Connolly’s at heart of West Cork's global fame as music hub
Connolly's of Leap is a famous and favourite venue among music fans to catch big and small acts, new and experienced, from all walks of life and across all genres of music, playing at the venue year-round.
“It's got a mind of its own, that building. It belongs to everyone — it belongs to the people that come through the door.”
Sam McNicholl is speaking about Connolly’s of Leap, the roadside music venue an hour and a half from the city that can’t be missed before heading deeper into West Cork.
It’s 10-and-a-half years since the McNicholl family set about revamping and reopening Connolly’s. A third-generation music venue previously known as The Central Bar, it closed in the mid-noughties before Sam’s father Paddy passed away in 2010.
“I’m quite surprised that it worked in a way,” he admits, thinking back to the reopening in 2016.
For most people, reopening a legendary rural music venue would be a romantic but risky notion. For McNicholl, it was something more intimate. “I definitely think, looking back on it, it was an honouring of the father,” he says.
“He was the man who brought all the musicians down. I remember having such a good life there growing up as a kid - just there being music around all the time — positive people, a real buzz.”
It took leaving to fully understand what he’d grown up in. Studying music in London and travelling, he would always be asked where he was from.
“People would always go, ‘Oh my god, that sounds incredible, you grew up in a music venue?”
But there was pathos there too. “I got a little bit sad that it was spoken about in the past tense. That was really the impetus – the retelling of the story made you realise it was a good one.”
Sam, alongside sister Mary and mother Eileen — who has decades of experience having steered the ship with Paddy — have totally revamped the venue.
There are acts big and small, new and experienced, from all walks of life and across all genres of music, playing at the venue year-round. The backyard has been cleared and now features a pizza oven and a whole other outdoor stage that wouldn’t look out of place at the biggest of music festivals.
Connolly’s is one of a number of music venues peppered around West Cork, stretching from Prim’s in Kinsale to De Barra’s in Clonakilty and further on to Levis’ of Ballydehob. On June 27-28, Connolly’s are linking up with Levis’ for the first of what they hope will be an annual weekender, called West Goes West, bringing together artists, audiences and communities for two days of music, creativity and connection.
“It'd be great to see more artists do a full West Cork tour,” says McNicholl.
All of the aforementioned venues have been selected as recipients of a €1m government scheme to support grassroots music venues and showcase emerging Irish talent. McNicholl says it’s important for the Government to support rural venues.
“It’s giving people a stage to hone their craft and develop their craft. If there aren’t these grassroots venues, then things can’t build naturally and organically.”
What does Connolly’s offer that keeps artists as diverse as Jenny Greene, Ye Vagabonds, Kila, Hermitage Green, and Sharon Shannon returning?
“I think Connolly’s feels like a little bit of a time machine,” he says. “It’s run by myself, my sister and my mother. It’s a family-run business that’s generational. It’s so small and unique and has a real feeling of Irish hospitality.”
In an era of giant stages and seas of camera phones, Connolly’s trades on intimacy and attention. “You don’t see a single phone – people aren’t recording it,” says McNicholl.
“We’ve been doing what we’re doing for so long now that we’ve attracted a really discerning type of audience that genuinely love music and love seeing it. We put so much work and energy into the production — the sound, and the lighting, and the whole customer experience.”
He says people regularly drive an hour and a half each way for a gig. “They say there’s nothing like Connolly’s in their own rural areas.”
West Cork itself remains part of the draw; for artists, a show here doubles as a holiday or a mini retreat. “That’s what we try and treat it like — try and get people to stay a little bit, you know?”
“A recent gig and just one of those really special nights that I'll never forget. I remember Damien playing in Connolly's in 2003 when I was very young, and there were not really many people there. I remember my dad coming in and pulling me into the venue and saying, ‘Watch this guy, he's incredible’. And so, fast-forwarding 23 years later, for me to be booking him, I felt very connected to Dad. It was just a really, really beautiful gig and one of those full-circle moments.”
For the first anniversary of Connolly’s reopening, Glen Hansard took the stage with Javier Mas, Leonard Cohen’s long-time guitarist. With Cohen having recently passed away, the pair slipped into an extended tribute set. “They ended up doing nearly an hour of Leonard Cohen songs. That was a really memorable experience where the stars aligned. It wasn’t planned - it was one of those magical things that happened.”
As a kid, Sam witnessed John Martyn’s 2003 run at Connolly’s, when a BBC crew spent weeks filming what became Johnny Too Bad, a documentary funded by Phil Collins. “It was just a wild memory, feeling like something special was happening in the room. That left a big imprint on me.”
The transformation of the grounds out the back of Connolly’s is symbolised by Imelda May’s appearance on the outdoor stage, built in 2023 with the help of designer Christy Collard and friends. “That was quite surreal… a national treasure playing on that big outdoor stage. I remember when it was a bit of a rock garden when I was a kid, so it’s nice to see it transformed into something people can enjoy.”
