The three of them came on stage promptly at 8.00 and began with the powerful North And South Of The River which was followed by Yellow Furze Woman. Both of these songs received warm applause from the audience. "Thank you very much", said Christy, "We've been hanging around all day, waiting for 8 O'Clock". City Of Chicago from his Ride On album was next, followed by Go, Move, Shift, written by Ewan McColl with extra verses by Christy. This song was greeted with a lot of cheers which suggested to me that there were quite a few members of the travelling community in the audience.
I wasn't familiar with the next song How Long. It is a very moving song written by Jackson Browne. I think Christy must be quite a fan of Jackson. Declan's guitar playing was quite exquisite on this song. Matty was next and the audience started clapping along. Christy stopped and said, "It's not that kind of a song", and started again and this time the audience listened. I love this song but I'm still not sure what a 'curra line' is. The second Jackson Browne song of the evening followed which was Before The Deluge. The perfect song for Spring time was next which I had never heard before. I put in my notes, The Garden Song so I hope that's right. No doubt young Colm will put me right if I have got that wrong. Shane McGowan's classic song A Pair Of Brown Eyes got the audience singing along with, 'a roving,a roving, a roving, I'll go'. Ride On, the title song from the album that first got me into Christy's music three decades ago was performed brilliantly. When Christy reached for his bodran an audience member shouted something out and Christy said, "You should have been here earlier, the support band were feckin' great". He then sang The Well Below The Valley which the audience loved. Christy said that he first heard Nancy Spain in Jersey, sung by Barney Rush and it was the first time he ever flew to a gig.
I had never heard of the next song before which was Oblivious and written by Mick Blake who I had also not heard of. One of the great things about Christy which he has in common with Van The Man is that he can lead you on to discovering other great musicians who you might have missed otherwise. I have heard of Peter Gabriel, but I didn't know his song Wallflower before. The lyrics are really powerful and I just read that the song was actually banned in South Africa.
The mood was lightened a lot by the next song which I had never seen Christy perform live before but I knew really well by The Saw Doctors. It is Tuam Beat. I did actually meet the writer of this song Padraig Stevens outside a Saw Doctors gig at the Colston Hall Bristol one night. Christy's version is just as much fun so I hope he has a big hit with it. That was followed by another fun song which was Don't Forget Your Shovel. There was a song for a girl in the audience called Tallulah next which was Reel In The Flickering Light.
The mood was more sombre then for the very moving Missing You written by Jimmy MacCarthy. The Spanish Civil War song Viva La Quintar Brigada which is one of Christy's greatest self-penned songs was next and Declan picked out some really sweet notes on his guitar during this one. Christy said he would take one request and a lady in the audience asked for Victor Jara which I was really pleased about because I love this song which was co-written by Arlo Guthrie and Adrian Mitchell. It is 43 years since Victor was murdered by the Pinochet regime and he should never be forgotten.
The political songs continued with Ordinary Man and then Magdelene Laundries which I hadn't realised was written by Joni Mitchell. I saw a film recently about the Magdelene Laundries and it was horrific how people could be treated by a so-called church. Another of the humorous songs followed which was Delirium Tremens. I have noticed though that even with Christy's funny songs there is often a serious message. This song was dedicated to Andy who had just completed 900 days off the booze. Well done Andy. Natives written by Paul Doran was next followed by Christy reciting On The Mainland followed by the Bobby Sands song Back Home In Derry. Johnny Duhan's song Voyage was followed by the ever popular Lisdoonvarna and Declan really went to town on his guitar during this song.
Christy and his two companeros left the stage but we knew there would be an encore which was Black Is The Colour which the audience sang along with and finally a song I don't think I have heard before called No Time For Love written by Jack Warshaw. I had never heard of him before either, but I just looked him up and Jack is an American singer-songwriter who has lived in Britain since 1965. There are some terrible gaps in my music knowledge. It was a great song to end the night on.
Afterwards it was nice to have a little chat with Hilary from Kerry who put me right on a few song titles. Thank you Christy, Declan & Jimmy for a wonderful concert at Brighton Dome.
