The Dubliners – Boadicea's Chariot

The Dubliners last night at Cheltenham Town Hall; well, what can I say?

Cheltenham Town Hall is always a tricky venue. People with dosh tend to get the best seats at the front but they aren’t always the most enthusiastic, so the moderate spenders who are devotees are often found in the centre/back of the hall.

There was applause when the guys walked on stage but not the wild adulation of long-time fans. It was warm but normal kind of applause.

Banjo Barney McKenna took a while getting to his seat. He is stout with an unruly grey beard, a generous corporation and owlish steel-framed specs perched on the end of his nose beneath a dark peaked hat. I was terrified he would fall over and break a hip. Continue reading “Wild Rovers”

I thought her the queen of the land

And her hair, it hung over her shoulder

Tied up with a black velvet band.”

A must-sing chorus, which is precisely what I’ll be doing tonight when the Dubliners come to Cheltenham Town Hall.

Looking forward to it hugely, even though they will be without beardy Ronnie Drew with the voice that put me in mind of sandpapering gravel, Luke Kelly and Ciaran Bourke who were all very much in evidence last time I saw them. Now sadly deceased, RIP guys.

Fortunately the others are still going strong. I like it that musicians go on and on doing their stuff. The music only dies when they do.

I expect there to be widespread joining in. I certainly will be. Just the thought makes me burst into terrible cod-Irish accented song.

It made me wonder if there’s some unwritten rule about when it’s correct to sing along with the artist when you’ve paid for tickets to a concert? Continue reading ““Her eyes they shone like diamonds…..”