news

2005

 

12TH SEPTEMBER‘05

Hey guys. We’re just home from a long weekend in and around Dublin.

On Thursday we played to a very lively crowd at the Spirit store in Dundalk. Zoe Conway, who recorded with us on the album, played a set with us, which was great. Then, on to Dublin and a full house at the Cobblestone on Friday night. Thanks to all who showed up. A special mention to all the Riverdance girls who took time out between rehearsals to catch the gig and also to Dearbhla, Carla and Leanne (aka Freddy!) who danced a few steps for us on the Thursday night. 

A big hello to all who attended our late night gig at the All-Ireland fleadh. We neglected to mention that the clothes we wore for the gig were very kindly supplied Jack & Jones... Damian has never looked as suave in his life! And well done to Sean Og for keeping his outfit clean until the gig.

After the fleadh we played an acoustic concert in the Magnetic Music cafe in Doolin, a lovely intimate venue with candles, very romantic... the sort of place Eamon Murray would escort a young lady to! We have a few more gigs in Ireland before our German and Austrian tours, so hopefully we might catch ye all somewhere along the ‘road to Amarillo’. Percussion fans will be delighted to learn that, following a blistering performance in Dundalk and Dublin, Soggy’s triangle might also be appearing onstage for the remainder of the Irish Tour.

 

4TH AUGUST‘05

Hey Folks,

We’d a great time in the North of Italy a couple of weeks ago. We played four concerts, and spent the rest of our time relaxing in the sun. Damian actually achieved a real tan this time! Big thanks to Michel, Giacomo, Fabio and the crew for the week. We’re looking forward to going back in a couple of week’s time.

Last weekend we were in Ballyshannon for the Traditional festival and played a gig on the Saturday night alongside Frankie Gavin and his band. BBC World filmed the concert; we’ll let you know when it’s being broadcast. 

‘Ginger Step Dance Co.’ in England are co-ordinating a dance performance based on the music from ‘a lovely madness’. The show is called Celtic Breeze and Beoga are providing the live music for the show for both performances on 24^th-25^th September in London. Maggie Townsend and Richard Griffin are choreographers for the show. Richard also choreographed the well known show, Gaelforce Dance. Liam and the boys are used to this kind of thing, but young girls dancing around in a provocative manner may get all too much for animal Murray, so we may have to chain him in the orchestra pit to stop him misbehaving. Anyway we are all looking forward to it and are chuffed to have been asked.

Music from the album has also been used in a movie. "The Emerald Diamond" is a 90-minute documentary about baseball in Ireland. The film will feature seven tracks from ‘a lovely madness’.

A belated thanks to John O’Regan who included ‘a lovely madness’ among his selection of albums for the fRoots critics poll award. His selection for 2004 was:

Beoga ‘A Lovely Madness’, Fairport Convention ‘Over The Next Hill’, Planxty ‘Live 2004’, Shirae Tiger’s Island, Gary Walshe ‘Uncovered’, Sandy Denny ‘A Boxful Of Treasures’, Fairport Convention ‘Cropredy Capers’, Christy Moore ‘Whatever Tickles Your Fancy’ and Joe O’Donnell ‘Gaodhol’s Vision’.

 

12TH JULY‘05

Hi all. Summer time again and the good news for us, is that the band are free to tour full-time for the rest of the year.

Liam and Damian are just back from a week of playing in Nashville. Now, six weeks ago, Damian ruptured his achilles heel while attempting to play football and he was on crutches for a month. But now he has a large boot that looks as if it was stolen from one of the Stormtroopers in Star Wars! Hopefully he’ll have it removed soon, as it makes a bit of a racket when he taps his foot. Surprisingly, it hasn’t stopped him from exhibiting his legendary dance moves... except that one time at his friend’s wedding, when he fell over backwards!

Meanwhile Eamon has spent a week teaching bodhran on Inisheer, where he was joined by Sean Og and Niamh. A lively week’s craic was had, by the sound of it!

Our Irish tour is being updated all the time, the latest addition is Dingle on 4th Oct. If you’re planning to catch our gig in Ballyshannon, please note that we will be playing on Saturday 30th July (it differs in some advertisements). Frankie Gavin and band will be playing also that night.

 

13TH APR‘05

Hello there. First of all thanks to all who voted for Beoga in the Irish Music magazine best traditional newcomers award poll. Much appreciated.

We are just back from a sunny week out in Spain. Damian appreciated the real sun, rather than the fake sun he gets at Dunloy’s ‘Tan and Go’ salon! We had a great week in the company of Irish dance teacher Jacqueline Kennedy and her family. But it was not all relaxation, as late each night the boundaries of irish music and dance were shattered in the form of the ‘Alicante Reel’, under the guidance of Texan dance maestro Neal Reagan.

Sadly Seán Óg missed out on the trip as he was catching up on his homework in Limerick. However, he is instead heading for France for a week soon, to play in Alan Kelly’s show, standing in for the great man himself... if you don’t mind.

Details of our October-November German tour are now on the dates page, along with Italian dates in July. 

 

1ST FEB‘05

Hi folks, we’ve been ‘flat to the mat’ recently and unable to keep in touch as often as we would have liked, but we hope you’ll forgive us. Thanks to all who turned out at the last few gigs. The CD is going great and has shot like a bat out of hell to number 1 in the Cork charts… so thanks to all the 6 people who purchased the album in the county in question! We are heading to Cork this weekend for the University trad festival, where we’re gigging with Lunasa on Saturday night.

The album reviews are coming in thick and fast and there’s a few more on the way. Relief all round, as Seán Óg’s triangle playing has finally been mentioned in a review at www.paythereckoning.com/reviews.html. He is now refusing to end growing speculation that he’s in final negotiations for a lucrative 3-month Far East ‘Triangle solo’ tour.

As some of you may know, we have had guest Niamh Dunne appearing with us at a number of gigs last year. Niamh hails from Limerick and is a great singer and fiddler. She is quite small, which is handy at airports and is also studying Music at the University of Limerick, so she helps Seán Óg out when he is getting it tough at the big hard school! Niamh will hopefully be joining us for more gigs this year, including our German and Austrian tours from Oct - Dec’05. Visit the ‘Band’ page for some more information on Niamh.

 

 

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