Siobhán Long sees Christy Moore backed by Donal Lunny and Declan Sinnott and decides it doesn't get much better. Meanwhile, Kevin Courtney sees a bright a future for Mexican guitar duo, Rodrigo Sanchez and Gabriela Quintero after their performance at The Temple Bar Music Centre.
Christy Moore, National Stadium
People will go to any lengths to be party to a memorable gig. Last year's August bank holiday saw this fan undertake a journey of purgatorial proportions to Lisdoonvarna, via the Kerry/Dublin match in Thurles. By the time we got to Clare, there was no room at the inn, so the VW was our Hilton for the night. Was it worth it? To see Christy in all three dimensions alongside Lunny and Sinnott? Most definitely.
A year on and this trio of musketeers are firing on all cylinders with a vengeance. At first nervy and wide-eyed, Christy gradually settled into the set list, touring past a rake of memories: John O'Dreams, One Last Cold Kiss and Viva La Quinta Brigada.
As the repertoire widened, it was Sinnott's breathtaking guitar work that dazzled most. His rightful place is surely on the road with Ry Cooder, but in the meantime he's spending his time more than usefully, melding acoustic, electric and slide guitar with the very soul of Moore's music.
Donal Lunny quietly orchestrated the backdrop without a whimper: from swing-shifting between his human didgeridoo impressions to shape-throwing of calculus-like complexity on the bouzouki, then cossetting the most delicate figurines out of his keyboards in a blissful reading of Ewan McColl's The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face.
They finished with Lisdoonvarna. Am I the only one who felt this snapshot in time has started to blur around the edges? Still, Moore never risked suspending himself or his music in aspic. Johnny Don't Go To Ballincollig was spit-polished like a pair of patent communion shoes. Jimmy MacCarthy's The Contender ached in all the right places and the featherlite romance of So Do I were all proof-positive that the creative juices are flowing as furiously as ever.
Siobhán Long
Rodrigo y Gabriela, Temple Bar Music Centre, Dublin
The first day of August, and the Capital is going through its own mini-monsoon. In the Temple Bar Music Centre, however, there's a Celtic carnival going on, led by Mexican guitar duo, Rodrigo Sanchez and Gabriela Quintero.
They're playing the second of two sold-out shows, and they seem bemused but happy to have found a following in their adopted home town.
Rodrigo y Gabriela have been performing around Dublin for the past few years, but in recent months their star has really risen, and now everyone in town wants to see this handsome, talented couple in action.
They've just released a new album, entitled Foc (Catalan for fire), and for tonight's gig they've assembled a line-up which reflects a cultural bond between Ireland and South America.
Galldubh are first on, followed by Ronan O'Snodaigh from Kila, who is backed by Cliodhna Quinlan on fiddle. The Celtic stream continues to flow through Rodrigo y Gabriela's set, with fiddle, bodhran, upright bass and Spanish guitars all sharing the stage.
The pair write all their own music, so no flamenco versions of Ride On or Light My Fire in this gig. Instead, it's an intricate, inventive mix of Latin styles, whose influences range from flamenco virtuoso Paco De Lucia, to 1960's Brazilian pop band Os Mutantes. There's even a hint of black metal band Sepultura in the way they sometimes scratch and grind speedily up and down the fretboard.
There are no vocals, but who needs 'em when you've got such eloquent musical dialogue between the two main players?
Their backing band includes Robbie Harris (the John Bonham of the bodhran), bassist Juanito Leon, drummer Aaron O'Malley and fiddle player Zoe Conway.
As Rodrigo y Gabriela finish on a high note to rapturous applause, you suspect that their days of playing in restaurants and hotel foyers are coming to an end.
Kevin Courtney
