By David Hennessy
There was a standing ovation for The Dubliners Encore show that began its UK run of shows at Bromley’s Churchill Theatre last November.
The stage show, which celebrates the iconic music of the Dubliners, features five musicians taking on the persona of the late stars Luke Kelly, Ronnie Drew, Barney McKenna and Ciarán Bourke as well as the last remaining member of the definite Dubliners line-up, John Sheahan who was part of bringing this vision to the stage first in Ireland and now here in the UK.
The show also features audio clips and video clips of John remembering his late bandmates, live footage and interview clips of departed band members before they passed, the playing of Phil Coulter which comes via video and the story of the Dubliners being told by Imelda May.
All these elements combined to take its audience on a journey through the music and legend of the Dubliners with many laughs, some poignant moments and many raucous ones with all the favourites- Seven Drunken Nights, Dirty Old Town, The Black Velvet Band, Whiskey in the Jar, Raglan Road, The Irish Rover, The Wild Rover and McAlpine’s Fusiliers and many more- all getting an airing.
At one time John Sheahan remembered that time when he had just given up his good pensionable job with the ESB to join the group when, at a band meeting, there was a disagreement.
He said: “After a good few pints, a row broke out between Barney and Ronnie. There was tables upended and pints all over the floor and it was a case of, ‘F**k you and your group, and f**k you as well, you can all f**k off’.
“I was a bit flabbergasted myself because I had formally resigned that day.
“Anyway I was sitting at home the next day. The phone rings and it’s Ronnie, ‘Are you okay for Friday? We have a gig down the country’. And I said, ‘Yeah but I thought the group broke up last night…’
“’Ah don’t take any notice of that, that happens every three or four weeks’.”
There is also the story of how the Dubliners made one of the world’s first music videos when the BBC sent someone over to film the story of Seven Drunken Nights when it entered the top ten.
The audience saw Phil Coulter speaking on screen about how Luke Kelly would ‘badger’ him to write ‘grown up songs’ and then when his first son was born with Down’s Syndrome he started working on Scorn Not His Simplicity saying, ‘I consider myself to be blessed and fortunate to have Luke Kelly and the Dubliners on hand to breathe life into my words and my music’.
John Sheahan recalled some famous ‘Barneyisms’ in his recent interview with us here at The Irish World.
Some more were recalled on Saturday evening such as when he asked for two months off in August to go fishing and pouring himself out of a pub after such a lengthy session it was morning but saying on seeing the sun, ‘Jaysus, there’s a grand stretch in the evenings’.
There was also the story of how, after the group played a gig in Derry, Barney and Ronnie decided they wanted to drive home.
Barney won the argument about who would drive home but had never driven an automatic before.
The RUC pulled them over and ‘very kindly offered them a bed for the night in the local police barracks’.
“Ronnie woke up in the middle of the night, turned to Barney and goes, ‘What sort of f**king hotel is this?’
“’We’re not in a hotel, Ronnie. We’re in jail, sing The Auld Triangle now, you bollix!’”
Imelda May told of how in 1974 Ciarán Bourke suffered a brain aneurysm and never fully recovered but remained an integral part of The Dubliners to the end. Just a few years later Luke Kelly was diagnosed with a brain tumour and he died in 1984 at the age of 43, ‘Slowly the lights were going out on the greatest folk group of all time but they left a rich legacy which will long outlive their passing’.
This is undoubtedly true.
Luke Kelly, Barney McKenna, Ronnie Drew and Ciarán Bourke may have passed away but the music of the Dubliners was alive and well in Bromley on Saturday night.
The Dubliners Encore show comes to Pavilion Theatre, Bournemouth on Friday 14 March, Plymouth Pavilions on Saturday 15 March, Hall for Cornwall, Truro on Sunday 16 March.
