Holiday

I am taking a holiday, to show my mum a bit of the country. We'll spend one night in Dublin, three in Cork and two in Killarney. We are dependent of public transport, so avoiding mass tourism is going to be impossible. But nevertheless I'm definitely going to enjoy the whole week.

Saskia

Andrea Boccelli

Fear not…I didn’t go to see him….although he did come to Cork last Friday. He was performing in Collin’s Barracks, a military domain just behind the corner. Jazus, you should have been there. It was like there was a major bomb alert. The whole area was blocked, no cars were allowed between five and twelve in the evening. Gardai on every corner…a helicopter passing every ten minutes….Fecking madness. For a concert, I mean. And two miles away, at one of the busiest crossroads of Cork, the traffic lights were out of order. On a Friday evening, at rush hour. No gardai there. Probably all too busy making sure that the Italian singer got to Collin’s Barracks safely. Just wondering what makes Andrea so special he needs to disorder the whole town on a Friday night. Does he have something, Nick Cave, Van Morrison, Diana Ross or Brian Wilson don’t have, when they performed at The Marquee (just a tent on the banks of the Lee, no domain surrounded by concrete walls and barbed wire).

Saskia

Ps: I played the lotto for the first time in my live. Euromillionairs…I was 200% positive it was me going to win the 81 million euro….sigh…not.

The Marquee

Cork 2005…..and The Marquee….will remember it for a while. Went to see two big Irish legends there. Van the Man last Thursday and Christy Moore yesterday evening.

Both concerts were unique in their own way. Got a ticket for the Van Morrison concert as a present from my dad. Bought the Christy ticket myself.

I arrived at The Marquee just on time that Thursday night and was full of expectations. But also a bit worried. ‘Cause I had heard stories about Van Morrison being in a bad mood and leaving early, or playing with his back to the audience….didn’t want to have that of course. But there was definitely no need to worry. He played for more than an hour and a half. Most songs were from his latest album, but he played some classics as well of course. It were his musicians who opened the gig and halfway during the second song, Van the Man appeared on the stage. He got a standing ovation right away. The audience was quite noisy, clapping the whole time, shouting, standing up to get another pint or having a smoke….so different from a Belgian audience, just politely sitting in their chairs, only applauding àfter the songs. There were some flashes from cameras as well. But it didn’t seem to upset Van at all. He even came back for a short encore. People went mad. Jumping, dancing, shouting. It was a great experience, sitting amongst 6000 other Van Morrison fans. It was also a strange experience, Van Morrison dissapearing from time to time, the roadie running on the stage every five minutes to whisper something to one of the musicians. They definitely have to be the best improvisers ever and are probably working for the most difficult boss on earth. But they definitely know how to cope with that. Thanks again dad, for giving me the opportunity to see Van the Man live at last.

Yesterday night another legend so. Went together with the French housemate. I wasn’t very impressed by supporting act Freddie White.The Marquee was quite noisy as well. Think we were all just waiting for Christy to appear. And he did, together with Declan Sinnot (who by the way looked so much older than on the Planxty DVD from last year). It was amazing. Christy is a legend in Ireland, that’s for sure. The audience just sang along with àll the songs. After every song a loud applaud. But the thing that struck me most were the quite songs. You literally could hear a pin drop (something even Van Morrison didn’t succeed in). I think it is his charisma, that made Christy the legend he is today. People just adore him. He did play some of my favourite songs, including The City of Chicago (with thanks to Luka Bloom), the Biko Drum, Joxer, Missing you, Lisdoonvarna, Black is the colour, Yellow triangle and Ordinary Man. Will remember this concert for a while. Definitely.


Saskia (seriously suffering from hay fever)