Coors Light Peak - Galway Review (03/10/2009)

After a fantastic Coors Light Peak Event in Limerick (Review Here: Limerick Event ) The Coors team were now settled in the city of the tribes. Once again they had found an ideal area of the docklands this time on Nimmo’s Pier. I unfortunately missed out on “The Flaws” due to a certain Magners League match that I no longer want to talk about. The area was set up slightly different to limerick as this time they had a second stage set up and they had lovely Flame lit torches adoring the entrance and the stage looked much bigger.

When I arrived (Late) the second smaller stage nearer the bar was in full swing and it was non-other than local Galway band disconnect 4. These guys are incredible hard working band and seem to be at every live event that happens in Galway. The actual were at the gig I was at the night previous because they had given a loan of their equipment to Oliver Cole for his gig. Tonight saw them using this equipment to blast out songs to a really packed docklands. The songs they were playing mainly came from their latest EP “Modern Love”. Its hard not to make similarities to other bands throughout their set, such as the Cure, Bravery,The Killers but I guess this is were they drew their sound and look from. The band are a great superb live act and look forward to hearing their live again and hearing their upcoming album.

Next up was the one-man-band Jeremy Hickey under the pseudonym of R.S.A.G(Rarely Seen Above Ground). Having seen the guy play the last Peak even it kinda is hard to write a review without saying all the same things. Tonight saw him play a very similar set and the sound was again fantastic. The crowd was much bigger for galway and they truly enjoyed his performance. The visuals once again were top notch, If you want to find out more info check out my review of his set at the limerick even here : http://indielimerick.blogspot.com/2009/09/coors-light-peak-limerick-review.html

As Jape set up for the last of the nights acts , drummers played upon the metal containers surrounded the docklands area. I thought this was a great touch by the Coors Light people, You can see as the events go on , they are improving it ever so lightly. Jape got straight down to business and had the crowd in a frenzy before you knew it. Admittedly the limerick gig the week previous (Review Here : http://indielimerick.blogspot.com/2009/09/dolans-warehouse-guinness-250.html) was much better, but I think that’s because some of the energy was lost in the night air and the vastness of the area in galway count not contain the Jape madness. Having said that the set was still amazing and Jape live is just a sight to behold. He told us he is to be Married this Friday and we would like to send out our best wishes to him and his bride to be for the special day, I wonder what band they have booked for the day :) The crowd were in great spirits despite the cold, there was many a crowd surf and people on shoulders. Like limerick for Jape’s song “StreetWise” he accompanied by a fan for the chorus, this time it was a guy by the name of “Milo”. He really had some great moves and was very entertaining to watch his excitement singing with Richie. The video’s below are all a bit shite due to the closeness of the speakers but worth the watch anyway. The set ended with the backing track of Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” with the word love being replaced and sung as Fuck by both Richie and the crowd. This saw another end to a fantastic Coors light peak event. If you can get yourself to one log onto to their website and apply for tickets. The event is free and I guarantee a fantastic night of music. Next event is on in Waterford on the 27th of October. No bands are listed yet but keep checking here : http://www.coorslightpeak.ie. Thanks for a great night Coors! Jape Video Playlist

Oliver Cole Live Upstairs at the Roisin Dubh, Galway (02/10/09) REVIEW

I real wet Friday night in galway saw my first visit to the upstairs area in the Roisin Dubh for a gig. I was in town to see the Coors Light peak event the next night but saw that ex Turn member “Oliver Cole” was to play upstairs. Ten euro entrance fee brilliantly included a copy of his three track EP “What Will You Do?”. The EP had been launched in the capital the night previous. The crowd and room were small as the first figure arrived on stage. This figure was to be “Ultan Conlan”. This guy actually blew me away with his voice and amazing lyrics. How I haven’t heard this guy before is beyond me. The voice just hits you like several punches to the heart. The silky smooth voice and Leonardcohenesque lyrics made an amazing combination. The guy has bags of talent and can’t wait to get hold of his debut album “Bless Your Heart” which comes out later this month. There is a fantastic single on his myspace called "Really Gone" which includes the late great John Martyn in the mix. I cant speak highly enough about this guys raw emotional performance on front of 18 people before he jetted off to work. He will be one to watch like a hawk, let’s hope we see him come to limerick soon. I expect huge things for this man and if not something is wrong in the industry. Next up was Oliver Cole. You may remember the guy from the really successful Irish band “Turn”, that band came in went in the years 1998 to 2006. Tonight saw Cole being backed by a bassist and drummer, the only thing remaining from the Turn days is his red electric guitar. The songs nowadays are aged and mellowed but like a nice wine. Most songs were converted from piano songs to this layout and it work perfect. The sound was great and you can see the years of gigging as put ollie in a position of complete ease playing live. The band were in a reflective mood and shared fantastic on the road stories. Ollie’s guitar was cursed tonight as it saw two broken strings, but this gave the band more time for telling yarns. The “what goes on tour stays on tour” motto doesn’t seem to apply to these guys as we were treated to stories of threesomes where Ollie’s bassist told us of a night where he brought back a girl to his apartment were Ollie was uninvitingly staying too. Ollie decided to walk into their room and see if he could get in on the action. To secure the deal he said “I promise I won’t touch your mickey”. The tales were hilarious and great to hear and the night turned into a lovely storytelling night between songs. He told us the tale of the red guitar, which involved a member of the crowd at a gig steal the guitar. Not until several years later did they get an e-mail from a guy who was at a house party and over heard the host boosting about stealing Turn’s Guitar. They eventually tracked the guy down and got the guitar back. They spoke of a night bumping into the bass player from the stone roses where he tipped them off about a great bar to frequent. When arriving to this bar they could only get served Cocaine and Moonshine while Ollie played Pool with a big black guy with a gun. They got out of their sharpish. The music was fantastic throughout as they whittled through their paired down set and pints of Galway Hooker to a room of about 18 people. We heard such songs as "Too Many People" which i had heard before as it was featured on the Charity album "The Cake Sale", This project involved many Irish artists writing songs and other people singing them, Glen Hansard sang his song on the album. He also played a an old reworked Turn song and many other that will feature on his upcoming album. Ollie’s album is out very soon and I for one will be checking it out.

SetList :

Oh My Girl

Too Many People

What Will You Do?

Close Your Eyes

We Albatri

Little Bad Dream

Drug Song

Need you Stray

Moths Wing

Holding Your Heart

Life's Great Advice

Albums Worth Listening to in October 09

This will be added too id say as the month goes on. A great month for releases. I will hopefully get around to an album review of Sanzkrit's Debut "After the wedding", for now check them out here :http://sanzkrit.com/

Mouse Mouse not playing Limerick !!!

I wrote here at the start of the month that modest mouse were to play in limerick in dolans, This is now cancelled and they are now playing in Galway's Roisin Dubh on the 5th of December, Tickets already nearly sold out. This is a kick in the teeth for the warehouse venue however ill still be going no matter where its on.

From Dolans :

Hi Music Lovers It is with heavy heart that I write this mail to you as contrary to online rumours Modest Mousewill not be playing Dolans this December. There was a whisper of it happening some weeks ago but in the end the band have decided to play just Dublin this time around. We will endeavour to catch them on their next European tour. In the meantime try to console yourselves with all the other wonderful gigs we have over the next few months. As always, if anything else wonderful happens with Dolans, you will be the first to know! TD

The Gig is to take place on the 5th of December in the Radisson Hotel in Galway.Tickets available from the roisindubh site(www.roisindubh.net/) . The Hotel has a live lounge heres the spec :

The Live Lounge newly designed, purpose-built 6000 square foot venue has a 700 person capacity for concerts and is also ideal for comedians, dancers, actors, exhibitions and conferences. The Live Lounge has a large ground floor area and a wrap around balcony/ mezzanine, and excellent catering facilities, making it also ideal as an exhibition or conference centre, and has ample car parking facilities and located opposite main bus and rail station all right in the heart of Galway city.

This will be Galway’s First destination Venue which is equipped with high-tech, state of the art technology. With digitally processed, fingertip control sound, the top of the range sound system will ensures the Live Lounge is the ultimate live gig venue, with maximum sound quality and guaranteed listening pleasure!

The lighting and rigging systems are equally – the focus will be to promote the Radisson Blu Hotel, Galway as the West of Irelands premiere Entertainment/Exhibition Destination. Designed to provide the facilities for variety of acts, this venue aims to attract high quality, top class acts in many disciplines from Ireland, the UK and abroad. The Live Lounge is the place to play in Galway!

This Saturday in Dolans - A Worthy Cause & A Great Night of Music

Last Days of the Death Country have been organizing an event for their friend Gerard McDonnell, Gerard was the first Irishman to climb the summit of K2, In the decent he died in an avalanche while, fellow climbers believe, attempting to free a trapped member of the expedition. The band are putting on a night of music to raise money for a memorial fund for Gerard. This is taking place next Saturday the 3rd in Dolans warehouse. Ill let the band give you the details : Hey all, I'd like to invite you all to an event that i have been planning for 2 months. I want to raise money for the Gerard McDonnell Memorial Fund, Ger was a close friend of mine and this is a very fitting tribute to my friend who loved music. Showcasing some of the best upcoming irish acts. Vertigo Smyth, Windings, Supermodel Twins, Last Days Of Death Country, Walter Mitty And The Realists and a great club with Dan Sykes So Saturday October 3rd in Dolans Warehouse @ 9.30 Sharp the Gig will start and all this great night of music is only 10euro Please come along and lets make as much money as we can for this very worthy cause and lets have a great night doing it if you can please send this on to people and invite as many as you can http://www.explorersweb.com/news.php?id=17919 http://www.mountainfund.org/online/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=90&Itemid=127 Thank you and i look forward to seeing you there Patrick O'Brien (Last Days of Death Country)

Arthur's Day - Dolans Warehouse Guinness 250 Celebrations Review

While all eyes were on St.Jame’s Gate in Dublin for the celebrations of Arthurs Day, Dolans were putting on their party to honour the great man’s 250 year lease. The pub was nicely packed when I arrived and tucked into my first Guinness around 7. The warehouse was to host 3 bands while upstairs was hosting the 18th instalment of the Green & Live Sessions. In an ideal world I would have witnesses both but I opted for the warehouse well for at least most of the night.

The first band to adored the stage was “Alphastates”. Surprisingly as everyone had expected the lesser known band 21 outs to play first. I later heard that Alphastates had arrived very late for the event and had to go on first has they had nothing set up in terms of speakers and so on. The band tonight were reduced to two, due to one member breaking his leg during the week and an other being sick. We witnessed the pair having a rushed sound check while they were only hooked up to the two main speakers. The sound throughout remained poor and it was unfortunate as im sure with the full band they are a great live act. The two soldiered on and gave a short but great 6 song set. The lead singer Catherine Dowling had given birth 11 weeks pervious and looked great I must say! Ill look forward to catching the full effect of Alphastates hopefully in the future. Alphastates Set List: Taste The Record Machine Addicted Astronauts Champagne Glass Angel Kiss

Next up were “21 Outs” . This young band are amazing live, they are so energetic on stage and give it their all. The crowd in the warehouse was getting bigger and louder, probably due to the nice amount of free Guinness being handed out. The Galway band relished the crowd’s energy and played a blinding set. I was very impressed by these guys and cant wait to get my hand on some of their material. They clearly gig an awful lot and are so comfortable with being on stage, 21 Outs are one band to watch out for! 21 Outs Set List : Wastin Time Doormat Wait For Nothing Anonymous Slander One of Those Bunny Boiler Blues Just before Jape took to the stage I ran upstairs hoping to catch a glimpse of the 18th Green & live Sessions. When I arrived Walter Mitty & the Realists were in full swing and just hitting into my favourite song on their album “Red is the Number”. The video below just shows how brilliant they were, unfortunately I had to leave after that but was quite satisfied to have seen them at all. Walter Mitty & the Realist Set List: Restless Endless Sucker Punch My Inner Childs a Drum Kit Lie in The Summer Buy for 4 Bones Oh The Shame Red is the Number The Raptor Instantly Nothing Green Light Go

Last up was “Jape”. There was such little advertising for this gig and I couldn't believe jape were playing at this when I heard. I am going to see Jape next Saturday again as part of the Coors Light Peak events in Galway and I thought the gig in Dolans would spoil the surprise of seeing him live. It did nothing of the sort if anything it fuelled the excitement. Jape aka Richie Egan is just incredible live, He gives a performance nothing short of brilliance. I have his 2009 Choice Music Prize Album Ritual for quite some time now and listened to it here and there, Buts its live on stage where his music lives. Listening to the album now has a whole different meaning/dimension and it just all comes together and works. I can completely see why this guys award winning and probably one of the best Live Irish acts today. If you haven’t witnessed Jape live make it your mission this year. The crowd were just short of bonkers throughout the set with many a crowd surfer and even people on shoulder moments. The warehouse was transformed into some sort of crazy Guinness festival and it was amazing to watch from the balcony. A man named Brian from Clonlara, Co.Clare was horsed on stage by Jape to partake in “Street Wise” (Video Below). Apparently he had sang with him for the same song at electric picnic. Nearing the end of the set he was joined once more, this time by two crazy girls who just wanted to dance. The night was amazing; at the end it included Richie diving into the crowd twice for a nice surf around the warehouse courtesy of the limerick crowd(Pic Above). What a night! To Arthur!! Here is a video playlist of Jape from the night

To Martha!

Celebrate Arthur G's 250 Lease tomorrow night, limerick bars will be having Guinness promos all over the city but the night in dolans looks the most promising.

From the blurb :

Dolans Celebrates Arthurs Day with style! Dolans on Dock Road Thursday September 24th from 5:30pm Come join us and play Guitar Hero on the Big Screen in the Upstairs venue from 5:30pm and be in with a chance of winning 1 of 3 Limited Edition Guinness 250 MP3 Docking Stations! Then take a break at 17:59 downstairs in the pub to toast the great Arthur Guinness on the 250th Anniversary of his signing of the 9,000 year lease on St. James’ Gate Brewery in Dublin with a lovely pint of the black stuff! The Guitar Hero fun continues until 8pm where the action moves to the Warehouse for a night of great music with Choice Music Prize 2009 Winner Jape, well known Dublin based Alphastates and Galway band 21 Outs to be followed by the best DJ talents from LSAD. The best thing about the whole night is you can see all these bands for a celebratory €2.50! Following the Guitar Hero fun Upstairs Green n Live take over with another rocking night of free music featuring Limerick heroes Walter Mitty & The Realists, Van Cleef & Animal Beats!

Coors Light Peak - Limerick Review - 19/09/2009

Last Saturday evening the desolate docklands of Limerick were transformed into a vibrant musical venue. The dockyard, which sits in the shadow of the Clarion Hotel, hosts stacks of huge metal shipping containers and faces out onto the River Shannon and was opened up to Limerick’s public for one night of music - the first instalment of Coors Light Peak events. These events are taking place across 6 Irish cities in their ports and docklands. Tickets are free of charge through their website http://www.coorslightpeak.ie. Firstly, the venue really was amazing, with every little detail looked after. Coors Light really utilised the raw materials in the space well, with an industrial-looking stage framed by a huge metal outline of the Rockies and projections of the mountains and later close-ups of the artists on metal shipping containers. Even the bar was housed in a shipping container! A lot of time an effort went into this and it was very well-run production. The space, with its juxtaposition of metal and concrete and the fresh breeze of the Shannon, and a prime location (down the road from Dolans, five minutes from town) created a unique atmosphere and should definitely be used for gigs in the future. Perhaps even an annual event – one can only hope!

Gates opened at 6 and at 6.20 saw local Limerick band ‘Walter Mitty & the Realists’ take to the stage. I had seen the band support ‘Dirty Pretty Things’ in Dolans a while back and have unfortunately missed a number of their local shows since. The difference in the two performances was astounding. The maturity and crispness of the sound has really developed. In that time, the lads have done extensive touring including Indie Week in Canada, which really shows as they were really tight. This month saw the release of their much anticipated debut album “Green Light Go”, produced by the Cranberries drummer Fergal Lawler. It’s a definite must-have!! The lads put on a great show; it was just unfortunate that the crowd was so small. The energy they create on stage is incredible: nothing is held back. With a diverse catalogue of sounds, stick-in –your-head riffs and energy to rival many seasoned acts, they really impressed. I didn’t get a chance to get their set list as they were playing off-the-cuff, (another sign of a band to whom playing live is so natural). The guys play the next instalment of the Green & Live sessions in Dolans on the 24th of September (Free Gig), get your copy of their album and get your ass down there.

Next up were Dark Room Notes. Fresh from their Electric Picnic performance the Dublin act put on a great show, although to a disappointing number of patrons. However this did not diminish the band’s performance as they gave it socks! They created a great sound which fuses the best elements of indie, electronic, and well-crafted pop and essentially makes you want to dance! Playing a short, but brilliant 6 song set, all of which came from their fantastic debut album “We Love You Dark Matter“ - another Irish album well worth investing in. It was great to witness their electronic pop brilliance live. A great gig! Dark Room Notes Set-List: Broken Nail Shake Shake My Ceiling Love Like Nicotine This Hot Heat Treetops Lets Light Fires

Next up was the one-man-band Jeremy Hickey under the pseudonym of R.S.A.G(Rarely Seen Above Ground). I have been meaning to catch him live for awhile now and it was worth the wait. The components that combine to make R.S.A.G are essentially a guy on stage singing and playing the drums, whilst projected images of pre-recorded guitar and bass flash on screen. What you get however is so much more than that. Whatever about the impressive ability one must have to play all these instruments to such a level and with such intensity, it is the impact of the overall experience which is most memorable. With the layers of sound and visuals streaming from the stage, it’s a powerful sensory experience. It’s amazing the sound one guy can make, and shows real innovation. It’s hard not to make comparisons to Talking Heads with a twist and Ian Curtis-like vocals. One of his songs included the introduction of a Gas Cylinder being used as a drum. The visuals behind the drum kit were spectacular and kept the crowd enthralled throughout. On the videos below you can experience the great performance put in by the Kilkenny man. His debut album, ‘Organic Sampler’ will undoubtedly remain high on ‘Best of Irish’ lists and again is another one worth forking out for, already nominated for a Choice award at the start of the year. A super set - R.S.A.G will be playing all the Coors light peak shows, so get your free tickets now. R.S.A.G Set-list: Be it Right or Wrong Stick to your Line Talk Back Crawl Back Its Over Bad Seed The Climb Moon Moving the Ocean Before They Make you Run

Last up was Reverend & the Makers, I had the pleasure of meeting the brains behind this band back stage in the form of Jon McClure (The Reverend). His presence in a room is quite something, towering over everyone like a giant. He spoke of how he loves to play gigs in Ireland and his fondness for Limerick. As this would be his second gig here this year. As he clambers up the steps to the stage you can hear the crowd roar as he tears into his 14 strong song set. Highlights include crowd favourite “Heavyweight Champion” and “Silence is Talking”. If you research the lead singer you will find a wealth of side projects, such as collaborations with various members of the Arctic Monkeys and so on. The guy is a work horse when it comes to making music and his current effort is the 2009 album “A French Kiss in the Chaos”, its a must have for any music collection. His images of ordinary life are amazingly poetic and this combined with his Sheffield accent is quite unique and brilliant. The band seems to be cropping up everywhere on the gigging calendar of late and are really hard at work. The reverend put in an awesome performance to close out the first of the coors light peak events in Limerick. Such a fantastic idea and hopefully ill get myself to one or two more before the year is out. The next one up is Galway on the 3rd of October featuring Jape, The Flaws and R.S.A.G, Get your tickets quick! Cheers for a great day of music. Reverend & the Makers Set-list: Silence is Talking State of Things Miss Brown Heavyweight Champion Manifesto Mermaids No Wood Open Your Window Professor Pickles Bandits Hard Times He Said He Loved Me Encore: The Machine Armchair Detective Coors Light Peak Photo Slideshow

Cool Coors Light Video for Limerick

Modest Mouse are coming to Limerick!!

With what will surely be the gig of the year for Limerick in December. Modest Mouse will be in dolans on the 5th, I actually cant believe it. I have wanted to see this band for so long and again l will be ticking off one of my bands i must see before I die! What news!! Ill keep you posted on this!Support on the night come from the brilliant Frightened Rabbit.

Cois Fharraige 2009 Festival Review

One month ago we were informed Cois Fharraige 2009 was going to go ahead. This silenced a lot of rumours of cancellations and so on about the seaside Festival. In the end the local businesses rallied around and made up the money to fund the festival. With only a month to sort out bands and ticket sales, it must have been no easy task. Well done to all involved from the pubs, restaurants and shops to the Festival People to the cleaners and so on everything ran very smoothly and was a top class weekend. One big thing that stood out was the weather; it was the best weekend for sunshine for the whole year. With the R word looming in everyone’s mind , Electric Picnic just over and a last minute festival announcement and also the Coldplay concert in the Phoenix park in Dublin on the Monday, its incredible how the crowd made it all. Now saying that the crowd was a lot smaller this year, with ample space in the tents every night especially on the Sunday. There were a lot of people down there purely for the sunshine and pints and never saw the inside of the tent. I missed a good few bands due to the draw of the beach, sun and scoops. What other festival could you be swimming and come out of the water to find Jerry Fish and The Mudbug club playing an Impromptu set right on the sand! Unfortunately I didn’t get to see him later that night but seeing playing on the beach was good enough for me. Ill break down day by day as best I can, Be sure and comment on your highlights and experience if you want. Last years review is here : Cois Fharraige 2008 DAY 1 I got down to Kilkee on the Friday around 4 and went straight to the pub , with a few festival warm up scoops , it was tent bound around 6 to hear that Joe Echo had not started due to the small crowd size, an hour later he came on to a small crowd of about 27 people. He really impressed me and the crowd, his voice is amazing and he a serious one to watch. There is a video below on the video slideshow, be sure to check him out. Then on stage came Laura Izibor , The crowd was a lot bigger by then and she was very very good, I wouldn’t be the biggest fan of hers but she truly gave the crowd their moneys worth, singing all her radio hits. She has amazing stage presence and is well able to conduct a crowd. “Shine” was brilliant and the crowd truly enjoyed it. Video below also. Then on came the inevitable, The Blizzards, There hasn’t been a festival or gig lately that they haven’t been involved in. People should really be sick of them by now , what with constant support slots and radio play, but there not sick of them and you can see why. There songs are the lovable tune that will stick in your head for the weekend and its hard not to dance to the feckers. “Trouble” was the highlight and they really performed well and the crowd loved them. They played a song dedicated to 9-11 due to it being the anniversary and also a cover of “Black & Gold”, a tribute to The Specials. Its clear the specials have had a major influence on the lads and the Ska really comes out in their music. They really lifted the crowd and started the night going nicely.

Then on stage came the festival weekend highlight in the form of “Doves”. I really cant say much more about their new album “Kingdom of Rust” , It’s a serious record and will finishing highly in peoples top albums list of 2009. Go out and get it! I was really looking forward to these guys has I hadn’t seen them before and they were on my list of bands to see before I die. They hit straight into my favourite song of their new album “Jetstream”. The lead singer doesn’t really portray a lot of emotion up on stage put the music throughout the set was flawless. 3 songs in they played the crowd favourite “Pounding” and the tent went suitable nuts! They boast a great back catalogue and what we got that night was a serious greatest hits set. It truly was a magic gig played by them. The final song "The Fear" ended in the band all taking to a percussion instrument and leaving the crowd in a daze of brilliants. If I had gone home after Doves I would have been quite content with the festival. Doves SetList 11th: Jetstream Snowden Winter Hill Pounding Almost Forgot 10:03 Words Greatest Denier Kingdom of Rust Black & White Town The Outsiders Caught By The River Encore : Cedar Room Here It Comes Last Broadcast The Fear DAY 2 Saturday saw the sun split the rocks once more and I was able to enjoy the weather on the beach all day accompanied by beers , a windbreaker and foldy up chairs. The seaside town was like festival heaven that day, Had a great swim in the bay and as mentioned above caught Mr.Jerry Fish playing an impromptu set on the beach.

As I said due to the savage weather and drinking I missed some bands namely Jerry Fish ,The Hold Steady and Noah & the Whale but there was far more craic down the town. It was one of the lads birthdays so we bought an ass load of Party favours from the 2euro shop, in the form of Party Poppers and Glow Sticks. Also bought from there was a Chinese lantern, these things are cool and a must buy if your having a party of some kind. We lit the lantern and it inflated and flew off into the night sky, much to the amusement of passers by.

With all the birthday malarkey done we headed up to the big blue tent for another night a plastic pints and music. We arrived just in time to catch the dreadlocked Newton Faulkner. He is incredibly talented with the guitar and wowed the audience with songs from his debut album "Handbuilt by Humans" and songs from his current album "Rebuilt by Humans". He used a plectra of instruments ranging from a feet playing keyboard and a Tape recorder. His version of Massive Attacks "Teardrop" is my favourite and he played it superbly on the night. An all round great performance. Video Below.

Then came the loopers “The Sawdoctors”. These guys have been around now for 27 years!!! There are a firm Irish favourite and play a brand of music that would get a goat dancing. They blasted straight into "N17" and the crowd went nuts. Having a nice few pints in me I also joined in on the jigs. It was a seriously good set from the Tuam lads and they look suitable happy to be headlining this festival. Their set list is a serious bag of fun and energy from both crowd and band and everyone left there in a great mood. We all ended in the Kilkee bay hotel to witness a cover band play a crazy rendition of the final countdown with the crowd going bonkers, a great end to a great night. The Sawdoctors Setlist 12th: N17 Tommy K She Loves Green + Red Red Cortina Chips Darkness Someone Loves You I Used Ta Lover Be Yourself Clare Island On My Way About You Now Why Do I Always Bless Me Father Thats What She J.C.C.B Hay Wrap DAY 3 Most of the crowd with work looming in the morning headed for home but I on the other hand had Monday off and made the most of the brilliant sunshine. That night saw us again missing some bands namely “Hallo…I Love You" and "Jazzlite" but just making it up to the tent in time to see The Lighting seeds start their acoustic set. Ian Broudie suffered a few guitar sound mishaps but nothing major, just a false start here and there and a few broken strings but an the whole he played a blinding set of hits to a half empty tent of hardcore festival goers. Next up were the Stereo MC’s which saw a DJ, two scantly clad dancers and a screen broadcasting psychedelic choon clips and a mental lead singer take to the stage. These guys would not be a big favourite of mine but it was hard not to get dancing to this music, It sure looks like the years have taken its tole on the lead roarer, but the music was excellent and the crowd favourites were enjoyed by the small crowd and they really rocked the tent that night.

Last but not least saw The Zutons back to Kilkee, This time playing the festival back to back. Last year saw their stage presence a lot different(Review here : The Zutons 2008), this year not opting for a background image and less backing members but none the less the music remained the same and what a performance they gave! You can’t get more up beat jumping around music than these guys and with a half empty tent you could happily jump around! I witnessed a guy in full scuba outfit, even with flippers and he couldn’t not dance to these infectious beats. The band seemed to be really relaxed and just comfortable to be doing what they do. The set they played included all the classic zuton tunes you needed and ended yet another extremely successful Cois Fharraige festival. Congrats to all involved and please to god that it will all happen again next year. The Zutons Setlist 13th : Always Hello Conscience Harder Pressure Point Bum Bag Confusion Valerie Don't Ever Think Just You Wait Zuton Fever Why Wont You Gimmie Your Love You Will You Won't

Cois Fharraige 2009 Video Playlist

Cois Fharraige 2009 Picture Slideshow

The Belltable, Back on The Session Again!

The Highly popular Belltable sessions are back with a bang this Thursday with their 5th installment of talented musicians. This sessions see Cork man Gavin Moore, Shannon native Lou Mahon and the wonderful Cork based Armoured Bear take to the acoustic stage. I have witnessed Lou before at the Green & Live sessions in dolans ( Review here :Green & Live Sessions 12) This is sure to be a great night of music all kicking off at 8 bells and the entrance fee is only 10 bucks, what more you could ask. This is the first of three to take place in this stint of sessions, Check my gig listings on the right side bar for the other dates. For more information check out these sites :

http://www.myspace.com/thebelltablesessions

http://www.belltable.ie/unpluggedsessions.html

Ill leave you with one of the acts playing this Thursday :