Uber-piper Paddy Keenan played in de Barra’s in Clonakilty Thursday week ago accompanied on stage by guitarist Tommy O’Sullivan.  The pair have an album, The Long Grazing Acre, from which they took quite of a bit of material for the live show.  I had seen the two of them play in de Barra’s a few years ago so the drive down from Cork was always going to be well worth it.  The effortless multiple triplets which Paddy Keenan achieves and his fantastic tight fingering wows any crowd and this night was no different.  He is regarded as one of the better pipers in the world which is very evident on all his many albums.  If you don’t know much about the uilleann pipes, his albums would be a very good place to start.

As you may have noticed, the lighting was very difficult as usual down ther with a massive red lamp shining straight into Paddy’s face so that made things a bit tougher.

Related Posts on www.donal.ie

• February 7, 2009 -- Grand Pocket Orchestra at The Pavilion (0)
• February 9, 2009 -- Mick Flannery at Cork Opera House 2008 (0)
• September 16, 2009 -- Super Furry Animals at Indiependence (0)

Mick Flannery played his annual Christmas gig in the Opera House to a packed house back in Decemeber.  Mick has come on in leaps and bounds this year with the release of White Lies and regular airplay on the national airwaves.  Good to see he still has the same old self-effacing stage presence where he now just happily plays his magnificent music; the only time he breaks from this is to take the mickey out of the occasional heckler or re-inforce his understated interaction with the crowd with a few words every now and again, the eager crowd hanging on his every word.

See more photos…

There are a few more photos in the full set.

Also, check out some great shots of Mick in action by Kevin Murphy here and here and also one from Sean McCormack.

Related Posts on www.donal.ie

• February 7, 2009 -- Grand Pocket Orchestra at The Pavilion (0)
• March 2, 2009 -- Paddy Keenan at De Barra’s (0)
• September 16, 2009 -- Super Furry Animals at Indiependence (0)

Grand Pocket Orchestra played a couple of weeks ago in The Pavilion in Cork as part of the weekly Bootleg series.  I was looking forward to seeing this band and I must say I was surprised at how young this band is. Don’t get me wrong, their music is not aged or old-man-ish but some of the tunes are so well structured and catchy that I would have expected a band that had been around the block a few times.  Odd Socks is the first track I heard from them well over a year ago which was the main reason for seeing them.  They have another few stand-out tracks such as Get Go and Using the Body.  However on the night they played a number of tracks which are not so well thought out or crisp.  I reckon they need to decide is it the pure happy pop route they want to go down or something a bit heavier.

This is one of the first times I’ve tidied up photos with a bit of cloning; the top two photos had plenty of mic stands and wires all over the place.  While it does take a bit of time I think it’s worth it.  Check out a couple of more photos in the full set on Flickr.

Related Posts on www.donal.ie

• March 2, 2009 -- Paddy Keenan at De Barra’s (0)
• February 9, 2009 -- Mick Flannery at Cork Opera House 2008 (0)
• August 16, 2009 -- The Villagers at Indiependence (0)

Sean Kelleher played support to Aaron Dillon in The Roundy recently.  I don’t know much about him and I can’t find a website for him but he’s another one to keep an eye out for.  Sometimes a support act isn’t up to much but he kept the crowd interested with his well-crafted songs.

I’m off to see David Kitt in the Savoy now.

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• November 20, 2007 -- Aaron Dillon at The Roundy (4)
• August 10, 2009 -- Wallis Bird at Indiependence (5)
• September 16, 2009 -- Super Furry Animals at Indiependence (0)

Aaron Dillon played at The Roundy on Sunday November 4th last. You may not have heard of him yet but I think you will do in the future; his inimitable style is sure to get him noticed. Keep an eye out for his debut album which is coming out in early 2008. Although Sunday night is never the best time to go to a gig, it was one of the more enjoyable gigs I’ve been to in recent times: a nice relaxed evening with great music and atmosphere.

The poster for the event used one of my pictures from the Opera House when he supported Mick Flannery.

Check out the CorkGigs blog for some nice vids from the Opera House gig.

There are a few more photos over on Flickr in the full set.

Update: Aaron Dillon is playing a few gigs over the next month, you can catch him in The Blackbird in Ballycotton on December 1st and he supports Mick Flannery again in the Everyman Palace on the 16th December.

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• November 21, 2007 -- Sean Kelleher at The Roundy (0)
• August 10, 2009 -- Wallis Bird at Indiependence (5)
• March 2, 2009 -- Paddy Keenan at De Barra’s (0)

Director headlined at the Mitchelstown Music Festival this summer on the Sunday night.  I had seen them play in Cyprus Avenue a while back and I was impressed with their sound on the big stage.  The sizeable crowd seemed to enjoy the show too but again there seemed to be something missing from the performance.  The last time I saw them I commented on the lack of crowd interaction and this was still the case.  The band have obviously cultivated this style but lead singer Michael Moloney comes across as somewhat aloof at times.

Director are playing a lot of dates around the country at the moment and will be back in Cork on the 6th and 7th of December in Cyprus Avenue.

Quite a few more pictures in the full set on Flickr.  I went a bit mad taking photos for their show!

Related Posts on www.donal.ie

• November 21, 2007 -- Sean Kelleher at The Roundy (0)
• November 20, 2007 -- Aaron Dillon at The Roundy (4)
• November 15, 2007 -- Delorentos at Mitchelstown Music Festival (1)

The seemingly ubiquitous Delorentos played at the Mitchelstown Music Festival this summer.  Their brand of radio-friendly happy guitar pop is similar to another excellent Irish band, The Blizzards.  I only saw them once before when they supported Bell X1 in the Savoy quite a while back so it was good to see them have such a prominent position at this festival.  They were on the Podge and Rodge show recently and did a fine rendition of the classic hit “No Limit” by 2 Unlimited.

Some more photos in the full set on Flickr.

Delorentos don’t appear to be back in Cork over the coming months but you might catch them in your neck of the woods:

NOVEMBER:

20 Water Rats, London
21 Hub, Exeter
22 Freebutt, Brighton
23 Little Civic, Wolverhampton, Midlands
24 Unit 22, Southampton, South
26 Barfly, Cardiff, Wales
27 Barfly, Glasgow, Scotland
28 Jabex Clegg, Manchester
29 Clubroom, Derby

DECEMBER:

6   Electric Avenue, Waterford
7   Dolans Warehouse, Limerick
14 Ambassador Theatre, Dublin

Related Posts on www.donal.ie

• November 21, 2007 -- Sean Kelleher at The Roundy (0)
• November 20, 2007 -- Aaron Dillon at The Roundy (4)
• November 19, 2007 -- Director at Mitchelstown Music Festival (1)

Another band that featured at this years Mitchelstown Music Festival was The Aftermath.  Like many of the others, I had seen them play previously.  They put on a cracking live show and well worth checking out.  They are playing a fair bit over the coming months, twice in Cork I’m happy to see, so keep an ear out for them.

A few more shots can be seen in the full set on Flickr.

I still have pictures from quite a few bands to post so there should be at least another week from this festival!

Related Posts on www.donal.ie

• November 21, 2007 -- Sean Kelleher at The Roundy (0)
• November 20, 2007 -- Aaron Dillon at The Roundy (4)
• November 19, 2007 -- Director at Mitchelstown Music Festival (1)

British band The Times played at the Mitchelstown Music Festival this summer.  I hadn’t heard of these guys before but from their performance you could see that they’re well weathered pros who put on a great live show.  You have to love their website name too, Get With The Times.  I’d imagine most combinations of The and Times are taken up on the internet, just a hunch .

More pics in the full set on Flickr.

Related Posts on www.donal.ie

• November 21, 2007 -- Sean Kelleher at The Roundy (0)
• November 20, 2007 -- Aaron Dillon at The Roundy (4)
• November 19, 2007 -- Director at Mitchelstown Music Festival (1)

Dublin band Television Room played at the Mitchelstown Music Festival this summer.  Their drummer, Christian, also plays with my favourite swing band The Roaring Forties.  The music was a little different in this guise but it was good stuff.

There are a few more photos in the full set over on Flickr.

Television Room play in Cork (Cyprus Avenue) on the 15th of November and Crawdaddy in Dublin on the 16th so check out their MySpace to see if you wanna head along.

Related Posts on www.donal.ie

• November 21, 2007 -- Sean Kelleher at The Roundy (0)
• November 20, 2007 -- Aaron Dillon at The Roundy (4)
• November 19, 2007 -- Director at Mitchelstown Music Festival (1)