Christy Moore 10/5/2015

I was amazed to find it was a full five years since we had seen Christy Moore but it only takes a minute or two before you feel straight back into the unique warm vibe that he creates on stage. He came with an extra couple of musicians apart from the usual guitar accompaniment of Declan Sinnot. They were a low-key percussionist and a backing vocalist. Christy basically picks songs that he likes and sings them in his inimitable style and he kicked off this gig by picking one of my favourite songs - Jackson Browne's 'Before the Deluge'. I could have gone home happy after one track but he followed that with another great song, 'Beeswing' so I decided to hang on and hear what else he was going to play. What he did for the two hour set was to make up the setlist as he went along interspersing his standards with requests he had received before the show and requests from the audience during the show. It makes for a great atmosphere not to mention some great songs being sung even if it does confuse Declan from time to time. I loved 'Motherland', 'Ride On', 'Does this train stop on Merseyside?', 'City of Chicago' and several others including one I don't recollect hearing before 'Nancy Spain' that had a beautiful wistfulness about it. The thing is that his gigs are unique and it is an intimate evening even if you are sitting in the Colston Hall. This was the perfect antidote to a depressing week.