Day four – Role Model(s)

People who I look up to and aspire to be like….or just plain envy!

Joe Keenan & Niall Walsh

 

These two have brought so much joy to the people of Cavan. They founded the Café Sessions a bi-monthly night of entertainment held in a small café in Cavan town. They have introduced me to some of my favourite artists! I was there when Raglans first played the café, there when The Strypes were warming up for The Hot Sprockets…The Amazing Few serenaded me for my birthday and showered me with trinkets and i was there when The Strypes had their first headline gig and packed the place.  (Which reminds me i must do a blog about The Strypes…..I have meant to for the last year but i just don’t know where to start!!!)

The point is none of that would be possible without the work of Joe and Niall, What would i have to look forward every second Thursday!?

Joe and Niall….musical messiahs….role models

This will be the start of something new

Stage is Set

The Upstairs Venue in Whelan’s holds 120 people. Last Tuesday night 200+ Ragfans crammed themselves into Raglan’s end of Summer gig….

A testimonial of Raglans ever growing popularity has to be the three girls (Natalie, Aimee & Niamh) who arrived straight off the bus from Cavan wearing awesome home-made Raglan T-shirts. They’ve christened themselves the Ragladettes. I want one of these t-shirts!!!!

Awesome

This gig marked my tenth time to see Raglans this year, and as usual they didn’t disappoint.

Their support on the night was from the delightful Adela and the Meanites, whom I had never seen before but thoroughly enjoyed.

There was a buzz in the air as the lads took to the stage and blasted out a super charged rendition of Down. It’s hard to know who sang it louder, the Raglads or the audience. But that’s the beauty of all of Raglans songs they are so catchy that after one verse everyone is singing along.

Ste

Liam

To my delight they played High Road, a song that has been omitted at their last few gigs.  The harmonies and the melodies in this tune are just gorgeous, dare I say it rivals Sand in My Pockets as my favourite song. As the lads breezed through their crowd friendly  set list the audience was whipped into a frenzy, their “last song” was Home, a beast of a tune which had everybody  ferociously clapping along.

I say “last song” because those sneaky Raglads were only teasing the audience….. as they walked (with difficulty) off the stage they were bombarded with multiple chants of

“DIGGING HOLES, GETTING OLD,

NOW YOU KNOW WHY THE PEOPLE DON’T LOVE YOU”

Digging Holes video 

This was repeated at least ten times with a crescendo of feet stamping.

Raglads returned to the stage and belted out the chant along with the audience,   as the song reached the “This could be the start of something new” lyric the audience lost it and the crowd surfing began. But there was one more surprise in store.

Rhos

Conn

At each gig I’ve been to the Raglads have been extending the instrumental part near the end of the song, Liam, Rhos and Ste all provide extra percussion on anything that’s near hand…the audience usually go wild and sing along to the beat. However, this time Ste appeared with a bag full of instruments, mini tambourines, mini maracas, whistles and vuvuzelas, he threw these into the crowd and they were frantically snatched  up by the eager fans, who then participated in the instrumental part of the song.

It was nothing short of magical.

The ending of the song was drowned out by the screams of the crowd, cheering clapping, whistling and hugging. Tired, sweaty and on a high, Raglans bolted off stage with huge smiles on their face’s.

As the crowd dispersed into the cool air of the smoking area, the steady drip of condensation from the ceiling fulfilled the Raglad’s promise to their fans for “the sweatiest, most enjoyable end to the Summer imaginable”

 

Huge credit to Ms.Ragladette Aimee for the awesome photos!x

Satisfied Ragfans
Darren, Natalie, Manus
Me, Aimee, Niamh