On May Day (Bank Holiday Monday), I was invited to attend a concert in Ringsend. The concert opened with the famous Dublin All Stars Marching Band and The Finglas Marching Band, who’s booming music could be heard all over the quays. They led a great parade through the streets starting at Ringsend and Irishtown’s community centre then going up as far as Pigeon House Road, before coming back to the community centre which was also led by a horse and carriage carrying the Lord Mayor Alice Foley a local from the area.
First up on stage was Conor Hamilton who opened his set with a tune called “Over Kill”, the audience ate it up. This was quickly followed by his latest offering called “You’ve got it in you”, which is available on iTunes for a mere 99 cents (ok that was a cheap plug). Conor was then joined on stage by local musicians from the Senior Ringsend Rock School (a great idea!), they performed his first top ten hit “Day Dreamer”.
Next up were the juniors from the Ringsend Rock School, who I may say, were able to deliver a great performances, which proves what you can teach youngsters. One little girl, who was playing an electric guitar, which was bigger than her! It was very cute.
The seniors of Ringsend Rock School then preformed a track they have kindly recorded for CRY, a charity that deals with Sudden Death Syndrome, an illness that affects more and more young and old, each year. The track is called “Elenora”, it be purchased for €5.00 with the proceeds going to this important charity.
The six member (3 male, 3 female) rock group “Evil Empire” then took the stage, all members of the Ringsend Rock School, they entertained the crowd with a collection from modern rock acts such as. “The Arctic Monkeys”, “The Black Eyes Keys”. We then got treated to some of the groups own material, a song by the name of “Suburbia” and a cracker called “Flower Bomb”. The lead singer, Aaron Hamilton, a cousin of Conor (that family is a cross between the Von Trapps and the Youngs!) looked so in control and engaged with the crowd.
The line up included the catchy Ennis brothers, a young girl called Leah who did justice to a Florence and the Machine cover, a brave 9 year old, Katie Learmouth and 8 year old Reece Farrell and Ben Breslin who sang wonderfully. The list of entertainers went on and on but it was a cracker of a day, the sun didn’t make an appearance but neither did it rain. The 500 plus crowd who came out to support this event responded positively to all the acts.
A great day and well done to everyone involved in the organising of it!
