Cruise's was RAMMED this week. Double the usual crowd, maybe more.
It's the TikTok effect, obviously. Young people coming in with their phones, filming the session, learning the verses on the spot. Some of the old-timers were grumpy about it at first — all that filming, all that noise, all those YOUNG PEOPLE who don't know the proper way to session.
But once they started singing? Once the whole pub filled up with voices on the Rattlin' Bog? Even the grumpiest of them were grinning like madmen.
The energy was ELECTRIC. I'm not exaggerating. There's something about a pub full of people all singing the same song that does something to the soul. It's tribal. It's real. It's what music is supposed to be.
Also — and I can't believe I'm typing this — Mick Hennessy got himself a TikTok account.
MICK. Who's been playing fiddle in Cruise's for thirty years. Who asked me what TikTok was two months ago. He's now got FOUR HUNDRED FOLLOWERS and he's posting thirty-second clips of himself playing different variations of the Rattlin' Bog melody.
His videos are BRILLIANT. Really technical, showing all the fiddle work, and people are genuinely loving it. He's got young musicians from Dublin commenting on his technique. Someone from America asked him if he does lessons.
Mick's walking around the session like he's won the lottery. He's having the time of his life.
That's what this is about, at the end. It's not about going viral or media coverage or the TikTok algorithm. It's about the craic. The actual, genuine, person-to-person joy of sharing something you love with other people.
The Rattlin' Bog is doing that. It's bringing people together.
And I get to watch it happen.
February has been MIGHTY. Roll on March.