NTB at Carlow, 13 June 2012: Onwards and upwards

We heard from Tony O'Brien today how successful the Niall Toner Band show had been on Wednesday night, with somewhere around 200 people in the audience, and how attractive the venue was. The concert - part of the Carlow Arts Festival - was held in a reproduction of an 1890s Wyoming barn. Niall's own blog (from which the above photo is taken) says:

The Eigse Festival folks had even gone to the trouble of providing period chairs and benches for the listeners, who, I'm delighted to say, arrived by the wagon-load, and we had the full-house signs up at 8.30 p.m. on Wednesday night. Probably the most remarkable aspect of the night was the fact that 99% of the crowd was comprised of new faces, and people who were completely new to our style of music. This, once again, is testament to my personal philosophy. If you provide an entertaining show, comprised of original material, performed in bluegrass/traditional country style, combined with entertaining and informative links, with a little humour, you're on to a winner.

To underline this point, the NTB sold out of CDs on the night. We gather that the coming Athy Bluegrass Festival (13-15 July 2012) received some good plugs, and some, at least, of Wednesday's audience are likely to be at Athy four weeks from now.