Cork Folk Festival review: Coughlan, Black and Shannon provide fitting finale
Mary Coughlan, Sharon Shannon and Frances Black with Aoife Scott at Cork Opera House for Cork Folk Festival. Picture: Dan Geary
Sharon Shannon, Frances Black, Mary Coughlan; Cork Opera House, Cork Folk Festival ★★★★☆
Part folk, part cabaret, all chart-topping belters, grand finales don’t get much more emphatic than this stomping Sunday night fanfare for the 2023 Cork Folk Festival.
Three of Ireland’s best-loved female folk stars, backed by a phenomenal band, a truly great night and a fitting end to the five-day celebration of acoustic music of all shades. The jam-packed Cork Opera House audience loved every minute of it.
Each having performed a 30-minute set, all three joined on stage for a fourth act that started with Ride On then moved onto 'Gimme Gimme Gimme', 'Let It Be', 'No Woman No Cry', 'Let It Be' and 'I Will Survive'.
The crowd also loved the beautiful voice of Aoife Scott, Frances Black’s daughter. Earlier in the evening, the pair had duetted on Briege Murphy’s song 'The Hills of South Armagh' and 'Now I have To Call Him Father', which Frances’s mother had sung for Gaybo on The Late Late Show many years ago.
“My mother had all these songs she used to sing, probably from the 1800s,” said Frances. “Gaybo couldn’t shut her up. It was the story of a young woman who fell in love with a young man; she brought him home to meet the family, but then he ran off with her mother instead.”
Back in the day, lyrics like “Mother caught his eye and they got married on the sly” had Gaybo giggling into his cue cards. It’s easy to see where the Black family entertainer genetics hail from.
Frances also sang her hits 'Wall of Tears', 'All the Lies That You Told Me' and her version of 'Bright Blue Rose'.
Every bit as entertaining, Mary Coughlan’s voice has aged like fine wine; her humour more like rum, the illicit kind distilled in a barrel by bawdy sea dogs. She treated us to hits like 'Double Cross', a gem penned by her first husband, Fintan Coughlan, which she said she wouldn’t sing for years as she begrudged him the performance royalties.
“When 'Ancient Rain' reached one million streams on Spotify, I got onto Jimmy MacCarthy to congratulate him,” she said. “He said that funnily enough he’d just received the cheque … for €75.”
Coughlan brings chaos and surprise to the show, fumbling about with lyric sheets, then flinging them to the floor only to wing it with her bravura vocals. Aoife and Frances rose to the challenge, sometimes with a giggle, sometimes with a riposte. Part mayhem, part panto, all captivating.
For sheer musical genius, the star of the show was Sharon Shannon. She doesn’t say too much, she really doesn’t have to. She zips through 'The Neckbelly Reels' and 'Gaffo’s Ball', 'Merry Go Round' and 'Daddy Shannon’s Jig'.
With the crowd on its feet, she whispers something to pianist Alan Connor. “We’ve played a few we didn’t plan to, now the set’s gone shkeow-ways,” she says with a smile. “We’re mad for shpeed. Shlow down, Tommy. We’ll do 'The Lament For Limerick'.”
To close this mini-set, Alan sings 'The Galway Girl' and the crowd is hopping again, ready for the grand finale.
Alan Connor is a remarkable side serving to this show. While playing piano and great lead guitar, he’s simultaneously playing ankle tambourines and other percussion. And for all that, many of us would have paid the entry fee just for brilliant guitarist John McLaughlin alone.
A breath-taking night’s entertainment for €32.50. Our three tenners were well spent. A fitting conclusion to a five-day Cork Folk Festival that also featured English folk legend Martin Carthy alongside Daoirí Farrell, John Spillane & Cónal Creedon, Karan Casey's new show, ceilis, trad workshops and so much more.
