Reviews 2005

Woodman Folk Club - Reviews

Kieran Halpin
Mick Harrington 6 May 2005
What makes for a great evening at your local folk club? In the humble opinion of yours truly, a consummate professional performer with a range of material, preferably with a bit of banter thrown in. In the hands of Kieran Halpin you have the ultimate in professionalism, some fine new songs interspersed with some of his ‘greatest hits’ along with a relaxed rapport with an appreciate audience. The first set included several relatively new items, particularly strong was ‘Letter to America’ with its anti Bush sentiment. Another, ‘Bitter Pill’ reflects life on the road as a performer in Germany. Kieran’s art as a raconteur weaves these numbers amongst the more familiar material, such as ‘Mirror Town’ with tales of trying to reassure his elderly mother that her son is leading a worthy existence! 

The second set started with two Patrick Kavanagh songs, ‘Water Turns to Wine’ and ‘Raglan Road’ then its back to the self-penned familiarity – ‘Berlin Calling’, ‘Glory Dayz’, ‘All the Answers’ and so on. All too soon Ian was trying to persuade us to hit the road, but all to no avail until Kieran had completed a couple of encores. Look out for Kieran’s new C.D. later in the year.

Bryn, Barry (solo) and ‘Nothing to Prove’ added customary support, Lynn and Carl their usual hospitality and ‘Pete on the door’ tore up the raffle tickets with his usual aplomb. Another fine night. Oh, and the beer was good. I think I’m getting used to this Theakston’s, perhaps it’s my age