POB
Dec-06-2004, 6:30pm
Hi folks,
I've just got home from the first of the current round of Planxty gigs in Galway. My kids and wife are all asleep and I have nobody to jabber excitedly to about the gig, so I figured I'd write about it here...
I got big into them when I was fourteen which was a few years after they broke up and I never thought I'd see the day when I'd get to a Planxty gig, so tonight was a big deal for me. You could say I've been waiting for this for over twenty years.
It was great to see them in Galway, because this is where they had the first gig that made them realise they had something special (playing support to Donovan). Luka Bloom (aka Barry Moore) played support tonight and that was nice too, as his first big gig was as a 17 year old playing support to Planxty, also in Galway.
Leaving aside the sentimental stuff for a minute, the music is still great. Now, speaking honestly, there were rough spots - some rhythm slips, a false start or two and a fairly big mistake from none other than Dónal Lunny. I think the next gigs will be a bit smoother - there was a bit of settling in going on tonight. But nobody cared - they still played great and all the better if they're human. Plus, when they had a false start on a tune called "The £42 Cheque", Christy Moore quipped "Only another £41 to go". Priceless.
Lunny and Irvine's interplay on guitar / bouzouki / mandola / mandolin / guitar-bouzouki is indeed a joy. "Little Musgrave" was worth the price of admission alone. Lunny has a pretty lovely Yairi guitar on which he tunes the bass string (or strings - I couldn't be sure) way down. It sounded like they had a bass player at times. I was in some good mandocentric company (including Jaws and Spencer from the Cafe here) and it was fun to ogle all the lovely instruments.
I could go on at length but the bottom line is, tonight I got to see four individual masters of their craft play together in a truly masterful band that rightly attained legendary status. It was wonderful to see these seasoned compadres still playing great music together all these years later, still enjoying it and, perhaps only now, getting the recognition they deserved.
I've just got home from the first of the current round of Planxty gigs in Galway. My kids and wife are all asleep and I have nobody to jabber excitedly to about the gig, so I figured I'd write about it here...
I got big into them when I was fourteen which was a few years after they broke up and I never thought I'd see the day when I'd get to a Planxty gig, so tonight was a big deal for me. You could say I've been waiting for this for over twenty years.
It was great to see them in Galway, because this is where they had the first gig that made them realise they had something special (playing support to Donovan). Luka Bloom (aka Barry Moore) played support tonight and that was nice too, as his first big gig was as a 17 year old playing support to Planxty, also in Galway.
Leaving aside the sentimental stuff for a minute, the music is still great. Now, speaking honestly, there were rough spots - some rhythm slips, a false start or two and a fairly big mistake from none other than Dónal Lunny. I think the next gigs will be a bit smoother - there was a bit of settling in going on tonight. But nobody cared - they still played great and all the better if they're human. Plus, when they had a false start on a tune called "The £42 Cheque", Christy Moore quipped "Only another £41 to go". Priceless.
Lunny and Irvine's interplay on guitar / bouzouki / mandola / mandolin / guitar-bouzouki is indeed a joy. "Little Musgrave" was worth the price of admission alone. Lunny has a pretty lovely Yairi guitar on which he tunes the bass string (or strings - I couldn't be sure) way down. It sounded like they had a bass player at times. I was in some good mandocentric company (including Jaws and Spencer from the Cafe here) and it was fun to ogle all the lovely instruments.
I could go on at length but the bottom line is, tonight I got to see four individual masters of their craft play together in a truly masterful band that rightly attained legendary status. It was wonderful to see these seasoned compadres still playing great music together all these years later, still enjoying it and, perhaps only now, getting the recognition they deserved.