MICK HANLY

MICK HANLY (Whelans, Dublin)

Oy, what’s all this, then? People dancing in the aisles at a Mick Hanly gig? Let’s hope the Trad-Arr Police don’t get to hear about this or Mick could have his license endorsed.

Of course dancing has traditionally been a standard feature of wakes, and to some extent this gig finally marked the passing of Mick Hanly Mark 1, whom you may recall as the rather earnest, if dour, performer who carried all the worries of the world on his brow. He’s been replaced by a slightly younger model, who is not only more at ease on stage but who knows a thing or two about kickin’ ass too, especially when aided and abetted by a band that includes Arty McGlynn, Eoghan O’Neill and Rod McVey.

Even fans of MH Mk 1 will be pleasantly arrested by the newer, funkier material from the upcoming Happy Like This album, particularly the title track, ‘Nobody Told Me’ and the exuberant ‘No Mercy’.

‘A Fagan Place’, also from the new album, gave the band the chance to slip into a groove as comfortable as an old raincoat, although I doubt if I’ll ever like the cod-smoochiness of ‘The Piano Tuner’ for which he was joined on stage by vocalist Shelley Buckspan.

But there was equal time allotted for a liberal sprinkling of Mick’s more sensitive songs, like the excellent ‘Writing On The Wall’, ‘One More For The Daddy’ (about his late father), the current single ‘Blessed’ and ‘These Days’, on several of which his vocals took on the resonance of a Don Williams.

The more familiar ‘Past The Point of Rescue’ and ‘Vocals And Guitar’ all deservedly went down a treat too. But for me the jewel in the crown was ‘I Feel I Should Be Calling You’, a song of such aching regret and poignancy that it deserves to eclipse even the success of ‘Rescue’.

Mick’s recent achievements might make some of us feel a twinge of guilt about not honouring him adequately in the past, but that will do us no harm at all, for we can now at least acknowledge that we have in our midst a mature country singer-songwriter to compete with the best and he doesn’t even wear a hat.

Nashville me arse!

• Jackie Hayden