Tom Dunne: The spirit of the showbands could be back with a country twist
Midnight in Vegas pictured performing on The Late Late Show 'Opening Act'. Picture: Andres Poveda
A scary thought this bright May morning: could the showbands be on the verge of a comeback? Could a new era — spearheaded by 21st century versions of Dickie Rock, Brendan Bowyer and Joe Dolan — be just lurking in the wings?
And further scary questions, seeing as we’ve gone there: would that be the worst thing that ever happened? Are the Ballrooms of Romance about to open their arms to the youth of Ireland all over again, only this time with shots, contraceptives and zero clerical interference?
This notion has been renting a room in my head for some time now. Global events are grim. The need for mindless escapism has never been greater. Gigs are great, a soothing balm and all that. But there are only so many David Byrnes in this world. And no one has ever done ‘craic’ like the showbands.
There have been omens: Zach Bryan doing three nights in the Phoenix Park. A massive audience that no one in the Dublin-centric world of music seemed to know existed at all. And a cool young audience in cowboy shirts and boots that knew every word.
Then there is the annual Religiously, it is second only in audience size to the Christmas Special. The fall-off in figures from it to third place is steep. When it airs, its critics lambast it. There are calls for the licence fee to be revoked. And yet….
A few weeks back I was asked to be a judge on There five acts, country all, vied to win an opening slot on the upcoming Shania Twain concert. Apart from the TV exposure, it offered an opportunity to play in front of a 40,000-strong audience.
I might have seemed like an odd choice. I wear my ALT music credentials proudly, but I’ve been in music a long time. I invariably find that acts don’t sell out venues and songs don’t dominate playlists without having some merit to them. As a ‘Best Of’ once said: 50,000 Fall Fans Can’t Be Wrong.
The video clips of the run throughs gave me pause for thought. There were some songs I’d have long since assigned to a list labelled “Never in my Lifetime!”. Teenage Tom still has a hand on the playlist function in my brain. Teenage Tom was quite the zealot.
But the live performances changed everything. My prejudices had to be parked. The five acts — Midnight in Vegas, Paddy Tracy, Caitlin Macken, Ryan Phoenix and the eventual winner, Jesse Sludds — commanded the stage and had people smiling, laughing and singing from the word go.
I was still singing — a song made famous here by Declan Nerney — until late into the next day. “Stop the world I’m getting off,” I said to each new Trump utterance, each new oil price fiasco and every new grim headline until my wife threatened to leave me. With the right arrangement I could see it on the next Morrissey album.
One of my co-judges, the one and only living legend that is Sandy Kelly, said of one of the acts — the all-girl Midnight in Vegas — that Ireland needed a band like that, right now. And I couldn’t help but agree wholeheartedly: in this post-CMAT Ireland, a band with that wit and three CMATS would slay!
There are developments on that front. A band called the Shamrock Showband will be launching their new album, their second, on June 17 at Whelan’s in Dublin. They’ve already been described as a kind of Father Ted, CMAT lovechild. The album will be called .
They have been described as a psychedelic country band, that pays homage to and is trying to revive the Irish showband era. With song titles like and there is a lot to take in. There is also some Jinx Lennon DNA in the mix. Colour me intrigued.
I came home from the show on a high. I’d loved it. The enthusiasm was infectious. The audience and the acts loved those songs. I opened social media to see the usual withering critiques. But honestly, are you going to tell that audience it is the ‘wrong kind of happiness?’
We were never as happy as we were under the showbands. Bring them back, now!
