De Burdz!!!

Party

As I had my birthday in Copenhagen, I felt left out at home, so when I came home from Denmark, myself and my two girlfriends decided to attend the Dame Tavern tuesday session, and sing our hearts out.......none of the students had ever heard us, and as it happened it was such a noisy night that it was hard to hear anything. However word had gone around, and it was an amazing night, with past pupils, 2nd years and 1st years all turning up for the craic! The session was great fun and although it should finish before 10, we stayed there and sang backing vocals with the singer/songwriters who normally perform there. Lots of slagging, drinking (I don't think I put my hand in my pocket!) and even a birthday cake! We went to Gogarty's afterwards, and danced and drank the night away! Thanks to all my friends for a great night!

Denmark

I've been home quite a while since Denmark, but didn't get an opportunity to write anything about it. Denmark is a wonderful country. I hadn't been on tour here for years, owing to the fact that I now perform in a duo and not in a full band, as I did with the Loose Connections. Initially it was really cold.......our first concert was on the day we arrived, and actually I don't remember much about it now but it was in Baltoppen, in a lovely big hall. Our agent 'gave' us a wonderful driver who actually is a fantastic sound engineer, Neils, whom we rechristened Max but that's a long story! One of the aspects of touring is not having our own sound engineer, therefore we are normally at the mercy of the house engineer, (although we have been lucky in the past) but actually Neils is so good that he had our sound down immediately, and we benefited from that throughout the whole tour. Back to Copenhagen the next day, and we spent the day walking around the wonderful city in the freezing cold - oh and we spent a few hours in an Irish pub run by a Scottish man, with Sport being the main feature of the bar - as Ireland we doing so well in the Cricket we stayed quite a while!

Then it was my birthday - I hate having my birthday away from home....... but Graham made me feel special, and we went out to dinner with the wonderful Mich, who had cleared his calendar just to have us over.......really wonderful food and lots and lots of sampling of his incredible array of whiskys........and old friend and a real gentleman.

Next stop was Haslev, where I'd played before, but not for about 6 years. A lovely night, the audience were well informed, and even knew some of the songs, they do a good job training their audience there.

By this stage we were having plenty of craic with 'Max' and driving around in his wonderful old fashioned van........we laughed a lot and ate well. We went all the way down south and played in a wonderful old old church - about 1200s - it was a great concert, and they actually served beer in the church. One of the things that struck me was that in Denmark, all churches have a small replica of a ship, as the sea is an important aspect of Danish life. We stayed with wonderful people, and were treated very, very well.......it was so hard for me not to drink all the beautiful wines that were offered that night, but it was ok, Graham made up for it! And then the long drive back to Copenhagen........this time to sing in the Bartof Cafe, owned by a man I met in the 1980s, the harpist with Ashplant. I met these guys when they came over to play in the Dublin Folk Festival in 1985 or thereabouts.......I rememeber being so impressed that foreign people could play such good Irish music. Anyway Joakim now runs a wonderful venue, with regular concerts and it was a pleasure to be back there again, it was a great audience. He wondered if we would survive the chilli - well Joakim I can tell you we didn't really.......judging from the odour in the van thoughout the next day!

At this stage the weather had turned, and it was wonderfully warm and summer-like. We headed for Roskilde and as usual I get so fed up when I have such a short time in any place, but Roskilde has that wonderful Viking museum which of course I didn't get an opportunity to explore - between sound check and eating etc. however, some of the audience informed me about the wonderful project going on...... A Viking ship, found in Roskilde, but originally built in Dublin, and now they had built a replica using the tools from that period, and the same methods and it was on display in Roskilde, but the good news for me is that this ship - the Sea Stallion - is travelling over to Dublin in August......I was fascinated and checked it out - I'll be just back from the US by then and will hopefully get an opportunity to meet them all again......www.havhingsten.dk........... I hope I get back to Roskilde again and have some more time to explore this wonderful historic seat of the Vikings.

As the weather was fantastic, it was a great pleasure to do the long drive up North to a tiny place called Halkaer........we went on the ferry, which was so fast and so well organised. We were doing a double bill with Ian Bruce. Lovely night, brilliant food.....beautiful surroundings.....incredible weather, and the best of company!

Back down south to De Brunsk Packhuus, where we had a really lovely concert. The promotor was afraid it would be quiet because of the good weather but it was just perfect. We were visited by the lovely Ditte and her man and it was great to catch up with such talented musicians.

Then sadly it was time to go home, but Max (so called because we wanted to call him a manly name) brought us to a little village on the outskirts of Copenhagen to see how a small village can settle so neatly into such a busy place.......it was sad to leave him as he had just made the tour for us. We laughed a lot, talked a lot, drank a lot and we pray we'll be back soon! Thanks to Max and of course Eugene who made it all possible!