...................................Andy Irvine at Twickenham Folk club Sept 12 2004

Twickenham Folk club takes place in the Cabbage Patch pub in Twickenham every Sunday night.They use a small room at the back of the pub.It was my first time there even though i live quite near in south west London.You really couldn't get a more intimate venue.I'd say there was not more than 50 people in attendance & at that the room was pretty full.The only drawback with that for me was,as there wasnt a stage and Andy being seated,I found it hard to see his fingering on the bouzouki.

The audience was very attentive & responsive & in fine singing form.It was made up of folk club regulars & those of us who'd come to see Andy.There were some distractions like occasional noise from the bar, the house lights being regularly turned up & down (for some reason?),& at one point crates of bottles been moved but apart from that it made for a good night.Before Andy came on,there were a few singers doing a spot. They included George Pavagrevis who wrote 'Empty Handed' which Andy subsequently performed.
Andy kicked off with 'Prince among men' settling into his surroundings immediately. He alternated between the Sobell Guitar-shaped bouzouki & (im sure) the bass bouzouki.

He was in great singing form & as funny as ever.He made great comedy from the odd hiccup like an off-tune drone pedal or missed lines.Highlights for me would include 'Kellswater' & 'Empty Handed' as well as his re-working of the old Sweeney's Men song 'Johnstone'.There were a few I was unfamiliar with,the names i cant remember.There was a song about gold-panning & cross-dressing in Donegal,a beautiful love song featuring the Danube in it's title & a hilarious one about a car that keeps running out of gears!! I loved 'O Donoghues'.I think some of the more Dublin-ish references escaped most in this audience.It still got a great reaction.That part about Barney McKenna being carried in & out of the 'jacks' is side-splittingly funny.He did 'West coast of Clare' as an encore, responding to a request from the audience.It meant re-tuning the bass bouzouki & even though he seemed to be dis-satisfied wit the tuning, he turned in a beautiful still version of it. A wonderful night.

There follows a song list (the best my memory can recall) in no particular order & minus the songs i didnt know already mentioned. ( 'Close Shave', and 'Wind Blows Through The Danube' are the two tracks Mike mentions above )

Prince among men
Reynardine
The girl I left behind
Kellswater
Thousands are sailing
Never tire of the road
Johnstone
O Donoghues
Empty Handed
The Creggan White Hare
My heart's tonight in Ireland
Gladiators

The West coast of Clare

It is always great to hear that Andy's on great form. It is also wonderful to hear some of the old classics like 'Thousands are Sailing' are creeping back in to his set, but more than that, it is always a real treat when Andy produces a new song in to the set. Tonight, Andy performes not one new song but FOUR! 'Reynardine', ' Empty Handed' , 'O'Donaghues' and 'Wind Blows over the Danube'. This is a very exciting stage when Andy is writting new material, and an amazing opportunity to hear the songs grow and progress to perfection. When you add to these new songs the very popular ' Close Shave' , that gives you a set that has FIVE songs not yet recorded by him...................surely this has to be the base for a new album??

A very special Thanks to Mike Leahy for the review below! If anyone out there has a recording of the night, I would love to hear from you !

Enjoy

Kieron