Trip to Tipp

Above (l-r), Colin Henry, Janet Holmes, Monika Bermingham, Ivan Muirhead. Colin reports:

Last year Gary Ferguson and I made our first trip to Crocanoir, Co. Tipperary. We did not know what to expect but what we found was one of the nicest venues you could possibly play. Owned and run by John and Monika Bermingham, this was John's ancestral home farm and it is beautifully set at the foot of the mountain. John and Monika have spent long hours restoring the buildings and creating a great place to stay and a great place to play music. One of the old outbuildings has been turned into a concert venue with the original stone walls now covered in the signed photgraphs of those who have played there - from Gary and me to Frankie Gavin to Charlie McGettigan, and on Saturday night Janet, Ivan, and myself.

We had a great evening. Just about a full house, and with a very responsive audience it was like playing to friends. In the end we ran out of encores and we had to play some stuff we hadn't played together for years. This had the unexpected result that we even managed to sell a couple of our old Birddog CDs from 15 years back! The highlight for me, as it was last year, was in the after concert session when Monika sang 'Lili Marlene' in her native German. If you get the chance to go don't miss it. Here is a photo of us with Monika and a photo [below] looking up from Crocanoir to the mountain: