CHRISTY MOORE

Live Review

Birmingham Town Hall (2011)

The pretty much packed Birmingham venue seemed to bring out the best of the Kildare balladeer Christy Moore who, ably assisted by fellow guitarist Declan Sinnott, played for two hours solid for the appreciative crowd who lapped up every note.

Moore’s voice, as rich and creamy as the head of a well-poured Guinness, took his army of fans from a frenzy of clapping and wanting to join in with the familiar lyrics of songs such as Don’t Forget Your Shovel to reducing them to silent awe with a wonderfully moving and A Capella rendition of Spancil Hill.

With some light heckling from the crowd Moore warmed to his audience even giving in to shouts of Joxer which he duly played with gusto but pulled the plug when others thought they could control the concert with his friendly putdown of “I’m not a feckin' jukebox.”

Moore mostly kept away from the more familiar anthems which even those outside his army of fans may know but delighted the crowd nonetheless with hauntingly lyrical renditions of The Cliffs of Dooneen, Ride On, So Do I and Does The Train Stop at Merseyside.

There were of course the old guitar hammering songs Lisdoonvana, Ordinary Man and Yellow Triangle and just to make sure he was covering all the bases he even threw in the Christmas song of Fairytale of New York just for good measure at Easter as part of the encore.