I had a very good night last night. Leslie Dowdall and Mike Hanrahan, two of Ireland’s best singer/songwriters and formerly of In Tua Nua and Stockton’s Wing, were playing a gig in McDaid’s Pub in Midleton. It was a great gig – a real feast of music! There were about 30 people present, so it was cosy, relaxed and intimate. Boy, does Leslie know how to sing! It was captivating stuff. I was not familiar with many of the songs, but “Wonderful Thing” and “Beautiful Affair” brought back good memories. They also played a few Annie Lennox and Nick Cave songs along with their own work such as the very touching “Garden of Roses”.
Nights like these, when you don’t really know what to expect, are often the best.
Passive Impressions 
Sounds fabulous. Nog and I had a bit of an unexpected musical surprise on our way home last night. We came across a bunch of crazy musicians happily playing out in a square next to the cathedral – some street music festival going on here apparently.
Anyhow, it was lovely – about 9.30pm, people dancing and singing along, lots of kids and dogs everywhere … seriously fun ‘ambientation’ (pardon my Spanglish!).
This was the band:
Banda de la Maria
Made me think of a cross between a New Orleans jazz band and Los Fabulosos Cadillacs. All horns and percussion and singing was done through a megaphone. 🙂
Anyhow, we had a great time hanging out and listening to them for awhile. So I quite agree with you that musical surprises can be very satisfying.
Wow – that’s quite lively! No holding back there!
I’m in something of a classical music phase at the moment – was studying today listening to Schubert, Chopin and Beethoven and you know, it really helped me to concentrate. Not being terribly inclined to music generally, I’m enjoying it a lot.
Shirley has always wanted to go to Ireland … we would LOVE going to a cozy pub and listening to music like that! Maybe that’s something we can do for our 40th ( http://laverneandshirley.wordpress.com/2006/11/22/nyc-tatoos-vegas-what-to-do/) next year!