Last weekend I played 5 gigs. Three of these were in the towns of Carlow, Gorey and Aughrim. The 3 gigs stand out as something that never really happened before during my performing career. Each of them was completely different to the other two in terms of atmosphere, audience and set-list. Completely different but each a great success and very fulfilling and enjoyable for the performer.

On Friday night I played in one of Irelands finest and busiest venues, The Dinn Ri in Carlow. It was an outdoor gig on a beautiful evening in the Cedar Square beer garden. The sun was setting, the bar b q was sending a wonderful smell through the air and the audience was a good mix of young to middle age people all enjoying a few cold drinks on a fantastic summers evening. So kicking off I decided to keep the songs ”summery” and lively. First up ”Boys Of Summer” followed by ”Waiting On A Sunny Day” and ”Summer Wine” and from there on and for the next 2 1/2 hours I delivered a set that really reflected the mood of the evening performing everything from ”Rolling In The Deep” to ”The Galway Girl” to ”American Pie” and about 30 other songs.. Really enjoyed that one!!

Onto the town of Gorey on Saturday, only 9 miles from my home so nice and handy! The venue was the fine Ashdown Park Hotel and the gig was ”A Gathering” dinner for a local family’ from the area. I set up my P.A. at about 7.30 just as the guests were arriving for dinner….A quick glance around the tables and I realized that this audience was the complete opposite to the one of 24 hours previous. A much older and settled crowd.. not very much in the way of drinking going on and more of a ”in for a catch up” kinda vibe going on. So the chatting, speeches and dinner wrapped up about 11pm and off I went…. The Peter Sarstetd hit ”Where Do You Go To My Lovely” had been going round my head all evening and So I thought I would make it my opening song along with a couple of other Waltz time tunes. As expected, this was the kind of music that really suited my listeners and the sizable dance floor was full immediately. That set the tone for the night…No Bruce or Adele…just a healthy mix of dancing songs in the shape of waltzes, quick steps, sing along ballads, country and old time Rock n’ Roll.. A 2 hour set, rolled the amps down the ramps and that was that..

And so to Sunday evening in the amazing surroundings of The Brooklode Hotel & Spa, nestled among the trees just outside the picturesque town of Aughrim in County Wicklow where the Ow and Derry rivers meet to form the Aughrim river. I was booked to play for a Bar B Q and it was to be a post wedding party for Ger (from Donegal) and Deirdre (from Waterford) and their friends and families whom had stayed over from the previous days celebrations. The food was served at 7.30 and while the guests sat outside on what was another magical evening weather-wise, I set up inside in Actons bar. Actons is a very small bar so whether a performer has 5 people of 55 people to play to, creating an atmosphere is a piece of cake as they say!! Dinner over, and the first song of the evening was ”Happy Birthday” dedicated to the grooms brother celebrating his 30th birthday on the day. Cake cut, candles out and ”The Hills Of Donegal” had them off and running straight away. Next up was, Christy’s the ”D.T.’s”, my Johnny Cash Medley, and the old Eurovision winner ”Rock n’ Roll Kids”… After that I went into my story telling mode with a lengthy and humorous introduction to ”The Ballad Of Miriam O’Callaghan”. A couple classic ballads and then more story telling before and during ”Fairytale of New York” and this set the tone for the evening and the following three hours. It was just a howl, a singalong, a party, a session, a riot in the best possible taste. The mother of the Bride was up on a table, The guests serenaded Cameron the Australian bartender with the theme song from Home & Away, and the Essex girl…well she was just the Essex girl. I counted, a 3 hour set,39 songs excluding medleys and storytelling, 65 guests and 1 happy couple. Goodnight Irene say he..

So that was my tale of 3 gigs… Each much different to the other 2 Why am I writing this for probably nobody to read?? I have no idea.