodies as well as witty and poignant lyrics. It also sounds really good and a lot of this is down to its producer, Bob Rock. The appropriately named Rock didn’t just produce the record, however. He also acted like a coach to the Canadian songwriter and urged him to work on his songs and make them even better than they already were. As we listened to the CD, John mentioned that he was actually looking forward to hearing these new songs even more than Ron’s already impressive back catalogue. I had to agree. There’s always new product to be pushed at any gig and usually a selection of tracks from the new release is something the audience politely listens to while waiting for the earlier favourites to make an appearance

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Winding Up at Dolan’s Again

The appropriately-named Freezer Sessions took place at Dolan’s Warehouse in Limerick on Thursday night. The event was put together in association with Hot Press magazine and Jaegermeister and featured four live acts: The Flaws from Co Monaghan, O Emperor from Waterford, and local bands The Last Days of Death Country and windings. It’s Never Late is the title of winding’s most recent album and you can find more information about it here. As an early Christmas present, the band’s label, Out on a Limb Records, has made their self-titled debut album available as a free download until the end of December. Cathedrals is my favourite song from the album and you can check it out below

Cathedrals – windings