Gaughan's Irish tour Epistle, Part the Seventh
Galway, 1.30am, Thursday 18th Oct 2001

I'd intended heading for Dublin today but as Christy Moore had another gig in Salthill, I decided to stay. It's been too long since I saw him.

Last night at the Roisin Dubh was wonderful. Not much more I can say than that. Great gigs don't provide anecdotes worthy of the telling, only the bad ones do that. I remembered to bring CDs with me (a rare occurence) and the new one is shifting in bucketloads. Got an email from Ian Green at Greentrax saying the first two pressings have sold out, so things are looking good.

I moved over to Salthill into the hotel where tonight's gig was and I'm very glad I did. It was vintage Christy with all cylinders firing, Donal Lunny and Declan Sinnot up with him. In spite of all the rumours about his health, Christy's in excellent shape and we had a chance to do a bit of catching up.

I've had a lot of liking for Christy which began the first time I ever came across him. It was Irvine Festival in either 69 or 70 and I was a young aspiring performer. I ended up doing the graveyard spot about 1 in the morning to a room jammed with roaring, out-of-control drunks and nobody was paying me the slightest attention. I became conscious that there was someone on the stage beside me, I looked round and there was Christy with his guitar. He leaned over and said, "Let's give them the Wild Rover". It was an extremely generous thing to do, is typical of him, and I've never forgotten it.

Now it's time for bed and a trip back to Dublin and Whelan's for the second round there tomorrow. I'm really enjoying this tour.

25th January 2005

Tour Dates - last update 30 August 2005

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