A Tale of 2 Two Towns

31st Annual Ballyshannon

Folk & Traditional Music Festival

YouTube Clip (1): The Homes of Donegal - Paul Brady 1985, written by Seán MacBride
YouTube Clip (2): Ballyshannon Folk Festival

The Homes of Donegal (Seán MacBride).

"I've just stepped in to see you all
I'll only stay a while
I want to see how you're gettin' on
I want to see you smile.
I'm happy to be back again
I greet you big and small
For there's no place else on Earth just like
The Homes of Donegal."

This weekend at Ballyshannon, we were treated to 2 brilliant and emotional renditions of this classic Irish ballad. The first, on Saturday night, by political songstress Eleanor McEvoy (and very nicely done), and the second, on Sunday night, by the incredibly talented Jim McKee, with a literally breathtaking finale by PJ McDonald on the whistle. It drew gasps and cheers from the packed audience – vocals, guitar, cello & whistle soaring to heights of musical complexity & harmony. Beyond amazing really, especially for those of us that don’t play a note. It’s quite difficult to put the musical artists we saw this weekend in any sort of order. Suffice to say they were the absolute best of trad music that Ireland has to offer, no doubt. So we’ll write about them all, and we’ll put a few YouTube clips up, which might just offer a taste of our experiences, albeit in poor quality. More on all the music a little later…
Ballyshannon, in the southern most part of Donegal, is the birthplace of the poet, William Allingham and is one of Ireland's oldest towns. It’s pretty small - 2 main streets and loads of pubs, including Dicey Reilly’s & Finn McCool’s. This was so interesting because we haven’t actually seen these names in Ireland before although they’ve got huge international appeal as Irish theme pubs (Brisbane is saturated by them!) The publican of Dicey Reilly’s here in town is… you guessed it, Mr Dicey Reilly. He has brothers all over the world. Finn McCool’s would have to be one of the smallest pubs I’ve seen in Ireland - I guess his relatives went overseas too? So, plenty of creamy guinness, brilliant music, but a dearth of any decent food in the whole town unless you like average Chinese or bad takeaways. Sorry to be critical, but some of these Irish towns could do better. Anyway, we loved it.
We stayed in a Bundoran, a few kilometres down the road, with a spectacular mountainous backdrop. But if ever there was a tale of 2 towns, it would be right here. Contrary to the slick advertising from the local tourist authorities, Bundoran was tacky and somewhat rundown. I guess we should have taken note of the Lonely Planet. Full of B&B’s, demountable holiday homes and trinket shops. Yes, it has surf beaches & golf courses, but the culinary highlight seemed like KFC on the main road, and the area around the funfair was rundown and boarded up. A white limo from the Circus Chicago did circuits of the town, blaring their pitch through loud speakers adding to the atmosphere of the whole place.
I suppose everything in life is relative. The kids in Australia might get to Coffs Harbour or Surfers for holiday, while the kids here get Bundoran or maybe Wexford, unless Mum & Dad can afford a trip to Spain. But if you grew up in Belfast or Derry, then Bundoran on a nice day would seem pretty good. I grew up in an English seaside town – Southsea. Amusement pier, funfair, pebble beaches, rock candy. The shutters come down in winter and the carnies leave town. But in Bundoran, it seemed like the shutters had already come down a long, long time ago and left the town to the Circus Chicago and the horrible themed pubs. Not good.
Our B&B – Marlboro House (Food, Rhythm & Booze), €70/nt, tried hard. The bed was ok, the service was ok, but the breakfast menu options were non-existent (contrary to their website) and the whole placed constantly reeked of deep frying (Michael, you really need some air extractors in the kitchen). On the Sunday night, a live band below our room continued until after 2am. The Polish blokes shouting & pissing in the carpark outside our window didn’t help either. Ok – that’s their business, and we didn’t mind too much. We were dog tired from being out all day and our trad music concert each night. But if either of our parents had been staying there, they would have been out of there like a shot. There’s no doubt that investment has been made in this property, and again, people might think we’re being critical, but little things like offering a breakfast choice for people who don’t want the “fry” – bacon, egg, sausage, etc. should be considered. For an establishment that’s setting out to prove their culinary excellence, perhaps they should offer some fruit or yoghurt, or just something else. It’s the simple things that might make all the difference and bring people back to Bundoran.
We did a little day tripping between music sessions, particularly to nearby Rossnowlagh with its wide sandy beach and excellent surfing conditions. A far, far better place for an Irish beach holiday than Bundoran! Hey, you can even drive your car onto the beach and set up your windbreak, but look out for those tides… We had lunch at the Smugglers Creek Inn, dating back to 1845, with an excellent bar menu (all seafood) - best meal of the weekend.

So, on with the music...

1. Mórga (majestic) - Headed up by Barry Brady on the accordion, this young 4 piece group created some truly amazing and sophisticated trad music, different from trad sounds we'd heard before... fantastic harmonies & almost hypnotic in some ways (some of their sets were up to 10 minutes long). With the accordian, banjo, fiddle & bodhran, I think it might have been one of their first 'big' gigs, and they turned up at Ballyshannon with no CD, which was a pity as we would have bought one or two! In a way, they set the high standard for the festival, as they were the first of 9 acts across 3 nights at the Abbey Theatre. Luckily Mórga had 2 further sessions down at the Bridgend Pub, as they were well worth a second listen.

2. Eleanor Shanley - When confronted by the prospect of a "female singer of Irish ballads", Clare and I wondered if we could possibly bolt for the door to sit this one out, but we decided that might look a bit bad. Our feelings were confirmed when Eleanor took to the stage and started belting out her tunes (and stories) of how she 'd been "done wrong", in genuine Dolly Parton style. Much too close to country & western for our liking and it went on for too long. Sorry Eleanor, you're just not our cup of tea. This was our only real disappointment at the festival.

3. Dervish - Dervish took to the stage with deserved acclaim & applause. They've been around since 1989, and their trad sounds have a rich sophistication yet being competely exclusive, much due to the amazing vocals of Cathy Jordan.

"Dervish concert performances are a myriad of tones and moods ranging from high energy tunes, played with fluidity and intuitiveness, to beautifully measured songs, from charming lyrics of life and love, to inspiring melodies that lift audiences from their seats. All the elements are drawn together by Cathy Jordan's masterful stage presence. Her stories to the songs and her interaction with the audience draws people into the music in a way very few performers can achieve."

Well known in Ireland & internationally, Dervish were the only group at the festival we'd really heard of before (and in fact, we had one of their CD's), so the sound was familar yet inspiring all the same. The tracks from their new album (Travelling Show) were great and prompted us to buy a signed copy after the show. This brilliant and polished show rounded off night one at Ballyshannon, and we could already see how (and hear) how this festival was held in reverence by the artists who played here.

4. Téada - kicking off night 2 in style, Téada had a great trad sound. Much like Mórga & Dervish, their harmonies of instruments (fiddle, button accordion, flute, guitar/bouzouki & bodhrán) produced a seamless & pure Celtic sound. Definitely a step well above the average pub trad session sound. Looking at their group website, they're very well travelled and probably have more exposure overseas than in Ireland, where they remain relatively unknown (we certainly couldn't find any of their CD's in music shops when we went looking recently).

Little Tern Benefit Concert, Spirit Store Dundalk I

We hope you like these 3 YouTube video clips of the brilliant Irish Trad gig we went to the other night (there are 3 blog updates in a row here). This was The Little Tern Benefit Concert at the Spirit Store, Dundalk on Sunday 06 July 2008. The very best of Irish trad music! The first clip features Patrick Martin (on pipes) & Cathal Johnson (of the French Fiddles).



Here are the artist bio's:
Patrick Martin is a full-time musician specialising in Highland Bagpipes and Irish Uilleann Pipes. Having studied both these instruments for most of 28 years, he can offer live music of the highest calibre. Patrick is also in demand for recording work by a number of bands and singers desiring some pipe or whistle music on their arrangements. His business is called Ground Bass Music which refers to the sound of pipe drones. Also of Riverdance fame, he is prize winner in the European and 6th in the World Championships in 2006. He is also involved in the Cross Border Orchestra of Ireland who undertake a series of concerts each year both in Ireland and overseas. Their soul-stirring performances have been described as 'inspriational', 'astounding' and 'ranking at the very top of orchestral brilliance'.
The name French Fiddles is derived from Louth local dialect meaning mouth organ/harmonica. The band started up about 2 years ago in 2006. Since then the band has developed a steady organically grown set that has evolved and continues to evolve along it's journey. Cathal Johnson on vocals, guitar and harmonica, Isabel Nic Chuireann on guitar and piano accordion, Jacque Faure on clarinet and sax and Andrew Grafton from Eurostar fame on guitar and vocals are the main members. But the band tends to expand or contract at times adding the likes of Eamon Doyle on bluegrass style fiddle. Their influences range from traditional music from around the world to contemporary, to local styles from around Ireland. French Fiddles play original music augmented with essentially traditional Irish, country folk, blues and jazz, old-timey, contemporary and bluegrass styles. An eclectic bunch who are in the process of making a commercial CD and hope to have it finished soon.

Little Tern Benefit Concert, Spirit Store Dundalk II

French Fiddles playing at the Spirit Store, Dundalk on Sunday 06 July, 2008.



Hope you like it...

Little Tern Benefit Concert, Spirit Store Dundalk III

French Fiddles playing at the Spirit Store, Dundalk on Sunday 06 July, 2008. Sorry, this trad piece is cut off after 3 mins, 5 secs. I need more memory cards!



Bye for now...

The amazing Jerry Holland

Jerry Holland plays the fiddle at Fiddle Fair 2008, West Cork Hotel, Skibbereen, Ireland on Sat 10 May 2008. He is truly in a class of his own. Yes, the video is terrible, but the sound is magic... Of course it was far better to be there. If you like trad music, enjoy!

Fiddle Fair 2008

There are 2 blog entries on West Cork, Ireland
1. Fiddle Fair 2008 May 08
2. St. Patrick's Day Weekend March 07

flickr photo link <Fiddle Fair 2008> (still adding more photos)
NEW! YouTube clip link <The Amazing Jerry Holland>
What a wonderful weekend. We're driving home from Baltimore, West Cork, using the laptop in the car. We really love West Cork. Maybe lots of Irish people think that Connemarra or Donegal is the real Ireland, but we think that County Cork is the ultimate Ireland - the countryside, the scenery, the people, the food and the music. BUT THE FIDDLE FAIR... MY GOD, THE MUSIC WAS VERY, VERY GOOD! I think we may have heard some of the best fiddle music in the world over the last 48 hours. We heard fiddlers from Canada, Spain and all over Ireland, and people had come from Australia, Canada, France, Germany, New Zealand, Norway, Spain & the USA to hear the music. As well as the "fiddle" enthusiasts, there were yachties at the pubs still in their buoyancy vests and divers still in their dive gear! Even a TV crew filming a show about Jeremy Irons who actually played a gig at the fiddle fair on Sunday afternoon. But we gave him a miss and went to see Leonard Barry playing his uilleann pipes at the O'Driscoll Castle instead. So let's start at the beginning...
Clare raced down from work in the far north of the Republic of Ireland to pick up Joe from work on the southern side of Dublin. All good going until Clare got lost around the Dublin Docklands! Eventually by 7.30pm or so we hit the M50 and really got going on the road south. Got to the "Rathmore House" B&B (€75/nt) at Baltimore, Co Cork around 11.30pm. This was one of the best B&B's we've stayed in - awesome harbour views out of our bedroom window; good breakfasts with options of the full Irish with Clonakilty black pudding, or a platter of Cork cheeses. Guess which Clare had? Not the black pudding... That's another thing we always notice about Co Cork - the support of the local food industry, and what great local food it is. We managed to pick up some smoked mackarel dip & smoked salmon pate from the Union Hall Fish Co-op at the local store in Baltimore, where they also sold 3 different local black puddings - not just the famous Clonakilty black puddings.
We had bookings for 3 concerts over the weekend and anticipated an early start on Saturday morning. But the "weekend" had started for some on Thursday morning, and by Saturday morning more than a few people including the muso's had had a very late/early session on Friday night - so the 12.30pm concert started around 1pm'ish! By then there was a queue going up the stairs of the Dún na Séad Castle (O'Driscoll Castle), built in 1215. A couple of impatient Americans were making comments on the Irish time keeping skills. Clare said we we should all go back to the pub and wait for a bit. A local Irishman said "yes, you're copping on quick!" But we'd already been to the local pubs. First we'd checked out the little harbour, then Clare bought some postcards at the craft shop, then we got some rum & cokes while Clare checked out the tourist literature and watched the 10.30am local island ferry steam away at 12noon... Irish time. There are 3 islands off the coast here that you can easily get to (in Summer) with people living on them year round. But there weren't many people around this morning. We later found out that the Friday night session had finished just a few hours before...
3 main pubs face Baltimore Harbour, with a few more in the back streets. We spent most time at Jacob's Bar & Bushe's. Jacob's Bar must have been refurbed quite recently we think... could easily fit in at Byron Bay. They had staff from France & NZ as well as locals. Bushe's (linked to W. Goggin) was far more traditional. The barman at Bushe's seemed like an Irish version of "Daffyd - The only gay in the village!" He was very efficient at serving Guinness and crab sandwiches. We also saw him cleaning the pub windowsills on Sunday morning. Now George W Bush claims to be a decendant from this village, not a notion much supported by the locals...
A brief history of Baltimore by Clare
So the village (yes, the US city is named after this place) clearly relies on tourism now, but was (and still is really) the ancestral home of the O'Driscoll clan. They specialised in piracy in the 1500/1600's. They pissed off other people including other pirates and one day in the 1600's some pirates from Morocco sailed in and took 107 prisoners in retaliation for some activity of the O'Driscoll's and took them back to North Africa into slavery. Only one person made it back to Ireland about 20 years later to tell what happened. But at the Heritage Centre in nearby Skibbereen, they mentioned that actually only 2 out of the 107 were actually Irish - the rest were English settlers. Later on, some Irish from Waterford came down and did the castle over, after being pissed off. Things went downhill from there, then in 1845 the famine really hit this area. It was very badly hit due to the massive reliance on the potato for the 60% or so of the population who were landless peasants living in rented mud huts with one pig and a few chickens. The Great Famine Commemoration Exhibition at the Heritage Centre commemorates the tragic period in the 1840s that is known in Irish History as the Great Hunger. Skibbereen was one of the worst affected areas, and the events of the era are depicted using local characters and events. Well worth a visit.
But enough of history and back to the music... The first concert on the Saturday featured 2 sisters from Dingle, Aoife & Deirdre Granville playing mainly the fiddle and harp but also the flute & tin whistle. The fiddling was good but the harp playing was really amazing. We'd never heard anything like it, rather like Enya without synthesis. A particularly good number was "Beauty" from the Blasket Islands that the girls learnt from their grandmother. Aoife is certainly a talented fiddle player, but it made us realise just how good the level of playing at our local, The Glyde Inn, is on Friday nights. Lisa, the resident fiddle player, could hold her own in this festival, but she's off travelling now, and is likely to be on a beach somewhere between Koh Samet and Bryon. Lisa, if you read this, we miss your fiddling already! We bought some CD's after this concert and managed to support the various musicians with a few CD purchases, a couple of t-shirts and a poster during the festival.
We went back for a trad session at Jacob's Bar. Every second person in Baltimore seemed to have an instrument and some of the world's best were joining in, so for young muso's it was a great place. People were dragging around harps, banjos, fiddles, flutes and tin whistles in specially designed backpacks for such opportunities. We eventually headed back to our room at the B&B and took some great pics of the evening light fading over the harbour. At 8pm we joined the festival shuttle bus to the West Cork Hotel at Skibbereen. Stopped off at The Sibín pub in the back lanes of Baltimore. Worth a visit. Whilst we drove along, the girls from "The Polskadots" group played a fiddle session on the bus...
The Amazing Jerry Holland
The evening concert was in 2 parts. The first act was Jerry Holland & John Doyle. Wow. Fiddle playing like we'd never heard before - mesmerising & literally spine tingling. Jerry (the fiddler) was an old bloke from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia (Canada) with John (from Ireland) absolutely amazing on guitar. Whilst the Irish roots are deeply felt here, the influence of Jerry's Nova Scotia trad fiddle sound is really strong, and sounded to me almost as if from the American South, perhaps Appalachian... I took one clip of this show, and have watched it a few times. Just a really incredible set, with a very enthusiastic and supportive crowd. A hard act to follow.
Berrogüetto... Trad fusion brilliance
Once in a while, we can be witness to rare musical gems. Perhaps obscure, possibly never to be seen again. But I hold out hope that these guys might turn up at the Bluesfest one year, as they truly fall into the category of "Roots" - but much more than that... Berrogüetto hail from Galicia (Spain) but language is no barrier to their infectious blend of trad fusion, roots, classical and world music. Even Greek & Middle Eastern influences. Something reminded me of Bela Fleck, and on listening to their brilliant album "10.0", I even hear electronica there too, although they had no electronic instruments on stage. The 7 member group play: 2 fiddles (dueling fiddles!); accordian; bouzouki; flutes; 2 gaitas/pipes; guitar & bass; harp; percussions incl. bodrum, drums & tamborine; saxo; zanfona/hurdy-gurdy... The zanfona/hurdy-gurdy is an amazing instrument like a big boxy violin where you turn a handle on the end whilst playing the strings. The gaitas/pipes have a distinct sound and are closer to the Scottish bagpipes than the Irish (Uilleann) pipes (more on those later). The sound of Berrogüetto had strong Irish trad themes in some songs, Greek/Turkish influences in others, with dueling fiddles & pipes... Still somewhat hard to describe - you have to hear it for yourself! The name Galicia comes from the Latin name Gallaecia, associated with the name of the ancient Celtic tribe that once resided there, so you can really understand the Irish roots heard in these tunes...
The concert finished up around 12.30am, and by then trad sessions had already started in other bars at the hotel. The boys from Berrogüetto obviously didn't play enough fiddles for everyone! One trad session was running in the hallway with about 10 fiddles going. Another was going in the front bar led by Jerry Holland. Very good music. We kept on until 2am and caught the shuttle bus back to Rathmore House. Most people didn't make the bus and probably kept going till dawn...
The next morning we managed, just, to make it to breakfast by 10am, then checked out and made our way back to the village. Nobody was stirring, so we went for a drive up to the spectacular whitewashed Beacon on the clifftops. A few festival campers had put themselves in the fields around the Beacon carpark, and the sounds of a plucking banjo could be heard in the air - the trad sessions never end here! So we wandered up to the Beacon, trying to avoid slipping over the edge of the of the unprotected 100 metre+ clifftops - no fences here! Spectacular rugged views, and wildflowers on the hillsides. There's a Wooden Boat Festival here later in May, and some guys were out on the harbour training for the races. Yes we thought about the Virtue boys and took some pics just for Rob, Keith & John.
Back to Jacob's Bar for an iced coffee, then to "Daffyd - The only gay in the village" for a crab sandwich before the next concert at O'Driscoll Castle. This was Leonard Barry, playing uilleann pipes & Michelle O’Brien on the fiddle. Apparently the uilleann pipes are made individually for each person and are pitched at different notes - Clare is sooo not musicial and is probably not explaining this correctly! We'd heard these pipes in Clifden last year and once at our local too. Perhaps the fiddle playing was a touch high pitched today, but the pipes were brilliant with many reels, jigs and "sets" played for over 1 1/2 hours. Yes, Leonard was great, but we still think the bloke who did a session at the Glyde Inn one night was better. He'd spent a year touring the world with "Riverdance" and was damn good. God, now we're comparing uilleann pipe playing - have we been in Ireland too long? Anyway, there will be some clips linked here shortly. This is the sort of music that's played at "caleigh's" (spelling?) which is clearly the music that Australian bushdances are based on. We noticed that Leonard played pieces from County Clare, Donegal, Kerry, Leitrim, Limerick and Sligo, but never from County Louth where we live. Why is this we wonder ???
Back to Jacob's Bar again for a last listen to the neverending trad session... dogs, kids and crab sandwiches, the Baltimore experience... before heading back on our long drive home. We drove through Kinsale on the way and ruled it out as some sort of Irish Noosa, without the rainforest. People walking along the esplanade with their icecreams, and fighting over carparks, etc. Oh, it's hitting 20c now, so summer is here at last (but don't expect it to last for too long!) Happy Days.

Tin Sandwich

Check out our Friday night Irish Trad music buddies from the Glyde Inn Annagassan...
Presenting "Tin Sandwich", playing for Balcony TV Dublin...

Glyde Inn trad music...

Trad music at The Glyde Inn, Annagassan (YouTube video)

Video Link: <YouTube video of trad music at The Glyde Inn>
The music at our local, The Glyde Inn Annagassan was just outstanding last night. Particularly "Dirty Old Town" with the harmonica ending... WOW! (sorry we didn't record that one)... but we did record another 6 minute clip (uploaded on YouTube) - Now it's really NOT visually stunning, but have a listen and the clip maybe gives a sense of the depth of talent here on Friday night's now - there were 2 fiddles, 3 guitars, harmonicas & squeeze box and the French sax guy by the end of the night... Brilliant. My ability to capture these sounds (and vision) is limited to my little 4MP digital camera (designed for happy snaps), so I know the sound quality ain't great. Clare discovered a new bottle of rum behind the bar, but apparently it's pretty special and will probably never get opened while we're here. So Clare will tolerate the "Captain Morgan" for now... and I will be content with a pint of cider or two. Thanks Connor...
It's been much warmer here in the last few days. Much less rain. Good. Bye then...

I Can't Get No Satisfaction (Part 3)

Top: The rain comes pouring down at Slane
Bottom: The fireworks finale to the Rolling Stones concert
(please click on either of these photos for a larger version)

Photo Link: <Rolling Stones photos>
Rolling Stones "A Bigger Bang" Review:
Saturday 18 August 2007, 8.55pm - 10.50pm (plus fireworks till 11pm)
Full Set List: Start Me Up; You Got Me Rocking; Rough Justice; All Down The Line; Dead Flowers; You Can't Always Get What You Want; Midnight Rambler; I'll Go Crazy; Tumbling Dice (with band introductions); You Got The Silver (Keith); I Wanna Hold You (Keith); Miss You (moving to B-stage); It's Only Rock'n Roll (B-stage); Satisfaction (B-stage); Honky Tonk Women (moving back to main stage); Sympathy For The Devil; Paint It Black; Jumping Jack Flash; Brown Sugar (encore); fireworks close...
The Day: So here we were, on the top of a double decker bus at the Drogheda bus depot (20 minutes from Slane) with rain pouring down the windows. It really didn't look good. The bus drivers were hanging around smoking, Stones fans were thin on the ground and punters were jumping off the bus to get McDonalds from over the road. What a beautiful day for an outdoor concert! Eventually we had enough people on board to leave and pulled out towards Slane. Everyone let out a cheer and our pilgrimage began. Slane is a pretty small place, and vehicle access was blocked from all directions. So the bus dropped us before the River Boyne bridge. At the first security checkpoint (manned by the Garda), everyone was hanging around drinking their cans of lager (but you could still get alcohol through if you planned well!) The river was buzzing with inflatable boats ready to swoop on people trying to make an illegal swim to the castle grounds - loads of high-vis jackets everywhere. Across the bridge, we went through the second security checkpoint (more bag checks) but again the checks were pretty cursory - I think years of Bluesfest visits have honed our skills in contraband smuggling. Then down a long, muddy path that seemed to go forever. At this point, you gained a real understanding of the need for wellington boots at concerts & festivals in Ireland (you really need them!) The Slane concert venue is a large amphitheatre, right in front of the castle, going down to the river (the castle is actually quite small). We found our way to the E2 seating block then went to explore. Lots of food vans - 80% of them serving chips and curry sauce... Quite a limited choice at the bar - but ok if you like Heineken for €5 a cup. We bought a couple of t-shirts at €30 each (nothing like a bit of concert merchandising), but gave the programmes a miss (too steep at €15 each). So we sat and watched the crowd build. Clare marked some papers, then the rain came down (hoods up) and I thought for a moment the stage would actually disappear into the cloud... but it didn't. Helicopters buzzed in and out in what seemed like a constant stream for hours. The warm-up acts were fairly lacklusture - there was no doubt this was the Stones show, and they wanted to keep everything else low key. By this point the crowd was well and truly into the Heineken and blokes had discovered the joy of mud-sliding down the drenched embankments... This carried on for a while with much whooping and hollering until the security guys put an end to the fun. The rain eventually stopped, the grounds had really filled up now, the light started to fade, and the stage was all set...
The Show: With a huge wall of lights & video and a burst of fireworks, the Stones started the show with Start Me Up. Binoculars came in handy as the stage was quite distant for us, but the design and use of video throughout the grounds gave everyone a good view. Apparently the set list was almost identical to their last show at Slane back in 1982 - highlights: You Can't Always Get What You Want, Miss You, It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (But I Like It), Paint It Black, Jumping Jack Flash... Keith Richards sang a couple of numbers too. At the half way point in the show the amazing stage design came into play - a "chunk" of the stage lifted up and moved along a track into the middle of the crowd. From there, they had the whole crowd singing along to Satisfation, then on with Honky Tonk Woman, and more of their really classic numbers (the second half of the show was probably more familiar and memorable than the first, especially for first-timers like us). Mick Jagger was constantly taking jackets off, then putting them back on. He ended up wearing a long coat and scarf (a chilly wind had come up!) All in all, a really great show.
Our Thoughts:
- Lots of the crowd seemed to be just interested in drinking and covering themselves in mud - I can understand the drinking, but the mud must be an Irish thing. We don't think a lot of people were there just for the music.
- When the Stones finally came on, the crowd seemed, well, somewhat lacking. There was applause and some cheering, but nothing like the level we expected (not like other concerts we've been to in Australia, etc.)
- The whole gig was incredibly produced and rehearsed (obviously they play very similar sets at all their shows), but there was some interaction with the crowd. I don't think you can expect too much more from a band that's played around the world for so many years.
- A little gripe, and I've seen this many times, is people streaming out at the first sign of the end of the show. LOADS of people were streaming out before the Stones came back for their (short) encore. At U2 in Brisbane last year (ANZ Stadium), again loads of people had left before U2 played 2 long encores with some of their best hits. I know some people want to get the first bus, but what a waste to leave early!
Check out all the photos from the day on flickr - they're getting LOTS of hits! We're starting to think there's quite a few people out there searching for pics of wellington boots !?!

The Connemara Jig

Irish Pub of the Week #5 - Mannion's Bar, Clifden, Co. Galway

Jump! The Atlantic Ocean hits the cliffs of County Mayo

Clare feeds the Connemara ponies
(please click on any of these photos for a larger version)

Micky Martin & Marie Walsh playing some great Irish trad music
at Mannions Bar, Clifden (YouTube video)

Photo Link: <Connemara photos>

Video Link: <YouTube video of Irish trad music>

This past bank holiday weekend, we went for another motoring jaunt across Ireland – to Connemara and County Mayo, on the Atlantic coast. Lots of rugged hills, peat bogs, rocks, loughs (pronounced like Scottish "lochs”), and loads of “famine ruins” (abandoned rock houses) as this was one of the worst affected areas of Ireland. I guess you could say Connemara is quintessential Ireland, although Ireland has so many really different regions. It’s certainly one of the major "tourist” areas of the country, as we saw coach loads of Americans that we don’t see in County Louth (where we live). We also caught 2 nights of really great trad music at Mannion’s Bar in Clifden – the best so far in Ireland.

We started our journey with some dinner at The Cock Tavern in Swords (right near DHL, before we even hit the road), then along the wonderful M50 (not!) and the M4 to the Galway ring road in about 4 hours. Stayed at the Ibis Galway (€87) - we always seem to start our weekend at the Ibis! Definitely don’t drink the water, as the Galway water supply is currently rendered undrinkable due to cryptosporidium contamination. Mmm, tasty. Despite all the rainfall in this country, maintaining a clean water supply to towns still seems to be rather a challenge.

The next day started with low rain and cloud. We took the coast road (R336) via Spiddal towards Clifden. The country beyond Galway soon turns very rocky & boggy, then the mountains of Connemarra start to rise up. We drove north straight through the middle of the Maumturk Mountains past a number of mist covered lakes, peat bog diggings and small stone walled fields full of sheep. Some sheep did manage to escape the fields onto the roads, especially the black faced lambs! We had a seafood lunch in Leenane where Killary Harbour starts - this is Ireland's only true fjord. The road rises from here with views of Mussel farms (floating ropes in the water) that are strung along the fjord and flowering trees -Rhododendrons? We stopped at the very gothic pile of Kylemore Abbey. At this point, after 2 fine weeks, it started to rain again. The abbey is now a girls boarding school run by the Benedictine Nuns. The stately home was built for an American couple in 1848, saving huge numbers of locals from potato famine starvation, and now is partially open to the public. The extensive restored kitchen gardens and family chapel are also open. It's very interesting to see what vegetables were grown and how, as most stately homes around the world show off the formal flower gardens but very few show what the residents really grew and ate. The only other one Clare can remember seeing was George and Martha Washington’s place at Mount Vernon, USA. The Nuns grew produce for the school in the garden until the 1970’s (I think) then it all ran wild until an EU grant came to the rescue in the 1990’s.

Stopped at lots of country crossroads to check for directions - that’s quite a common thing in Ireland, especially in Connemara, and most drivers are pretty tolerant to people just stopping in the road! Eventually got to Clifden, where we stayed at the Ben View House B&B for 2 nights (€65/nt) which was quite pleasant and you got a nice pot of tea served on silver each morning! Clifden is a small town and eveything is within easy walking distance. So we had some dinner, then went on a "trad" music pub crawl. The first place, EJ Kings, was just a bit too crowded. At the second, Lowrys, we had a drink and listened to 2 old blokes playing the accordian and keyboard. Then we went to Mannions Bar (our favourite!) - here we settled in and listened to Marie Walsh (All-Ireland accordion champion) & Micky Martin. This is our YouTube video of Irish trad music (you'll need a good broadband connection to view this). Apart from the well sozzled locals propped up at the bar, I think we were the only English first language patrons, so lots of the Europeans didn’t always catch Micky’s jokes. One of them them was aimed at us - Clare requested "Bound for South Australia," so Micky says "this song is for the South Australians in the corner"... "well, actually Micky, we're not from South Australia"... "OK, this song is for the people in the corner who might have once been to South Australia"... We bought 2 CD's that night, so supported the local musos!

After a "full Irish" breakfast, we headed off in the rain to drive the rest of the coast road (R341) around to Ballyconneely & Roundstone. This part of Ireland is very, very Irish and most, if not all, people will speak Irish. These areas are called Gaeltacht. Most of the road signs are in Irish too, and not often in English. To buy a house here you must first pass an exam in written and oral Irish. Not quite sure how the Americans manage to get holiday houses here then. The place is full of side lanes that usually lead to a wharfs and salmon/mussel processing/smoking plants. Clare has been to these parts before with her job. We passed the site of the Marconi Telegraph Station, which is interesting because Clare has seen sites marked with the same title in Cape Cod, USA and just north of Perth, WA. Did Marconi get around or what?!

We stopped at a few places on the way: patted the Connemarra ponies; stopped at some white sandy (but windswept) Atlantic beaches (Tra Mhoir on Mannion Bay and Gurteen & Dogs Bays); checked out some fishing boats, just back into port; checked out a huge dead crab on the beach. On the R340 past Kilkerrin, we stopped at a windswept (yes, a pattern of the day) cemetery full of spectacular Celtic crosses, some with sheep grazing on them! Clare has been to some wonderful cemeteries in my time - Bonaventure Cemetery down by the river in Savannah Georgia stands out, but this one was really bleak with mist sweeping down (well it was in the bogs of Connemara) and at the same time had the most wonderfully inviting moss lined stream running through it. We headed back to Cliftden via the N59 straight through the middle of Connemara past abandoned "famine" villages, cleared bright green fields edged by dry stone walls, yellow gorse "hedges", and flat bog lands below rocky hillsides and mountains - 100% Ireland! After a late lunch at the Blackberry Café Leenane (in the Irish good food guides), we did some scenic detours through an area that had a number of villages with the name Tully in them. We have a good friend (Tully!) from Joe's DHL Brisbane days, so we took pictures of the Tully Mountains, Tully village, Tully Cross village, etc. Suzynne, we think this must have been your ancestral home! Being the fair weather "walkers" we are, we gave the Connemara National Park a big miss due to continuing downpours.

The sun finally came out as we headed up the famed "Sky Road" near Clifden. Yes, well worth a look. Clare's work colleague Dave insisted that we really should walk or ride a bike along the 12km road - needless to say we drove it. This is a small hilltop road (lane?) that runs off the N59 just at the northern edge of Clifden town, and loops around rugged, stunning Atlantic coastal scenery. From up here, you can see clearly how local people have worked so hard over the centuries just to eke out a basic living from the fields below. They start with a rock strewn patch of grass; collect all the rocks of every size; build a dry stone wall around everything, right down to the sea; collect seaweed to fertilise it; then put the sheep in it. We guess in the past they grow endless crops of potatoes, until the blight got to them in 1845. And so started the greatest migration I think the world has ever seen - before or since. There were 8 million Irish in Ireland in 1844. Even now there are only 4 million people in Ireland, and 250,000 of those are Polish. So 1 million people died in the famine, and another 1.25 million people emigrated. Looking at the harsh scenery in Connemara, it takes no imagination at all to see how & why this happened.

Mannions Bar had another session that night with Micky Martin, Marie Walsh, a bloke on the Irish bagpipes and another bloke on the "spoons" (yep, spoons). Then there was another bloke who sang. Then a girl popped in for a while (looked like she was clubbing with her 10 mates), and she sang a couple of songs. Things were generally a bit more rowdy as the locals hit the Guinness before the Monday bank holiday. A busload of Americans had taken the best tables, but not to be outdone, the locals took the tables back, seat by seat, until the Americans eventually gave up and left! The same sozzled locals from the night before were at the bar again, proclaiming us to be long lost friends to the Americans, and the barman knew our drink order by then and had the bottle of rum at the ready. The night before he'd said they had no rum, whilst standing in front of a bottle of Havana Gold. Mmm. Clare went back to Mannions in early July (had more salmon factories to look at). The local boys were still at the bar and the bottle of Havana Gold still wasn't finished. Micky was playing next door at Lowrys - that was the only difference!

On the Monday the sun had really come out (always happens on the day you go home) - we headed north on the N59 again, passing Killary Harbour and through Westport in County Mayo (very smart little town). We headed out to Ballycastle and the nearby Ceide Fields, sitting on the edge of spectacular Atlantic cliffs near Downpatrick Head. Ceide Fields is the worlds most extensive stone age monument. It's not like Stonehenge or Newgrange, but is a complete community of houses, fields & tombs completely buried under the peat bog fields from 5500 years ago. The visitor centre is well worth a look. Joe called this a "bunch of buried rocks" and to a large extent, it is, but Clare found the history of the bogs fascinating. Even more fascinating the fact that when the bogs came and they couldn't farm anymore, the people who were farming here just moved down the road, 8km or so, to the area of Ballycastle. The tour guide said that Ceide Fields would have looked physically almost the same as the farms in Ballycastle today, using more or less the SAME FARMING METHODS. So it's not a tall order to say that there are still some people in Ballycastle who may be direct descendants of the farmers from 5500 years ago. Stopped for some service station junk food on the way home. So that's a wrap-up on another great long weekend in Ireland...

The Pink Floyd Experience

Rick and I went to see The Pink Floyd Experience at the QPAC concert hall last night. Absolutely awesome tribute show, with (obviously) years of practice in recreating the Pink Floyd sound and vision. Well worth seeing (and hearing). They did a full version of "The Wall", building up the wall throughout the show, and breaking it down at the end. Plenty of theatrics as well as superb music. It was amusing to see some older members of the crowd getting up and leaving as the show built to a finale. Sometimes I have no idea why people buy tickets to shows which are obviously not suited to their tastes... Mmm...

I'm nearly ready to leave Australia for the cold & darkness of Ireland, with a quick stop in Portsmouth, England on the way to look at buying a car. I'm just packing my 2nd Jumbo Box now, to be sent with DHL of course! Clare has returned from San Antonio, Texas, which was rather like Brisbane, to an icy/murky November in Dundalk and Northern Ireland... Now you can start to understand why there are so many pubs in Ireland and so many households have Sky TV... When daylight starts to go under 8 hours a day... They're sure not out having BBQ's, but at least they have plenty of water!

The Ashes has started today and is showing on all the tv's in my call centre. I would rather watch grass grow.

Joe's Orlando Theme Park Madness #1

So here is Joe blogging from Orlando, taking a quick break at my computer between 2 theme parks on the 2nd day... My trip here will pretty much consist of this:
Day 1 - arrived late afternoon from Dublin, via Newark on Continental. Collected a Thrifty car and went to my hotel, Fairfield Inn nr. International Drive. Had a quick break then I went to Universal, with every intention of going to Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville to get some cocktail cups. HOWEVER, that was not to be! Whilst parking in the huge Universal parking lot, I met some crazy Americans, Glen & Walter, who were looking at the differences between their PT Cruiser (car) and mine, and they pointed out that The Pet Shop Boys were playing at 8pm at Hard Rock Live (in Universal). Of course I had my Belfast HHH t-shirt on, so it took some convincing (actually to several people last night) that I WASN'T actually Irish. Mental note - I will wear this t-shirt often, as it's a good talking point. So, I bought a ticket to the Pet Shop Boys, met Glen & Walter inside, and watched the concert, while downing a few American beers. Walter got pretty hammered. He "welcomed" me to America with some straight JD (Jack Daniels)... Mmm... I didn't drink the whole cup :( The Pet Shop Boys were absolutely brilliant :) and a fantastic night was had by me and others in the crowd. Ended off at Denny's for a quick snack as I hadn't eaten anything, and retired, eventually, back at the Fairfield Inn... zzz... Glen took quite a few photos of the night, and emailed them to me, as promised, within hours... Great guys, and YES, they were straight, and made it quite clear to me that we were probably the only straight guys in the crowd... Pity Clare wasn't here, as she too would have had a great night, especially in the current balmy temperatures in Orlando, pretty much like Cairns.
Day 2 - quick breakfast, then spent the day at Disney-MGM Studios in Disneyworld, then off to Halloween Horror Nights 16 at Universal Studios tonight (about to leave very soon)...
Day 3 - quick breakfast again, then the day at Islands Of Adventure, Universal Orlando, then my 2nd night at Halloween Horror Nights 16, to see everything I don't see tonight... I'm also doing a behind the scenes tour as well "Unmasking The Horror", which should reveal a few things about the running of the whole operation. I can't wait for that...
So, I will post some more photos and tell more on my next update. Now, to head out again, there is no time for sleep here, this is party town...
... Continued in Part 2...

Paul Mac Live @ Groove & Grape

Photo Link: <Paul Mac photos>
We sent to see Paul Mac at the Groove & Grape Festival at Conrad Treasury on Saturday night, lots of photos right here. Met Steve Chak and Carolyn there. Great little festival, in Queens Park next to the Casino, but ultimately a small crowd ~ I guess there are so many good things on to see these days. This was Paul Mac's first appearance since Splendour In The Grass, where he did an excellent set. He had all his support vocalists, and played Sweetness and Light again (from the early Itch-e and Scratch-e days) which got the crowd moving and must be one of the best ever Australian techno tracks.
Over to Ireland in 9 days now ~ booked some flights on Ryanair from Dublin to Cork for like 9 bucks + loads of taxes & surcharges, will every airline in the world go like this? Clare is over in Poland talking salmon, etc... I'm ready to go!