Planxty in concert

Subject: Planxty in concert
From: diesel
Date: 15 Nov 03 - 05:57 AM

Hello folks

Announced on RTE (Irish TV) news last night was the reforming of the group Planxty for some concerts in the New Year.
Christy Mooore, Donal Lunny, Sean O'Flynn and Andy Irvine !
For those who might be interested - tickets are announced at :

http://www.vicarstreet.com/events/events_by_name.shtml

Though not yet on sale......I reckon tickets will go fast !

rgds to all
Diesel

PS there's also some concerts elsewhere down west of Ireland I think - can't find that info at present..

Subject: RE: Planxty in concert
From: ard mhacha
Date: 15 Nov 03 - 06:32 AM

What a Group, great to see them back. Ard Mhacha

Subject: RE: Planxty in concert
From: diesel
Date: 15 Nov 03 - 06:43 AM

Be careful there - it may only be a reforming for the purpose of some concerts... and to show the younger folk how to do it..

Reliving the spirits maybe..

Diesel

Subject: RE: Planxty in concert
From: GUEST,Phil.
Date: 15 Nov 03 - 07:59 AM

Shouldn't that be Liam Óg Ó Floinn, not "Seán o'Flynn"?!

Subject: RE: Planxty in concert
From: Den
Date: 15 Nov 03 - 08:08 AM

Can't wait, great news.

Subject: RE: Planxty in concert
From: Sleepless Dad
Date: 15 Nov 03 - 07:36 PM

Let's hope they come to the States. I'd love to see that lineup.

Subject: RE: Planxty in concert
From: Daithi
Date: 17 Nov 03 - 07:50 AM

Yes Phil, indeed - except I don't think he's Óg any more!

Subject: RE: Planxty in concert
From: ard mhacha
Date: 17 Nov 03 - 09:59 AM

Tickets on sale on Friday Nov 21 at 9am at Vicar Street Dublin. Dates for Concerts Jan 30,-31, Feb 4,5,11 and 12. Ard Mhacha.

Subject: RE: Planxty in concert
From: GUEST,Martin Ryan
Date: 17 Nov 03 - 10:07 AM

On a recent TV program, Christy Moore and Frank Harte (hoth hirsuitically challenged) were remembering a gig they shared last year with Sinead O'Connor. "Three baldies!" said Christy. "Ah, yes", says Frank, "But which was the best looking?". "Well", said Christy "I went home with you!"

Regards

Subject: RE: Planxty in concert
From: GUEST,Ballyholme
Date: 17 Nov 03 - 03:37 PM

Wot? No Paul Brady? Their finest line-up, in my opinion, was the one that included PB. Sadly, it went unrecorded although the album that Brady consequently made with Andy Irvine showed what might have been.

Subject: RE: Planxty in concert
From: ossonflags
Date: 18 Nov 03 - 04:58 AM

And no Matt Malloy.I saw "Planxties"last performance and it was fantastic!! The news that they are reforming is the best I have heard for a long time.It looks like they are only playing in Ireland though.Anyone know any differant?

Here is a little more information



look here

Subject: RE: Planxty in concert
From: diesel
Date: 18 Nov 03 - 11:09 AM

Sorry Phil - You're absolutely right on Liam's name - don't know what happened there - can hardly explain that one as a typo....

As to Ireland only concert - I think so - and there is the unfortunate aspect that it's also being done to provide a 'live album' - but to heck with that - I'm looking forward to the chance to see them anyhow..

rgds
Diesel

Subject: RE: Planxty in concert
From: GUEST,Ballyholme
Date: 18 Nov 03 - 11:48 AM

Any reports on the gig they played in Lisdoonvarna earlier this year? I'd be interested to know what material they are playing ... old stuff, new stuff?

Subject: RE: Planxty in concert
From: GUEST,Chris B (Born Again Scouser)
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 07:32 AM

Just got back from seeing Planxty at Vicar Street on Saturday. Great gig, best I've seen them since 1973. Sounded and felt like a band with a future as well as a past. Lots of old stuff, of course, but still as fresh as ever. Great venue as well - bit like the old Half Moon, only bigger. Great atmosphere. My wife had never heard them and she loved it.

Just thought I'd gloat...

Subject: RE: Planxty in concert
From: GUEST,Skipjack K8
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 07:37 AM

Best gig ever, reckoned our Loughstock 11 contingent. Great venue, brilliant atmosphere, and four giants in harmony. The double bodhrans of Donal and Christy, with Andy on sparing guitar, and Liam delighting with the Old Sligo Maid and Norah Creina was my high point.

Subject: RE: Planxty in concert
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 07:46 AM

any more info about the live album? I want! (please)

sandra

Subject: RE: Planxty in concert
From: GUEST,Martin Ryan
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 10:34 AM

This morning's review in the Irish Times:

Planxty, Vicar St, Dublin:
Micheál Martin should bottle and dispense Planxty: with curative properties that should tackle every ailment from ingrown toenails to cancer. Endorphins were flowing so fervently across the entire audience last Friday in Vicar St that we levitated rather than ambled towards the exits.

There was an air of expectation hanging over the crowd beforehand that would fire a rocket launcher. 23 years is a mighty long time to wait for the rekindling, but somehow we guessed that the wait would be worth it.

Just as soon as Liam Ó Floinn exhorted the rest of them to 'take it away boys', we knew we were on home turf and that not only would the sods be cut, but that they'd be turned, footed and loaded on the trailer by the time the lights came up, an exhilarating two hours later.

Ó Floinn's invisible readying of the bellows, Lunny's and Irvine's intricate tapestry of bouzouki and mandolin, and Christy's nervy introductions had the sardine-packed audience on the edge of their seats from the get go. Lunny's bouzouki has always been credited as the engine of the band, and rightly so, his muscular, driving rhythms marking out their territory. Andy Irvine's mandolin and guitar cross-stitched in between with that old familiar ease, his vocals lending their characteristic finesse to the pot. And Christy's sheer ebullience guaranteed that the epic sagas such as The Good Ship Kangaroo gathered all before them in their welcoming gabháil.

But Liam Ó Floinn was the lynchpin that not only held them together but bolstered them so securely that they could take flight. His utterly controlled, surgically precise reading of everything from Sí Bheag Sí Mhór to Tabhair Dom Do Lámh and An Buachaill Chaol Dubh was enough to lure the hardiest of piping allergists into the midst of the mêlée. And when he sidled into the heart of Christy's ultimate set piece, that spellbinding, 26 verse tale of adultery, murder (and true love) that is Little Musgrave, well, some of us simply exited the planet at that moment, content to float free on the sheer genius and magic of the ensemble playing.

They acknowledged their inheritances generously, from Ballyvourney's Elizabeth Cronin to Mickey McConnell and John Reilly. They traced the thread from Turlough O'Carolan all the way to the anonymous donation of Little Musgrave, found by Christy on a series of loose pages languishing on an auctioneer's floorboards.

There were punters there who probably still have the stubs of their tickets from the early days. Everyone just knew that this was going to be something special. For those of us who'd lived their music through the albums, never having witnessed them in 3D, it was akin to an awakening. Liam Ó Floinn's pipes were the real revelation, the Marilyn Monroe who burst from the cake at JFK's birthday party. Breaths will be held in anticipation of their live album, and after that, who knows? But these boys' appetites for one another's company won't be easily sated by a dozen New Year gigs. New tunes are lurking very close to the stage door. We could almost hear them tiptoeing towards Lunny's bouzouki as we floated home.

Siobhan Long

Subject: RE: Planxty in concert
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 10:38 AM

Any idea what their setlist was?

Subject: RE: Planxty in concert
From: GUEST
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 10:42 AM

Between Skipjack, Fibula, Kate and myself we will try and remember. Anyone do a bootleg of the gig?-I should have took my minidisc in, I could have done it easily, but I didn't

Subject: RE: Planxty in concert
From: Nerd
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 12:03 PM

Well, the news that this was done partly to provide a live album may be bad to folks who can be there, but to folks like me it's GOOD news!

Subject: RE: Planxty in concert
From: Eric the Viking
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 03:14 PM

Sorry,the guest was me. It was just superb. A great high just to be there and the quality.......second to none.

Subject: RE: Planxty in concert
From: breezy
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 03:15 PM

down, El Greko , down

Got the tickets then have you?

When you going?

If titch cant make it ,remember

'I'm free'

not goig to hear the last of this.

What did Andy Irvine sing that was new?? Anything at all???

Subject: RE: Planxty in concert
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 03 Feb 04 - 06:31 AM

Wow - wish I'd been there!

Subject: RE: Planxty in concert
From: GUEST,Henryp
Date: 03 Feb 04 - 07:12 AM

It's wonderful to have them back! It sounds as though great expectations were fully realised. I wonder about these descriptions -
"with Andy on sparing guitar"
"Andy Irvine's mandolin and guitar".
Did Andy really play guitar? From his website;
"My instruments have been made for some years by Stefan Sobell in Northumberland in the North of England. I wanted a rounder, warmer sound and we came to the conclusion that a bigger body was the answer. Rather than have a very large tear drop shaped body, I opted for the guitar shape which is easier to hold. A pity in a way because people who do not know me think I'm playing a guitar."
Lots more interesting information to be found there!

Subject: RE: Planxty in concert
From: Skipjack K8
Date: 03 Feb 04 - 07:24 AM

Nice one, Henry. We were too far from the front to see the machine heads, or the number of them. That must have been the sparing sound, then!

Subject: RE: Planxty in concert
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 03 Feb 04 - 07:43 AM

what a magical description! It was almost as good as being there, now hurry up, live album!

Subject: RE: Planxty in concert
From: GUEST,mooman
Date: 03 Feb 04 - 07:46 AM

%$£*&%£$?!!%**$....

I shall put this thread in from of The Good Lady for causing me to miss out on this!

Grrrrrhhh!

Peace

moo

Subject: RE: Planxty in concert
From: Noreen
Date: 03 Feb 04 - 06:06 PM

From the first note they played, it was that much-loved Planxty sound; just as though they'd never been away. Wonderful concert, and the four lads were obviously enjoying the experience at least as much as we were :0)

Definitely worth the three hours' drive there and three hours' drive back from Portaferry, particularly as it wasn't me driving and I slept most of the way back *grin*

Thanks so much to Skipjack (the lardboy) and his associates in oil for enabling us to be there. A most memorable night!

Subject: RE: Planxty in concert
From: belfast
Date: 24 Jan 05 - 12:43 PM

And then, one year later, they came to the Waterfront, Belfast, for three nights. And they were magnificent. No, they were not "as good as they used to be". They were even better. Everything said about the Vicar St gigs is true.

There's question back there about any new stuff from Andy Irvine. Yes, a great song from him about the folk revival/ballad boom in Dublin as seen from O'Donoghue's.

I think they're playing in the Barbican at the end of the month. It would be worth a trip to London just to see them again.

Subject: RE: Planxty in concert
From: DMcG
Date: 24 Jan 05 - 12:48 PM

They're playing at the Barbican on the 29th - I'll be waving from row J!

Subject: RE: Planxty in concert
From: Weasel Books
Date: 24 Jan 05 - 02:30 PM

Man, do you have to bring that up? I was going to go for my birthday, a friend even reserved tickets, but air fare proved too prohibitive. What a let down!
Must try and get the CD as consolation.