Dear Reader –
What do the following songs have in common?
Hotel California (The Eagles), Come Together (The Beatles) and Baker St (Gerry Rafferty).
*Answer in the Where Else But Sligo section below…
The Big Thing
I’m afraid that this week all the big things are still in the oven.
A HUGE few months of big things coming up though - they’re nearly cooked!
Where else but Sligo?
The last time I was in the Iveagh Gardens was as a student playing an illicit early morning game of soccer after a night out. So it was nice to return legitimately and at a reasonable time of the evening to see The Waterboys last week.
My friend is a massive fan and spent most of the gig either with his eyes closed, excitedly pointing out things we could all see or singing raucously, so his analytical powers were possibly limited on the night! He asked me on the way home what I thought of the gig.
I told him three things - it was lovely to hear Mike Scott’s lyrics so crystal clear, James Hallawell on piano and keyboards stole the show, and Fisherman’s Blues is one of those rare songs (like the ones listed above) which contains an instrumental section that is possibly more important to the song than the vocal melody. Steve Wickham I hope you are enjoying your summer in Sligo but we missed you!
Oh and one more thing that amused me - they played This is the Sea early in the set and when I heard the chorus line ‘That was the river, this is the sea’, I immediately thought of the classic GAA distinction - ‘That was league, this is championship’!
What’s New?
MICKEY’S JAZZ CLUB: Every Sunday 5-7pm in The Dunes. We had another great gig there last week and host Mike Nielsen has some great musicians lined up for the next few weeks. Go support!
WHAM! “An irresistible pop nostalgia trip” - so says Variety magazine - but it’s also a heart-warming tale of friendship and musical success. This new documentary is available on Netflix.
NEW CRANKIE! The latest video from Cathy Jordan and Peter Crann on their mission to create an audio visual archive of one traditional Irish song from all 32 counties using Crankie.
Finally…
George Michael went on to have a stellar career after leaving Wham of course, and this is my favourite footage of him - I love the intensity at which this rehearsal is conducted. You can feel the power of the drums even through the medium of a screen. And Bowie is looking effortlessly cool as ever.
Till next time - Kieran.
