Tommy Sands

Following a very strong opening set from piper Brendan Monaghan and guitarist extraordinaire Micky McCluskey – who joined him for the entire second half of the performance – Tommy Sands, who is one of the finest singer-songwriters around, took the stage for the guts of two hours, in one of the most rivetting gigs it has been my pleasure to witness.

Sands is that rarest of beings – an artist who packages hard-hitting messages in the subtlest of guises, using allegory, or silly little jokes to explain his chosen subject.

Like his compatriot Seamus Heaney, one of whose poems provided the intro to a song in the early part of the evening, Sands is a true weaver of dreams and spells.

A song like ‘Daughters And Sons’ – covered many, many times – will be sung hundreds of years into the future in whatever the tradition becomes.That is probably the only validation needed by an artist of this calibre, because where others may shine brighter for a short period, talent and presence of the kind displayed on a night like this, is, for the rest of us, only a distant aspiration.

A truly magical gig, by any yardstick.