As anyone who was in Dublin city-centre last night will be aware, the Arthur’s Day celebrations proved to be every bit as rambunctious as we thought they would be!
Team Hot Press’ night started at 7pm in The Brazen Head where Tom Jones and his full entourage treated a crowd that couldn’t have been bigger than 200 to a greatest hits set, which included ‘It’s Not Unusual’, ‘Delilah’, ‘Kiss’ and ‘Shake, Rattle & Roll’.
We then hotfooted it to The Stag’s Head where Paolo Nutini and his six-piece band somehow managed to squeeze themselves into one of the snugs. Screamed on by a posse of admiring females – and a few giddy males too – Nutini marked the night that was in it with a rollicking ‘Ride On’.
There were more high-pitched screams in The Foggy Dew where the mystery guests were an unplugged Kooks.
Meanwhile over in the new-look Eamonn Doran’s, The Enemy played an acoustic set which had more than a touch of the Paul Wellers about it.
Up in Vicar St., Ronnie Wood was a last minute addition to the bill and played an absolute blinder. Earlier in the day, the Rolling Stone had joined his son Jesse’s band, The Black Swan Effect, for a gig in the Brown Thomas window which came as a serious shock to passers-by!
We’ll have a full report on all the Arthur’s Day shenanigans in the next issue of Hot Press, out on Thursday October 8.