Don O'Leary: I was blown away when Christy Moore offered to perform benefit gig in Cork

The gig will take place in the Cork Opera House on November 6 and all proceeds are going to the Cork Life Centre

Wed, 14 Sep, 2022 - 09:57

Mick Clifford

Don O’Leary thought somebody was pulling his leg when he got a call from Christy Moore offering to do a benefit gig for the Cork Life Centre.

O’Leary knew the singer but hadn’t met him for a number of years prior to this summer when he got the call.

“Somebody like him, how he’s held musically and as a social commentator, I was just blown away,” O’Leary told the Irish Examiner.

Christy being Christy he asked me would I mind if he did a concert. Would I mind?

The gig will take place in the Cork Opera House on November 6. Tickets go on sale at 10am on Thursday and all proceeds are going to the Cork Life Centre. The centre, which was set up and is run by O’Leary, caters for children and youths who are not suited for mainstream education.

“I have 55 kids here since we re-opened for the new school year this month,” O’Leary says. “They are out of formal education for lots of reasons. I’ve had to refuse 160 kids so any funding that we receive is always welcome.”

Christy Moore says that he has been impressed for a long time by the work being done by O’Leary in the Cork Life Centre. “I decided I’d love to do something for this man, to honour him and to raise the profile of the centre.

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"It’s fantastic work they are doing there and it would be fantastic if there was national system based on the Cork Life Centre.”

This will be Christy's first gig in the Opera House for more than 15 years although he has been a regular performer at the Marquee every Summer in recent years.

“I’m hoping that a couple of pupils might come on stage and talk about their experience there if they’re up for it. It would give the gig a good context,” he says.

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