American Fleadh

I know that most of you don't like Irish music (even by the likes of U2) but for the sake of a few of you out there I thought I would share this. Some of these bands aren't your traditional Irish music types:

http://www.americanfleadh.com

American Fleadh to hit 9 Cities in June/July

An amazing line up of Irish and Irish American musicians, will appear on at the American Fleadh premiere June 19th in Baltimore.

The first the American Fleadh, (pronounced Flah and meaning festival) is a traveling extravaganza of musicians, writers and dancers spreading Irish and Irish American culture across the country, kicking off in Baltimore on June 19th. The American Fleadh will travel onto Philadelphia, Boston, New York, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Milwaukee and Chicago in June and early July.

The American Fleadh was first suggested by artist/author/performer Larry Kirwan of Black 47 fame and is presented by Steve Martin and the international booking agency, The Agency Group Ltd.

This year the American Fleadh will feature Floggin' Molly, The Saw Doctors, Black 47, Hothouse Flowers, Eileen Ivers and Immigrant Soul, The Prodigals and special guest stars. There are no headliners on this tour, as each band is a headliner in its own right. All with outstanding live performance reputations, these artists broaden the Irish musical experience with their highly individualized styles.

Floggin' Molly come from a Californian punk background and are true heirs of the Pogues moshpit tradition.

The Saw Doctors mix scintillating pop and country with their West of Ireland roots.

Black 47 adds a political, urban, reggae edge to their Irish-American anthems.

Hothouse Flowers combine blue-eyed soul with Liam O'Maonlai's compelling Traditional Irish raves.

Eileen Ivers, who revolutionized Irish fiddle playing in her star turn in Riverdance, adds a World Music roots edge with her band Immigrant Soul.

And the Prodigals add rock and punch to their accordion based jigs and covers of Traditional tunes.

The American Fleadh will also offer a literary tent featuring well known Irish and Irish-American authors and poets and the festival will also be joined by dance troupes and local performers from each of the different cities.

Every date for the American Fleadh is an all age's show and set up to accommodate and entertain all the generations of the family.

SHOWS CONFIRMED TO DATE:

June 19, PIER SIX CONCERT PAVILLION, BALTIMORE, MD
June 20, ELECTRIC FACTORY, PHILADELPHIA, PA
June 21, FLEET BOSTON PAVILLION, BOSTON, MA
June 22, MEADOWLANDS FAIR, EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ
June 26, TOWER CITY AMPHITHEATRE, CLEVELAND, OH
June 27, AMPHITHEATRE at STATION SQUARE, PITTSBURGH, PA
June 28, FESTIVAL GROUNDS at THE PIER, BUFFALO, NY
June 30, MILWAUKEE SUMMERFEST, MILWAUKEE, WI
July 2, THE ABBEY, CHICAGO, IL
July 3, PROMOWEST PAVILION, COLUMBUS, OH


Cheers.

if it wasn't in baltimore i'd go. (oh the plight of the carless) just to see hothouse flowers again. they were great last november. i'd skip the saw doctors though. i found them boring.

I was at the 1998 Fleadh Fest in chicago and the lineup was much more stellar…this is not my review, but it gives an idea of who was there.


The Guinness Fleadh

with X, John Lee Hooker, Squeeze, Billy Bragg, Wilco, Richard Thompson, and more

Arlington Race Track, Chicago 6.25.98

by Brent Dey

Ahhhhhh… Guinness. Nothing like a thick, malty Guinness to clog your throat while you enjoy a good Fleadh on a hot summer afternoon. A Fleadh (pronounced "flay") is an Irish tradition of drinking, dancing, and musical competition. This summer Guinness brought the concept stateside for select dates in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. The latest in a long line of traveling rock festivals (Lollapalooza/H.O.R.D.E./Lillith Fair/Monsters of Rock), this tour was notable for the richness of its musical integrity, with acts as diverse as the Chieftains, Tracy Chapman, Wilco, Sinead O'Connor, DAr Williams, Los Lobos, and Yo La Tengo among the many on the bill.


Despite the excellent lineup, the festival was marred. By mid-afternoon, many a disgruntled reveler at the Chicago stop was referring to it as the Guinness flawed tour. After forking out $45.00 for tickets, music lovers were forced to endure a litany of indignities: Water bottles and picnic baskets were not allowed. ATM machines weren't available. Lines for basic amenities (like a $3.00 bottle of water), exceeded 30 minutes. Planning was poor, with most of the day's best acts performing (for some inexplicable reason) in a tent that held a lot of body heat and very few bodies. Outside the tent the music was muffled, if audible at all.


Most obnoxious was the promoter's utter refusal to post a concert schedule in the newspaper or on its Web site. Performance times weren't even listed inside the park until enough people protested. You could buy a program, if you were willing to plunk down another $10.00.


I wasn't about to let the inconveniences bother me (though I was composing an angry letter to Guinness in my head). I would have never thought there would be a rock and roll day when I could plant my feet in squarely in one place and see Richard Thompson, Billy Bragg, Squeeze, John Lee Hooker, and X all back to back in one place, but that's exactly what happened. By the end of the day, two of the bands I saw would make it into my "top 10 best ever" performance list (read on and guess who they are!).


I didn't enjoy Richard Thompson's set much, though I've been getting into his mid 70's album Pour Down Like Silver. I was too busy composing the angry letter and getting acquainted with the assholes and elbows I would be spending the next SEVEN HOURS with. 1,800 people crammed into a tent built for 500 and everyone talking the whole time. Hey! Go outside the tent if you don't want to see Richard Thompson!


Billy Bragg was offered a little more respect than Richard Thompson (but not much more). He was joined by Wilco to perform interpretations of Woody Guthrie songs they recorded together on the upcoming LP, Mermaid Avenue (also reviewed in this issue). Lacking his usual wit and banter, Bragg played a straight-forward set, making only quick references to his own career with "A Lover Sings," "Sexuality," and "Waiting for the Great Leap Forward."


Bragg was followed by Squeeze, who gave a raw and inspired set. They performed all of their classics – "Annie Get Your Gun," "Black Coffee in Bed," "Tempted"… it was like dropping the needle on Singles 45's and Under at a frat party in the mid-80's. Everybody was dancing, beer was swilling, and people were having fun.


There was an air of restlessness while the stage was being set for John Lee Hooker. I soon found out I wasn't the only one who had come great distances to see the blues master, most of us making our way from birth through college in a fraction of the time Hooker has been making records.


Hooker's warm-up band was good. They played three songs in typical Chicago blues style, entertaining enough in their own right. Halfway through the third song, Hooker wandered into the backstage – a specter waiting in the wings. His trademark hat and hunched shoulders were dark and ghostlike against the red back lighting. He stood for awhile before sitting down. At 81 and in poor health, he was tired before he even took the stage.


When he did take the stage, the tight, cramped tent took on the air of a riverside revival. A charged spirituality spread through the room. He waved at the crowd as he walked to the chair where he would be performing. His fingers were like spiders. His hands so big they blocked out lights.


Hooker's set was all about feeling. Like a jazz show, he went where the mood took him, directing his band with waves of his fingers. Pointing up meant stop. Pointing up could also mean speed it up. Also, pointing up could mean change tempo. Somehow the band knew.


The music was a mish-mash. The only recognizable songs were "Boom Boom," which is pretty much free-form in its own right, and "Serves You Right to Suffer," which Hooker sang, head tilted forward toward the floor. A master minimalist, each word he uttered was like a knife of shame. Serves you right to suffer. Serves you right to be alone. You are a bastard.


The rest of the show was a rambling treatment of Hooker's sparse guitar work backed by a sometimes over-powering, ham-fisted band. Hooker would play and utter whatever words came to his head "hey there… boogie woogie," "woe! woe! Boogie Woogie," "yeah… yeah… yeah… YOU! YOU! YOU! Yeah,." I think I heard bits of "Boogie Chillin" in there somewhere, or maybe it was "The House Rent Boogie," either way, the boogie was there that night. It was in there, and it had to come out.


It was amazing just to watch Hooker. Just to look at him – hands moving slowly like spiders. With over 60 years of performing experience, he held his band, the people backstage (who crowded around to watch) and every member of the audience in a transfixed spell. He was like a diviner, pulling moods, feelings, and other dark things out of the air. The divining rod was his guitar, the transmitter was his voice. When he left the stage the audience just stood in silence. We had been in the presence of greatness.


It took a band like X to snap us out of our stupor. I don't even remember what their first song was. I don't remember them setting up or anything… they were just there! John Doe, D.J. Bonebrake, Billy Zoom, and Exene Cervenka – the original members in all their raw, underclass glory.


Put the double disk Los Angeles/Wild Gift on shuffle and you have their set list. Everything they played (with the exception of "The New World") came off those first two albums, and despite the lines and wrinkles in their faces, they had all the energy and power they must have had in 1981. "White Girl," "We're Desperate," "The World's A Mess (It's In My Kiss)," "The Unheard Music"… they just kept throwing them at us all night long. No talk between songs. No bullshit.


There was no way to stop dancing, they looked better than they did back in '81.


They weren't all strung out on drugs. John Doe looked every bit the rock and roll rebel he has always been, with his cut off T-shirt and black, belted boots. The Freddy Mercury mustache was kinda gay, but otherwise he looked good. D.J. Bonebrake didn't do any of his flips like he used to, so maybe he has back problems now. Exene Cervenka looked downright sexy as she rolled her bedroom eyes at the audience. I'm not saying she looked good (like a model). I'm saying she looked sexy. Seductive. She had some kind of power.


It was good to have Billy Zoom back. The wide-eyed guitarist from Dubuque, Iowa. Playing the straight man to the rest of the punk insanity, his hair was combed back, his legs spread cowboy style as he laid out one sharp 50's riff after another. That searching grin he was always known for was almost creepy in real life.


Seeing X live was the realization they were that rare commodity, the perfect band. John Doe's Elvis-like hiccup backed with Exene's strung-out, almost whining backup vocals, punctuated with D.J. Bonebrake's punchy drumming and Zoom's stinging Chuck Berry guitar riffs. And don't forget Ray Manzarek's keyboards (yes… that Ray Manzarek, from the Doors – he was on their first two albums). A truly original sound. All of this, plus the writing that could be funny and apocalyptic at the same time: "Set the trash on fire, and watch outside the door/A thousand kids, bury their parents… " Wow! That's scary!


Where would they have gone if Billy Zoom hadn't left the band?


Well, they're back now. See 'em when they come to town. Wear your dancing shoes.


Shane MacGowen, from the Pogues/Popes was up next, but to be honest, I didn't have the energy. Not knowing if he was going to pull his classic routine of being half hour to an hour late to the gig, we decided to head back into Chicago for beer. Too bad. I heard he snarled his way through Pogues classics like "If I Should Fall From Grace With God" with reckless abandon. But I suppose one can only have so much reckless abandon in one night.


While walking out we saw people were waiting for taxis because the concert organizers hadn't arranged for the Chicago subway to run late for the crowds. Also, the traffic cops pointed us out in a general direction and we, like a train of people following us, got lost, and ended up driving around for 45 minutes before we got back on track. Minor irritants. If the Guinness Fleadh could get the music so right, I could put up with the flaws.


So, I was happy. My angry letter to Guinness reads simply this – "Get the kinks out and come back next year!" If it comes, get yourself a plane ticket and go see it.

if it was well organized it wouldn't be Irish!

Which part of Ireland is John Lee Hooker from?

Originally posted by Rhett Miller:
I was at the 1998 Fleadh Fest in chicago and the lineup was much more stellar…this is not my review, but it gives an idea of who was there.

Cheers Rhett. welcome back.

Not sure. Pretty sure he's Black Irish though.

I was wondering which guy from Los Lobos was the token Irish guy as well…though they put on a show better than any Irish band I can think of…

Originally posted by ggw:
Which part of Ireland is John Lee Hooker from?

Originally posted by Rhett Miller:
Not sure. Pretty sure he's Black Irish though.

I was wondering which guy from Los Lobos was the token Irish guy as well…though they put on a show better than any Irish band I can think of…

Originally posted by ggw:
Which part of Ireland is John Lee Hooker from?

on St. Patrick's day all yanks are feck'n Irish!

Rhett obviously never saw the Pogues in their heyday….welcome back by the way, hope you both had a great time.

Thanks Mank.

You're right. I never did get to see the Pogues in their heyday. I have a strong feeling I would agree with you on that one if I had.

Originally posted by mankie:

Originally posted by Rhett Miller:
Not sure. Pretty sure he's Black Irish though.

I was wondering which guy from Los Lobos was the token Irish guy as well…though they put on a show better than any Irish band I can think of…

Originally posted by ggw:
Which part of Ireland is John Lee Hooker from?

on St. Patrick's day all yanks are feck'n Irish!

Rhett obviously never saw the Pogues in their heyday….welcome back by the way, hope you both had a great time.