Session report time, lads. Cruise's pub, Ennis, the last Friday in May. And what a night it was.
The Regulars: Mick on fiddle (obviously), Paddy Walsh on the squeeze box, Tomás on guitar, and young Sarah Brennan who's been coming since February and is already fierce good on the tin whistle. She's fifteen and she plays with more confidence than I had at thirty. The future of trad is in safe hands.
The Crowd: Full house. Standing room only by nine o'clock. A mix of locals and blow-ins — a couple from Munich who'd read about the session online, three lads from Limerick who drove over specifically, and a group of American students on a summer programme who were absolutely BUZZING.
The Music: Started with a lovely set of reels. Paddy was in top form — there's a thing he does on the squeeze box where the notes seem to tumble over each other like water, and he was at it all night. Sarah did a solo tin whistle piece that silenced the whole pub. Pure class.
The Rattlin' Bog Count: THREE.
Three times in one session. This has never happened before. Not in all my years at Cruise's. Here's how it went:
The first one was about an hour in. Standard. I started it, the pub joined in, grand. Good energy, nice and clean, everyone knew the words.
The second one was demanded. DEMANDED. By the American students. They'd just learned it from the guide I posted and they wanted to try it live. So we went again. They were brilliant — one of them did the hand gestures and everything.
The third one was Mick's doing. He stood up at about eleven o'clock and announced he had a new eleventh verse. The pub went quiet. Mick cleared his throat. He played the intro. He opened his mouth. And what came out was something about "a cloud on the sun on the sky on the..." and then he lost the thread entirely and started laughing so hard he had to sit down.
The whole pub was in stitches. Paddy was wiping his eyes. Sarah was bent double. The American students were filming it. Mick's eleventh verse remains unfinished after twenty-three years of trying.
Best night in months. The craic was mighty.
Slan go foill, BogLord2002