The delectable Julie Feeney played in the Pavilion in Cork a couple of weeks ago.  Having heard her song Impossibly Beautiful a few times including on the Late Late Show the week before where Julie sported a house on her head!  The night was a mixture of the surreal and delightful intertwined with a horrible feeling that Julie’s massive heels would have her tumbling from the stage as she climbed over the barriers.  For one of the more memorable songs called Myth Julie went amongst the audience whispering into peoples’ ears which made for a dramatic effect as she wandered from person to person.  Throughout, the band members played a selection of instruments and were all highly-talented making the night all the more enjoyable.  If you get a chance to see her play live, do it!

See a few more photos in the full set on Flickr.

Related Posts on www.donal.ie

• August 10, 2008 -- Fight Like Apes at Indie-Pendence in Mitchelstown (1)
• December 28, 2009 -- Fred at Cork Opera House (2)
• August 16, 2009 -- The Villagers at Indiependence (0)

Super Furry Animals finished up what was a great Indiependence festival this year in Mitchelstown.  After waiting for what seemed like an age, in the rain, the Furries came out on stage.  In spite of the “WOAH!” sign, these was little enthusiasm shown by the lads as they came slowly bounding onto stage.  I really enjoyed their set when they finally got going although I have to admit flaking off early after a day in the rain.  Wimp, I know!

Here’s looking forward to a dry festival next year!  I hope the same venue is used again as it really made the festival.

Related Posts on www.donal.ie

• August 16, 2009 -- The Villagers at Indiependence (0)
• August 10, 2009 -- Wallis Bird at Indiependence (5)
• September 3, 2009 -- Frank and Walters at Indiependence (0)

The Blizzards were next up after Delorentos by which time the rain was really coming down again so I didn’t get too many photos.  As you can see from the picture below, lead singer Niall Breslin had his right arm in a cast so he couldn’t play guitar but this didn’t slow him down on stage.  Some plonker in the audience thought it would be funny to throw hay (used to minimise the muck due to the rain) at him which after the 5th or 6th time Niall finally let rip.  Lots of pent-up anger there!  While I’m not a big fan of the second album, the songs sound a lot better live.  Perhaps the album is over-produced and almost too perfect.

Related Posts on www.donal.ie

• August 16, 2009 -- The Villagers at Indiependence (0)
• September 16, 2009 -- Super Furry Animals at Indiependence (0)
• September 3, 2009 -- Frank and Walters at Indiependence (0)

The Villagers are one of the bands I was really looking forward to at the recent Indiependence.  I had heard quite a bit of their music and of course I was a fan of The Immediate who I saw in Cyprus Avenue.  I was well impressed with the performance and I must try pick up their EP ‘Hollow Kind’.  For those of you heading to Electric Picnic, this is one act to catch.

There are a few more photos in the full set.

Related Posts on www.donal.ie

• September 3, 2009 -- Frank and Walters at Indiependence (0)
• August 21, 2009 -- Delorentos at Indiependence (2)
• August 14, 2009 -- Fred at Indiependence (0)

Cork band Fred were the next band we saw at Indiependence after Dark Room Notes.  As always they put on a good show and I heard good stuff about their performance at Cork X Soutwest the day before.

As always, a few more photos in the full set on Flickr.

Related Posts on www.donal.ie

• August 16, 2009 -- The Villagers at Indiependence (0)
• August 21, 2009 -- Delorentos at Indiependence (2)
• September 3, 2009 -- Frank and Walters at Indiependence (0)

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)

The Blizzards headlined the recent(ish) Indie-Pendence Festival in Mitchelstown on the last night of the festival.  This festival just gets better each year, well done to Shane Dunne and all involved with putting a free festival together with such great acts.  The Blizzards have truly come of age with a fine second album recently released although I’m not convinced by their choice of first single.  There are many other stronger choices for singles on Domino Effect.  Judging by the reaction the lads got from the crowd the album should be selling well.  I just bought it yesterday, along with Mick Flannery’s White Lies which has been playing non-stop so I’m afraid I only listened to Domino Effect straigh through once.  At the gig one of the photographers was certainly smitten by lead singer Niall Breslin, she just smiled her way around the front of the stage taking photographs and even proclaimed “I think I’m in love”.  I don’t get it, sweaty hairy fecker that he is .

Some more photos in the full set on Flickr.  The Blizzards are back in Cork on October 2 when they play the Savoy.

Related Posts on www.donal.ie

• August 7, 2008 -- Fred at Indie-Pendence in Mitchelstown (0)
• August 10, 2008 -- Fight Like Apes at Indie-Pendence in Mitchelstown (1)
• August 30, 2008 -- Ham Sandwich at Indie-Pendence in Mitchelstown (1)

Cathy Davey headlined the Saturday night at the recent Mitchelstown Music Festival. I’ve been a big fan of Cathy Davey for quite some time but never made it in to see her during her residency in Cyprus Avenue last year. I had her two albums playing almost non-stop on my mp3 player by which time I had reached saturation point when you need to give an album a rest. I got the CDs out again and listened while driving down to Mitchelstown on Saturday. Sometimes the live act doesn’t live up to what you expect but Cathy Davey and her band put on a sublime performance. It was a little unfortunate that she was on straight after wonderful sets from Fight Like Apes and Fred as her music is much more understated and subtle. Have a listen on her MySpace if you haven’t heard her before and you’ll see what I mean.

It was a joy to photograph Cathy Davey so there are a bunch of other photos in the full set on Flickr.

Related Posts on www.donal.ie

• August 10, 2008 -- Fight Like Apes at Indie-Pendence in Mitchelstown (1)
• September 20, 2008 -- The Blizzards at Indie-Pendence in Mitchelstown (0)
• August 7, 2008 -- Fred at Indie-Pendence in Mitchelstown (0)