Clancy Festival at Carrick-on-Suir, Tipperary

A bunch of Dermot's friends from UCD formed a Clancy Brother's Tribute Band, called the Chancey Brothers, about 4 months ago. To make a long story short, then band began as a theme for a charity pub crawl and has managed to blossom into an actual band that was invited to perform a the annual Clancy Brothers Festival held in Carrick-on-Suir (the home of the original Clancy Brothers).

As soon as Katie got out of work and Dermot got out of school on Friday, we packed up the car, picked up three friends at UCD and made the Trek down to to Carrick-on-Suir. 158 kilometers and one chipper stop later, we arrived in Carrick-on-Suir and found our way to Walls Pub in Carrickbeg. The Chanceys were greasing their throats with some pints of Guinness (and a bottle of Corona or two) before their gig on Friday night.


Before the gig, we made a quick stop at their campsite to drop off our stuff. The campsite had a very traveller-esque quality to it and was a perfect resting place for our weekend. Back to Wall's Pub, we ordered up some pints and sat back anxiously waiting to be entertained.


The gig was a lot of fun and the boys ended up with a pretty good crowd. The music and the banter both went well and before we knew it their set was coming to an end. The set included some great renditions of Clancy Brothers classics, an impromptu flamenco dance by Bertie (our UCD friend from Spain) as well as some dancing between Paolo and Sinead.

After the gig, a good traditional session began and a very good Scottish singer and guitarist joined the Chancey's for some great tunes. A full night of fun was had and we were graciously driven back to our campsite by our hosts where after a can of Bavaria or two we all made our way to bed.

The next morning was a bit of the same. As we made our way to brush our teeth in the bathroom, we were greated by some banjo and guitar tunes produced by Paudy and John Chancey. Before we knew it, we were back off into town. Our first stop was Wall's Pub. The music and drink began to flow again. The Chancey's played a request for the town's mayor in a beauty palor and then met the famous Irish cyclist Sean Kelly. We then moved onto a gig outside a pub on Main Street in Carrick-on-Suir. This set featured the Chancey's biggest audience to date and once again the boys were on good form.

We reluctantly packed up our stuff, got back on the road and headed back to Dublin. We made a quick pit stop in Clonmel to visit World Wide Cycles where Dermot was planning on buying a bicycle for his commute to school. After testing a few bicycles out, Dermot made a decision and arranged for delivery of his new Specialized Sirrus back to Dublin.

What a great weekend.

If you want to see photos from the whole weekend, click on this link:

Clancy Brothers Festival Pictures