April 1st. (On The Mail Boat)
We sailed across the Irish Sea and into Holyhead. We sashayed through the shed, over the Menai Bridge and loaded up the SatNav for The Pennines. Before we knew it we were freewheeling down into Leeds, great City of fame where I first played Club Memphis in 1967. Back then Johnny Giles was in his prime at Leeds United where Billy Bremner, Big Jack and Noddy Clarke were but 3 of his cohorts. Last played here in The City Varities 16 years ago and it felt ‘reet’ good to be back. I took a dander along the tow path of The Liverpool / Leeds Canal remembering times gone by and revelling in the beauty of the day. Turning back and I sought to find The old Grove pub where I did my first gig in 1968.What a house of music it was. I’m told it still hosts a Folk Club once a week, a club that will celebrate 50 years of shanties this year. I could not find it midst acres of high rise apartments and blocks of spanking new, but empty, offices. The voracious Tiger passed this way…
What a beautiful venue lies behind the colonial facade of Leeds City Hall. We drove around the back to the Tradesman’s entrance, itself an imposing edifice. Inside everything was ready. The coffee was wafting; the guitars were welcoming, Paddy, Mick, Geoff, Dickon, Davey, Johnny and all the local crew had set the stage once more. Everything was precisely in place and in tune as we sat down to rehearse and soundcheck in this Hall of former glory. Every now and then I enter an empty venue that has special character and atmosphere. This Leeds City Hall has that air about. Lovely welcoming staff too, proud of their splendid venue but neither snooty nor haughty with it. I’m always nervous first day of a tour in another country and today is no exception. All such feelings were soon dispelled by a great soundcheck. We overhauled a few old favourites for the night that was to come, tightened up Little Musgrave and ran across the Lakes of Pontchartrain. I have two new guitars and I’m finding them perfect for the job. They are both Maton guitars made in Melbourne, Australia. I love the feel of them. Declan put me on to them. (As he did the Taks 30 years ago)…I did trade in a couple of Martin Guitars but I’m hanging on to the 3 Taks. The workhorses have served me well for 30 years
Set List – Leeds, City Hall
1. After The Deluge
2. Yellow Furze Woman
3. Nancy Spain.
4. Quinte Brigada.
5. Listen
6. Missing You.
7. Morecambe Bay
8. Ord. Man
9. Weekend in Amsterdam
10. City of Chicago
11. Little Musgrave
12. Lakes of Pontchartrain (in Memory of Mick Waterson)
13. Companeros
14. Veronica.
15. Let the Sun come in.
16. Biko Drum.
17. Ride On.
18. Don’t forget your shovel.
19. Does this train stop on Merseyside?
20. The Voyage
21. North and South of The River.
22. Bright Blue Rose.
23. Smoke and Strong Whisky
24. John O Dreams
25. Joxer goes to Stuttgart
26. Burning Times
27. Cliffs of Dooneen.
28 The Dalesman’s Litany
29. Lisdoonvarna
2 hours 5 minutes
April 2nd– Cardiff, Millennium Hall
We pulled out of Leeds at 11am arriving into Cardiff at 3am. We may have passed 50 serving petrol stations with not one customer in sight. Everyone was home asleep, safe and sound, with 5 gallon drums of petrol underneath their beds. We have become lemming like. To think that a gormless gobshite can set off such panic buying is mind boggling and probably an unfortunate sign of what lies ahead. 3 days ago I was fearful of the tour being stymied by fuel shortage but, hey presto, all our trials lord are soon over.
The Cardiff venue is timber clad and beautiful. Such a reception we got…the wonderful listeners of Wales surrendered their ears full on for 2 hours and 10 minutes. I was well spent as the curtain came down. There was minestrone soup and fresh bread in the dressing room. We had a right good supper and climbed aboard the coach for the hop to London.
Set List – Cardiff.
1. Quinte Brigada
2. Missing You
3. Morecambe Bay
4. This is the day
5. Smoke and Strong Whisky
6. Michael Hayes.
7. Haiti
8. Honda 50
9. No Time for Love……. (For Bradley Manning)
10. Magdalene laundries
11. Hattie Carroll
12. Nancy Spain
13. Shovel
14. Beeswing
15. Sun Shine In
16. Amsterdam
17. Bright blue rose
18. Biko Drum
19. Delirium Tremens (back after a year.)
20. Ordinary Man
21. Back Home in Derry
22. After The Deluge
23. Voyage
24. Aisling
25. Fairytale of New York
26. Ride On
27. Joxer goes to Stuttgart
28. Sonny’s Dream
29. Lisdoonvarna
2 hours 10 minutes
April 3rd – Free Day in London.
After 2 gigs the voice is husky, a day off will help it rest. Time to walk, to look and listen, to eavesdrop on the world, to wonder what makes this great City function. One thing for sure, the machine is still run on the energy, labour and toil of the working people, those who do the manual labour at the coalface. Walking in and around Westminster today the gap between the classes is greatly magnified. I took a visit to South London to meet Gerry Diver and Lisa Knapp. We sang a few songs and shared a few yarns.
April 4th – Royal Festival Hall – Southbank, London.
This time 46 years ago I was tramping around London trying to get the start, barely knocking it out. I was just becoming aware of the Folk Club scene. My main source of livelihood came from hanging around the fringes of the Irish music scene in Fulham, Hammersmith, Kilburn and Cricklewood. I would travel anywhere that might gain me a chance to sing. I was living in a small snug room in Gunnersbury. The landlord was from Wicklow. He and his family lived in a small neat house in Silver Crescent where he rented out 2 bedsits. I got bad vibes for not going to Mass, even worse if I brought “company” back to my wee eyrie. That said, they were decent people. Still, I was glad to see the back of it. 46 years later I’m back again. I marvel at the journey which has taken me to where I play tonight…this brilliant venue on The Thames and it’s all ours for two nights. As I write this the crew are putting the final touches to preparations. Declan is in the next room playing and I’m here twittering away nervously as I get ready to do it all one more time…
The Concert kicked off well. At recent gigs we have occasionally opened with Jackson Browne’s song “How Long”. It has a complex arrangement and can be a risky starter. Tonight we nailed it. At the end there was quite a pause before applause emerged. I find these very rare and silent moments quite magical, I glow in that silence for it means that we have connected and it stirs something deep within me. The music writer Ken Hunt was in the room tonight and his presence put me in mind of “Sacco and Vanzetti”. I started Woody Guthrie’s song too fast tonight and could not haul it back in. “Missing You” will slot in anywhere in our set, it always settles an audience. After years of constant performance I still find new things to do in it, new ways to turn a phrase… each time I sing this song I am reminded of Elvis Costello singing backing vocals on the recording over 25 years ago.
Earlier in the day Declan and I played “Barrowland”, it has dropped out of the set this past year but made a very welcome return tonight, it worked so well. I stumbled during the first chorus but Declan gave me a perfect prompt when the second chorus came around… (This gig is going well). “Farmer Michael Hayes” continues to improve. The less energy I give it, the stronger it becomes… it gets better as it develops its own personality, very different from that of its predecessor, the Planxty version from 1978. The opening chords of “Morecambe Bay” was greeted warmly by the audience, unusual for a song of this nature and one so recently recorded… I am still in awe of the process that has 2,200 people listening to a song in total silence, this is such a privilege for us, to perform in such precious air, to play to such determined listening, at the end of the song I was feeling quite dark and emotional so I followed on into “Matty “. Another song of darkness, one so well observed by Johnny Mulhearn. this song transports me, every time, to a distinct place that I now know intimately, a place where I have never been for it only exists within the verses of this song. At this juncture a woman on the balcony began a strange conversation with me, one that continued intermittently for the remainder of the night. it got to me briefly but not in a heavy way, her constant banter did unsettle the room but I felt there was compassion as well as impatience with, what sounded like, drunkenness ( who would I be I to preach)… When I find myself in trouble during a gig I usually reach for a well tried favourite. I tore into “Ordinary Man” and drove it hard and high up into the balcony. Then “Veronica” appeared out of the blue (we don’t have a set list, it emerges thru the night). I still seek to remember Veronica Guerin. Her courage knew no bounds. Remembering Veronica Guerin reminds me that our silence is acquiescence… It feels like its time to rattle it up a bit, time for Declan to crank up the old Stratocaster with a blast of “Smoke and Strong Whiskey “. This always proves interesting for we regularly find new detours in the arrangement, different energies… some nights it softens, more times it hardens, It allows for verses to be done in different sequence, I love soaring and then taking it back to whisper, the entire room coming with us as David Meade adjusts the sound accordingly… he is the best sound engineer I have worked with. Knowing that even a whispered word will be carried throughout the room gives me great confidence to try things out, to take chances. His brother Johnny Meade looks after the guitars and constantly tunes my strings. This gives me the freedom to communicate with the audience, to figure the set without having to tune constantly. Declan does his own tuning while I’m twittering away, tuning is itself a precise craft, one at which Declan excels, I need the freedom to feel the room, to suss the gig, to figure out the next song.
I hear a call for “Casey” and oblige, I have started singing the verses accapella which prevents the lyric getting swamped by mass audience percussion (which does have its place)… once Casey is established we bring the rhythm in but keep on top of it. we’re slipping into audience mode now as people seem ready to sing, next up came my brother Barry’s classic song ” City of Chicago”… then its time for another Kildare song , “My Little Honda 50”, a recent hit with Cerys Matthews on BBC Radio 6 and with Janice Long on BBC Radio 2. Some of our more serious listeners have trouble with this funny, well crafted song but myself and Declan just love Tom Tuohy’s tribute to the Peoples Motorbike. As Tom himself might say “feck the begrudgers”. Then “Little Musgrave” appeared from nowhere, time to bring things back down again, I threw it over at Declan and straightway he picked up the appropriate guitar, poised and ready in an inst. this is the 4th version of this old ballad that I have sung over 4 decades, it began with Jimmy Faulkner back in the early 70’s, (some of Jimmy’s beautiful licks still reverberate,) then came the version I did with Planxty in the 80’s, then a solo version came around and now, 40 years later another version emerges with Declan adding new colour and nuance to the ancient song. It stilled the great hall last night here in London.
In Cardiff 3 nights ago, there came a Holy Man who called for “Delirium Tremens”. He being the chaplain to the Welsh Rugby team I gave in to his request. After a 2 year hiatus DTs hopped up again and away we went. Song number 16 was Declan’s “Sunshine In”. He has just recorded his first solo album and he will do a series of Solo Gigs soon. (Keep an eye out for The Sinnor). the requests were starting to come quick and fast, from way back up on the right an agreeable voice called for ” North and South” and we turned in a solid version, we have recently pared it down a bit, tightened it up with a facelift…
Sometimes a need to sing “Gortatagort” comes over me, no request, and no plan. Just a desire to fantasize once more upon that sacred mountain that lies East of Bantry Bay. It was sad, lonesome and extremely beautiful. I bow to its author John Spillane, that poet of Cork. Then I started up “Quinte Brigada”… probably a little too soon for it shattered the spell the previous song had cast. The crowd rose to my bait and sang lustily as we remembered all those who gave their lives in the fight against Fascism. my poor old neighbour up in the balcony was still under the weather, we sang a version of ” Butterfly” to her and it turned out to be my favourite song of the night. Its first flight in over 2 years, its very brokenness nearly broke my heart; I hope the Newbridge Girl heard it.
Time now to dig deep with ” The Shovel” as the end came in sight, Christie Hennessy’s well honed song always marks the turn for home in my mind, Ewan McColls ” Sweet Thames” has to be performed on the South Bank, its 45 years since I first heard him sing it. Then Bobby Sands “McIlhatton” appeared after which we fired off a “Joxer” for Damien Duff who was somewhere out there in that vast room (He scored such a beautiful goal for Fulham at Craven Cottage last weekend) We finished with Jimmy Mac’s “Ride On” before exiting stage left. The audience called us back on, a Lady in the front row suggested “Burning Times” after which there was only one way to go – we set out for “Lisdoonvarna”.
The gig was done. 2 hours 10 minutes later we arrived back to our dressing room, mugs of strong tea and supper awaited us, a happy pair of men as we sat in the warmth of the afterglow waiting for the adrenalin to subside.
April 5th
Had a restless night last night and ended up doing the above song-by-song reflection of last nights gig. It set me up rightly for a good kip. A Grey London day but, as always, the Thames draws me down to the riverside, through Westminster and over to the South bank, a great place to observe the world go by. North Bank Rules, South Bank Lives…
I just got word that Barney McKenna has passed this morning. He took ill suddenly at home in Howth and, by all accounts, had a peaceful passing. Sat and watched him play at The Lowry Theatre in Salford just 5 weeks back. He was playing beautifully and, for me, he stole the night when he stepped forward and, with quiet dignity, thanked everyone “as Gaeilge ” in our native tongue. Like every one who met Barney I too have great memories of those occasions. We travelled together to Australia and New Zealand; we met up in England, Scotland, Germany, Holland and Belgium. my favourite anecdote – I was sitting beside him on a flight from Sydney to Perth and as soon as the seatbelt sign was switched off Barney pressed the call button and when the Australian Airlines Assistant arrived he asked, ” excuse me Miss, could I ever get a pint of Guinness and 20 Sweet Afton”.
Barney’s playing remains the backbone of all the great Dubliners recordings. Back in the day when they were blazing a trail that rhythm section of Barney’s and Luke’s Banjos, tenor and five string, along with the acoustic Guitars of Ronnie and Ciarán created a driving pulse that was second to none, a rhythm which many of us still seek to groove. The Clancy’s created a genre, The Dubliners picked it up and ran with it. Both in Music and in Life Barney seemed always in his own world….it was forever a pleasure to encounter the man even though, betimes, I could not grasp his drift. He always greeted me fondly and with a hearty laugh… fun was never far away when Barney was around. To his family and friends I extend my condolence, in particular to John Sheehan who has lost his comrade, gone on to join Luke Kelly, Ciarán Bourke and Ronnie Drew…
(Written one week later) Goodnight Bernard….
We bantered out in Teac Furbo, Spiddal when The Dubliners and Planxty shared the stage for 2 nights during Galway Race Week back in 1973. He came into the studio in the 1970’s and played on “Johnny Jump Up”. That went out an album called “Christy Moore” circa 1975. I recall that Barney was booked for a session at 7.30 on Tue evening. He eventually showed at 2 am the following Friday morning. He had a right team in tow and it turned into a grand session. I ran the tape out to him once and he nailed it in one take. More recently I did a session with him in 2009 when U2 recorded a tribute to Ronnie Drew. In Salford last month He played the sweet notes right to the very end. We played “The Herald Boot Fund” gig at The State Cinema in Phibsboro in 1972. He introduced me to his Mother. Mrs McKenna always called her lovely Son Bernard.
“O they were the Quare Ones,
Fol de dee get outa that,
O they were the Quare Ones
I’ll tell you ”
We finished the 2nd gig in RFH London by dedicating “John O’Dreams” to the memory of Barney McKenna (1939-2012)
Royal Festival Hall (2nd Night)
1. How Long
2. Missing You
3. North and South
4. Motherland
5. Delirium Tremens
6. Magdalene
7. Smoke and Whiskey
8. Nancy Spain
9. McIlhatton
10. Black Colour
11. Quinte Brigada
12. Sunshine In
13. Little Musgrave
14. Honda 50.
15. Michael Hayes
16. Morecambe Bay
17. Hattie Carroll
18. Biko Drum
19. Island Swans
20. Shovel
21. Ride On
22. Chicago
23. Victor Jara
24. Sonny’s Dream
25. No Time For love
26. John O’ Dreams (in memory of Barney McKenna)
2 hours
April 6th – Back In Liverpool
A free day on Merseyside. a long Riverside walk, a rehearsal with Declan as we try and sort out a few glitches in Little Musgrave and look at re-visiting “Suffocate” by Noel Brazil, “Johnny Don’t Go” by John Spillane …try and catch up with some lost sleep and rest the vocals for tomorrow night in The Philharmonic…
April 7th
4am – a fight on the street outside our hotel – screaming, tussling, boxing, rolling, wrestling, swearing ,crying… even looking on from the 4th floor it’s heart thumping head racing stuff, it eventually subsides to a flicker as they troop off in different directions some trying to get back into their hotel. I’m wide awake now with little chance of sleep but I’m blest to have a few films stored on my computer so I get immersed in a film called “Dear John” which takes me away on a two hour fantasy. It got a lot of bad reviews but this Lasse Halstrom directed movie did the job for me this dark Liverpool night. I have also watched “Extremely Loud, Incredibly Close” in recent days. I found it harrowing and beautiful. The young boy at the centre delivers an amazing performance and I found myself believing Sandra Bullock’s character for the first time in years. Having watched and thoroughly enjoyed this film I decided to Google some reviews. I was amazed to find it almost 100% panned as a dreadful film. The Guardian Critic suggested it was the worst film ever to receive an Oscar nomination. * I watched it in the back of the van on the overnight journey from Leeds to Cardiff last weekend and it was simply harrowing and beautiful*. On the trip from London to Liverpool I watched Matt Damon in “We bought a Zoo”. That Matt man sure can act. Such a variety of roles this past 10 years yet he inhabits them all effortlessly… no shenanigans, this man simply gets on with the job and plies his trade, performs his art.
I always anticipate The Philharmonic, the room has history, and even a signed portrait of the young Queen Elizabeth on the wall of the dressing room… had a few gremlins to wrestle. We began the first song when suddenly the houselights came back up which was a distraction, then as I hit the first chorus I broke a string, something that is a rarity these days. We had two writers in the room – Kevin Littlewood who penned “On Morecambe Bay” and Ian Prowse author of “Does This Train stop on Merseyside”. What a great pair of songs to be able to sing, to do so in the company of the writers is a privilege. We sat together afterwards with Ian, Kevin, Allan O’Hare and their partners, had a grand yarn. Then we met a few more songsters at the stage door, some reminiscing, signing, photographs before we dived into the van for the trip from the River Mersey to the River Tyne. What mighty Rivers you have here… they are the life’s blood of your great cities
Liverpool, Philharmonic Set
1. North and South of the River
2. Missing You
3. Haiti
4. Smoke and Whiskey
5. Black Colour
6. Quinte
7. Magdalene
8. Chicago
9. Delirium Tremens
10. No Time for Love
11. Nancy Spain
12. Morecambe Bay
13. Ordinary man
14. Michael Hayes
15. Honda 50
16. Little Musgrave
17. Sun Shine In
18. Does this train stop on Merseyside?
19. Ride On
20. Back Home in Derry
21. Victor Jara
22. Tyrone Boys
23. Sweet Thames
24. Shovel
25. John O’Dreams (in memory of Barney McKenna)
26. Butterfly
27. Four Strong Winds
28. Cliffs of Dooneen
29. Lisdoonvarna
2 hours 5 minutes
April 8th – Newcastle-Upon-Tyne.
We arrived on The Tyne at 3 am. Never left the room all day. Needed to chill out and watch Ulster v Munster from Thomond Park. It’s lovely to get back to City Hall after almost 20 years. Declan and I felt we played best here tonight but we can only judge it from our perspective. (Some who were at all 6 gigs felt Liverpool was the best). There was a Ruby Walsh fan in the room but we have had to side-line that song for ecological reasons. The flat season is almost upon us so all the jump jocks will be taking off. Its time for Lester and Scobie to waste .I fancy Katie Walsh each way in The National.
1. Little Musgrave
2. Butterfly
3. Matty
4. Morecambe Bay
5. North & South
6. Burning Times
7. Barrowlands
8. Companeros
9. Veronica
10. D. T.s
11. Mc Illhatton
12. Tyrone Boys
13. Nancy Spain
14. Listen
15. Ordinary Man
16. Sun Shine In
17. Missing You
18. Quiet Desperation
19. Smoke & Strong Whiskey
20. Voyage
21. Ride On
22. Lisdoon
23. John O ‘Dreams (in memory of Barney Mc Kenna)
Encore
24. Shovel
1 hour 48 mins
I am writing this aboard the Stena out of Holyhead. We finished our gig in Newcastle City Hall 5 hours ago whereupon Michael Devine and I made a dash for the ship of fame. It was a good gig last night. We opened with Little Musgrave. Took a chance starting with a 10 minute song but we played a good version and away we flew. The venue had a very different feel to The Sage Theatre where we have played all our recent Tyneside Gigs this past decade. I thought it would be good to have a change and so it proved. Feels good to be steaming home with the satisfaction of a tour well done. Paddy Doherty has been at the helm since day one. He vets every venue and every accommodation. He plans the travel logistics with Michael Devine who is our Tour Manager. Paddy co-ordinates our production with David and Johnny Meade on Sound, Geoff Ryan on lighting and Dikon Whitehead on monitors. This tour was booked out by Paul Charles at Asgard and was promoted by AAA Promotions (apart from London RFH which were in-house promotions). Publicity was by Richard Wooton, Claire Horton and Gareth Davies. There were many others involved too, Staff at all the venues welcomed us and gave us all the assistance required. From the get-in at Leeds to load-out at Newcastle a week later, all went without a hitch. It is a wonderful industry within which we operate. Declan and I are at the core for 2 hours every night but there are many others working around us, assisting us to get our music across. Last but not least – none of it would happen if you, our listeners, did not come out and purchase the tickets with which we finance this entire operation.
Its early morning now, 5.30 am as we sail up the Liffey and turn into Dublin Port. time to get home to our Loved Ones… past Masers Art and Harry Nama’s Hares, over the East Link past Paul Durcan’s… along the Glass Bottle Bank and along Sandymount where Molly Bloom did soliloquy, thru the Merrion Gates and I can smell the tea brewing… Michael drops me home, bags and boxes and the tour is done…
Christy
P.S. Will be shortly be announcing some more dates …
For anyone in the vicinity, there is a stunning exhibition of sculpture currently showing in the Carlow Arts Centre. The work of Eileen McDonage is on show there until 7th May. The sheer size of the work suggests that it may be some time before an exhibition such as this is seen again. For anyone interested in sculpture, stone and art, I recommend this exhibition. It is profound and moving in both its psysical and spiritual dimensions. Eileen McDonagh has sculpted may pieces of Public Art to be seen around Ireland. I was aware of may of the pieces but until now I was not aware of the artist. The are all contained in a book available from Carlow Arts Centre for €20.
The Centre itself is well worth a visit … great location and facilities. It contains an excellent theatre in which I would like to play. (Be warned it is not open to the general public during the day). For times check out the arts centre website – click on the link here: Carlow Centre for Contemporary Art.