Entertainment
Saw Docs back with a bang as they plan a third Seapoint show
Proving they are back with a bang following a three-year break, the Saw Doctors will play a third Galway concert in Seapoint Ballroom on New Year’s Eve, Saturday, December 31.
Tickets went on sale last Friday for their comeback Galway concert, due to take place on December 29 in Seapoint. That show sold out in under 10 minutes via Ticketmaster.
They then announced a second show, for November 19. It had sold out by Monday lunchtime.
Tickets for their third and final Galway concert, at Seapoint Ballroom on New Year’s Eve, will go on sale this Friday, August 19, at 10am.
It’s four years since the Saw Doctors last played a concert in Galway – they rocked the Docks in July 2012 when they played a free open-air concert for a crowd of over 40,000 people during the Galway Volvo Ocean Race stopover.
However, for the past three years, they have been on a break from touring and live gigs.
Their decision to return to the road, which they announced earlier this summer, has received a massively positive response, and they have already sold out three Dublin shows at the Olympia Theatre on November 24, 25 and 26.
Davy Carton and Leo Moran will regroup the full band in early September when drummer Rickie O’Neill becomes free. Rickie is currently performing in Once the Musical at Dublin’s Olympia Theatre.
The Saw Doctors will then rehearse for three weeks before embarking on a mini Scottish tour of the Highlands and Islands from October 6-16.
Later this year the band will play a three-week UK tour, starting in Cardiff on November 28 and finishing up in Glasgow on December 17. The 15-date tour will include a sell-out show at London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire on December 9 and another in Glasgow’s 02 Academy on December 16.
The Saw Doctors have also signed up to play a month-long US tour in March 2017 with headline concerts in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Chicago and San Francisco.
■ Tickets for their Galway show on New Year’s Eve are available from this Friday at the Róisín Dubh and at www.roisindubh.net as well as via Ticketmaster outlets and online from www.ticketmaster.ie
Folk duo Niall Teague and Pádraic Joyce are launching their new album What Will We Be, a blend of folk, Americana and acoustic music, this Friday, May 19, at 8pm in An Taibhdhearc.
The success of their well-received 2020 release Taobh le Taobh, as well as recent successes at the Pan Celtic and Oireachtas Song Contests, spurred the duo on to record this new album which represents many years of collaboration and musical development.
It features Niall and Pádraic on vocals, harmonies, and acoustic guitars, Maidhc Ó hÉanaigh on double bass and Neil Fitzgibbon on fiddle. The catchy title track, What Will We Be, features contributions from percussionist Jim Higgins (The Stunning, Christy Moore, Paul Brady) and haunting, driving melodies on vocals, guitar, and fiddle.
Themes of love and hope are woven through Come Away with Me which features interplay between piano and fiddle as well as rich vocal harmonies.
People, places, and broken dreams are celebrated and lamented on Martin and Tom, Guitar Gold, Memories of You and Achill Island. The influence of David Henry Thoreau’s novel Walden features on the tracks Simple and Wise and Walden, with the beauty of nature, escape and simple pleasures at their core.
The album moves from minimalistic folk ballads such as Galway Ghost to swirling, string-laden arrangements on the song Neptune, both of which are influenced by maritime tales from Galway. Much of the work on this album was supported by the Arts Council, including work with musical arranger Eoin Corcoran and the string ensemble Treo.
The album will be launched this Friday, May 19, at 8pm in an Taibhdhearc. Tickets €22, plus booking fee at Eventbrite.ie.
Dunmore is the place to be this weekend for lovers of traditional music, as the Galway County Fleadh will take place there from this Friday, May 19, to Sunday, May 23.
It is 10 years since Dunmore last hosted a fleadh and the local Comhaltas branch, which has re-formed since Covid, is looking forward to facilitating this gathering of music, song, dance and craic.
The official Opening Concert will take place in Dunmore Town Hall this Friday at 8pm with the acclaimed Mulcahy family from Limerick. Mick, Louise and Michelle are well known throughout the country, thanks to their live performances, television appearances and numerous CDs. They were the winners of the TG4 Gradam Ceoil Grúpa Ceoil Award for 2023. Tickets for their concert can be purchased on the door and a great night of music is promised.
Two days of competitions will kick off this Saturday at the town’s Community School, with more than 1,500 competitors taking part. Participants will be hoping to qualify for the Connacht Fleadh 2023, which will be held in Ballina, County Mayo, from June 23 to July 2.
Competitions for those aged Under 10, Under 12 and Under 15 will be held in a large variety of instruments on Saturday, as well as in singing and Comhrá Gaeilge. Sunday’s competitions will be for the Under 18 and Over 18 ages groups, as well as in dancing.
On both days a large entry is expected for Grúpaí Cheoil and Céilí Band competitions across all age groups.
Seventeen Comhaltas branches from across Galway will have participants in this weekend’s competitions, which will result in a large number of visitors to the Dunmore area.
Members of the public are welcome to attend the competitions, which offer a great opportunity to hear and see the talent on display. There will be sessions in local pubs over the weekend as well and everybody is welcome to attend these.
For more information on the County Fleadh, go to www.galwaycomhaltas.ie.
Music for Galway’s concert with renowned Swiss pianist Cédric Pescia which had been due to take place on April 27 but which had to be deferred, will now take place next Tuesday, May 23, at 8pm, in the Emily Anderson Concert Hall at the University of Galway.
This concert of German classics with Bach at its core, will brings the Bach element of Music for Galway’s 41st season to an end.
This world-class pianist who won the famous Gina Bachauer International Artists Piano Competition, has a repertoire that spans many eras from baroque to contemporary and he is widely known for his elaborate programmes. Cédric Pescia describes music as ‘language and movement at the same time’.
Audiences will have a chance to experience his soft, clear touch as he performs a programme for solo piano that will include classics such as Schumann’s popular Waldszenen (Forest Scenes), a suite of nine short pieces, and the penultimate of Beethoven’s piano sonatas, No. 31. These pieces will be interspersed with French Suites by Bach.
■ Ticket for Cédric Pescia’s concert are available at www.musicforgalway.ie, or by phone 091 705962 and on the door on the night. They cost €20/€18. The price for fulltime students of all ages is €6 while MfG Friends can avail of the friends’ rate of €16.
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