Christy Moore Marquee, Cork

With some of the Vita Cortex workers already centre stage, all the others in the audience as guests, out he comes to the usual roar and it was straight into it… “I’m an ordinary man, nothing special nothing grand”.

Context is everything.

The sharp indictment of the plight of the working man set the tone for what might have been a great night, with the Irish folk legend in the driving seat and his trusted companion of 10 years, Declan Sinnott, who releases his first solo album in September, changing the gears every now and then, always in control musically.

“I would have been ready to start at half five but for the traffic jam on the Tipp bypass,” he toys with the audience on the eve of the Munster hurling semi-final. A consummate story-teller, Christy glided easily between pathos and rousing euphoria with the occasional bit of craic — “Someone texted me today asking who’s going to go first, Kidney or Trap, bring back Stringer” — context is everything — and up goes the roar.

All the usual politically charged songs were there, as were fans from all over the world, who soaked up glimpses of the great man’s wit: “The Eucharistic Congress used up all the bloody sunshine”.

This was more a melancholy than mighty night but, like the Irish soccer and rugby teams, he’s on the road a long time. It’s all about pace now.