- Music
- 18 Jul 01
Brady On Song
PAUL BRADY HAS been revealing more details about his 23 show marathon which takes place in Vicar St. throughout October.
Running under the banner of The Paul Brady Songbook, the Ulsterman will be drawing on every phase of his 35-year career.
“I’d been reflecting recently on how difficult it is to do most of my past repertoire,” he tells hotpress. “There are probably 40 or 50 songs that I used to do all the time that I rarely do now. When you’re touring a new album you tend to do the new songs and a few old favourites. It means that songs which were highlights in the set 10-years ago I wasn’t doing anymore. I thought that if I did a whole series of gigs, I could revisit a lot of the areas that I rarely get a chance to touch on these days.”
The residency finds Brady appearing in a variety of guises – unplugged, with his regular band and alongside Andy Irvine, Donal Lunny, Matt Molloy, Liam O’Flynn and Paddy Glackin in the Liberty Bells.
“I discovered the tapes of a gig we did together in Liberty Hall during the 1978 Dublin Folk Festival which is how the name came about,” he explains. “We’ve just re-mastered it and everyone is marvelling at the sound quality, so it’s coming out soon as The Liberty Tapes.”
Another feature will be the special guests who are expected to join Brady on the various nights. Pencilled in so far are Bonnie Raitt, Mark Knopfler, Curtis Stigers, Arty McGlynn, Brian Kennedy, Hothouse Flowers, Maura O’Connell, Sinéad O’Connor, Richie Buckley, Sharon Shannon, Ronan Keating and Tim O’Brien.
“They’ve all expressed an interest in doing it,” Brady confirms. “But it’s all very fluid at the moment – you know what the business is like. Some may agree to do it and then get offered something else at the last minute. I won’t know until September at the earliest who can make it.
“The policy is that individual guests won’t be announced in advance. I met a guy in the dry-cleaners yesterday and he said, ‘Heard about the gigs, Paul – can you let me know which night Ronan is on?’ It’s not going to be like that. It’s not about the guests, it’s about having fun. I’m doing this to please myself. I’ll be having the craic of my life.”
