The Dublin Legends at the Anvil, Basingstoke, 22 March 2013, Concert Review

 

 

 

 

2012 proved to be a year of highs and lows for The Dubliners. One the one hand it saw them celebrating the incredible achievement of 50 years together as a group and winning the Lifetime Achievement Award at BBC Radio 2’s Folk Awards. Whilst on the other it saw the sad loss of the last original founding member Barney Mckenna right in the midst of their 50th anniversary tour. The conclusion of the year also brought about the retirement of fiddle player John Sheahan who had been with the band since 1964. Many clearly thought that this was finally going to be it for those giants of Irish Folk music.

 

This soon turned out to not be the case however as remaining members Sean Canon, Eammon Campbell, Patsy Watchorn and Banjo player Gerry O’Connor, who had been brought in as Barney Mckenna’s replacement halfway through the anniversary tour, decided to continue on the legend.

 

Their set list consisted of the usual mix of old favourites alongside a few lesser known tunes with Patsy Watchorn and Sean Canon sharing the vocal duties. Watchorn proved strongest on the ballads, particular highlights of the evening being his renditions of ‘The Town I Loved So Well’, ‘Dublin in the Rare Auld Times’ and ‘Ringsend Rose’ which was an unexpected though welcome addition to the concert. Sean Canon was on hand to deliver a selection of the old favourites including ‘The Black Velvet Band’, ‘The Spanish Lady’ and ‘The Rocky Road to Dublin’. He also paid tribute to their Gaelic roots with the song Fainne Geal An Lae’.

 

Gerry O’Connor on fiddle and tenor Banjo was had been effectively tasked with the dual role of filling both Barney Mckenna and John Sheahan’s shoes. He rose to the challenge admirably and while most of his time was occupied with playing the fiddle he did step up to deliver a couple of fantastic solos on the banjo which served to ensure that though gone the memory of Barney still lives on.

 

The latter day Dubliners tended to spend a significant portion of their concerts paying homage to the memory of those founding members who had passed before them, which had the effect of making them come across at times as their own tribute act. Whilst O’Connor paused the concert to share a few amusing stories about Barney and his so called Barneyism’s and Patsy Watchorn dedicated ‘All for me Grog’ To Ciaran Bourke it was clear from the start that The Dublin Legends were working hard to establish themselves as a band in their own right. As a result all the old concert staples were delivered with a renewed energy and vigour ‘The Irish Rover’ had the audience up off their seats, dancing and ‘Whiskey in the Jar’ wittily dedicated to Metallica by Canon, left them stamping on the floor demanding more. The band dutifully returned to the stage to deliver one final sing along in the form of ‘The Wild Rover’, before bowing out for the night.

 

The audience left the concert hall well and truly satisfied, swapping comments about how brilliant the show had been. It therefore seems fitting to end this review by remembering an old quote of Barney’s when he was once asked for his views about the future of The Dubliners. ‘It’s too Late to Stop Now’ was his response. A statement most there would wholeheartedly agree with.