Was all excited so when I discovered that Denis likes Josh’ music at least as much as I do. And I was thrilled when I found out Josh was playing The Everyman Palace. We got tickets straight away. Were looking forward to the gig for a while. Yesterday the big night.
We went for a Sunday spin in the afternoon first. It’s a big thing in Ireland. People get into the car after Sunday dinner (around 2pm), drive somewhere with a view, park the car, get the Sunday Papers out and relax –even fall asleep- for a while. When it gets dark back home for tea.
In the car so, up to the West…for another beach….Long Beach, near Clonakilty. Was a bit cloudy and bit of a breeze, but after a horrible Saturday, no reason to complain as at least it was dry. Went for a walk, up and down the beach. Challenging the sea…no wet feet whatsoever…up to the dunes (grass, no sand)…admiring the surfers (fair play to them…water is bloody cold this time of the year – Denis is trying to talk me into it, but I might just stick with a swim in the ocean…in the summer). Back to the car. No Sunday Papers this time, but Denis did bring a flask of coffee and apple pie. Back to Clonakilty after, for a pint of Beamish in one of the locals. Instead of taking the main road, we took one of the back roads heading into Bandon. Great excitement. A group of about thirty men of all ages, gathered together at both sides of the road. Wasn’t really clear first what they were doing there, except from staring into the car. Grass-stalks on the road made it clear –at least for Denis. Road bowling it turned out to be. Just looked it up in my Lonely Planet: “the object of this sport is to throw a cast-iron ball along a public road (normally one with little traffic) for a designated distance, usually 1km or 2km. The person who does it in the least number of throws is the winner. The main centres are Cork and Armagh and competitions take place throughout the year, attracting considerable crowds”. Grass-stalks are used to mark the different throws. Was witness of some real Irish culture so.
Were back in Cork City around six, just enough time for (homemade, fresh, dairy free) pizza before heading into town. Am going out with a real Irishman, so there was no way we were just going to get into the Everyman Palace after parking the car. Pint of Beamish first. In the Shelbourne, pub next-door. We missed part of the supporting act, but it didn’t bother me, seats were numbered, so no reason to panic. After all, it was Josh we were coming for. As said, I did see him before in Belgium, but this gig was in nothing comparable with the one I saw last year. Josh’ career took off in Ireland a couple of years ago. His Irish tour was completely sold out. The Cork audience were having a ball. The show was fully seated. One of the nicest venues I’ve been to lately. Not too big, but with a balcony. Purple and turquoise. Real opera house atmosphere. Seated so, but even the guy on the seat next to me, falling asleep during the concert and stubborn on his seat during the first standing ovation, ended up rocking out during the encore. Don’t know what it is, well…actually…might know what it is that makes a Belgian audience so different from an Irish…the pints…I guess. Belgian people are sooo polite. Especially when it’s a seated gig. The audience yesterday was ready to rock. Josh opened the gig on his own, just one spotlight, himself and his guitar. A very intimate song, from his new album. But before the song was over, he was joined by his fellow musicians –a drummer, pianist and a bass player. Had a bit the feeling the bass was too loud the first couple of songs, felt like Josh was struggling a bit with his voice. But it didn’t take him too long to put that right. He started with some songs of his new album, but his big hits were played soon enough as well: Bad Actress, Hello Starling, Kathleen,…The Irish are great singers, especially after a few pints. The interaction between Josh and them was amazing. The stories he told in between hilarious. His folks were in the audience, which made this show even more special. And it was his last one of an eight weeks tour. No wonder he got a standing ovation. And an encore. Josh got his show perfectly planned out. The perfect mix of quite and more up-tempo songs. Sing-along and intimate moments. The lightshow was modest, but efficient. Just enough to support the songs. He did sing a song in complete darkness as well…telling us to pretend we were just listening to the radio.
The show exceeded all our expectations. Blown away. Have a few more concerts (The Human League, Roesy, Rodrigo y Gabriela and Aslan) to look forward to this month…but think this one might turn out to be the best one anyway. Denis was driving, so straight back to the car after the gig. Was a great night. A great weekend in general. Just what I needed. Something to take my mind off job hunting for a while. Because I was ill last week and missed the start of a new job in a call centre. Have to wait another month. But hope I find something else before. Need a regular income as soon as possible. Today rather than tomorrow.
Saskia
