26/4/2014 KOROIT IRISH FESTIVAL (Victoria)

[Trilly]

* duh duh duhla duh daah da DAAAAH!*

Good afternoon, lovelies, here is your roving  reporter with the latest on Teh Man.

It seems couple of   who hadn't seen each other for a while decided at the last (and I do mean LAST!) minute on a pleasant Saturday afternoon's drive through the picturesque Victorian countryside, heading west toward the coast. As one of the friends had recently experienced vehicular difficulties, the other (who was already coastal) arranged to collect her from the train station en route. After being lead astray by James ( first cousin to NavBitch), so began an epic journey into the alternate Universe of IrishWorld ie Koroit (properly pronounced Kroit!) haha!

OK,enough silliness, get to the good bits, you bellow!

Well, we wandered about the town upon arrival, met border collie sheepdogs, bought food and beverages, stopped to admire craft stalls, listened to folk musos play in the streets and generally soaked up the atmosphere of the Festival in the most welcome sunshine. This continued for some time until we found the Theatre ( which wasn't all that hard to find, really. Koroit is slightly less than a mega-metropolis. More your two -pub, one-main-drag kinda place. Ha

Once seated therein we were entertained firstly by a somewhat legendary local acoustic folk singer, named Maria Ford who had a lovely, powerful voice and some rousing tunes.

Next on stage was Imogen Brough, a previous The Voice contestant. This lovely young woman had a stunning 4-octave (!) voice and style of Celtic music I would best describe as Enya meets Florence And The Machine.( sheesh! Blame the booze LOL!) Enigmatic, haunting, driving music which was something very different. Loved her cover of London Grammar's "Strong".( Check it out on YouTube. )

Then, Mr Leith plus Eric and Clare the fiddler were up. What can I say? They were brilliant, thrilling the packed two tiers of about 600 souls with a suitably Irish flavoured set. And, gawdluvem, those with Irish genes really do love to sing along, clap and stomp! Audience participation was probably the best I've ever heard! Didn't keep a set list but from memory, we had Halfway Heart, Wicked Game ( complete with rocked up fiddle), Galway Girl ( which D is just learning), Rocky Road To Dublin( the WHOLE song!), Without A Fight, Drop The Feathers ( accompanied by an impromptu young Irish dancer) , Danny Boy ( yup, Mr Judge sang his version to file his credentials, so to speak, but he seemed rather keen on the thousand bucks 1st Prize too baha! ) Blue Bayou ( duet with a young lady whose name escapes me - hey, I'm recovering from beaucoup de Guinness, K? Ha) and if course Crying and Hallelujah. And more! D was scheduled to only be on for an hour but with encores it was close to 90 minutes! Bonus! (Not bad for a singer recovering from a sniffle. )

Honestly, the place went nuts! They absolutely loved it. The MC was blown away by the reaction too. Brilliant! I so hope they invite him back next year. Gotta "Go Irish" in Vic again!

PS. Somewhat surprisingly for me, the DB contest final was really rather awesome, with some very talented contestants and varied interpretations. It wouldn't have been an easy judging task. Thought the eventual winner Tali (female) would take it out but Princey and  I both liked a young man with guitar who sang a modern version which was cool.

And no, Braff and Co, sadly I don't think D had time to go looking for Spud- or spuds, for that matter. Ha!

PPS. Signing after went very well, of course.

Princey will add  her ( happy) thoughts later. She asked me to start the ball rolling.  

[thebraff (Braffy)]

Sounds like a really brilliant event Trilly and a great report too thanks.

The young lady's name is Kayla Dwyer. She has tweeted a few times now about going to sing/singing with/ having sung with Damien.

Kayla Dwyer ‏@kayladwyermusic 2h

So lucky to have had the honour to sing with Damien Leith! What a lovely guy and what a show! So much fun!

[dmac]

Oh wow...sounds wonderful Trilly what a huge audience...bet Damien, Eric and Clare had fun soaking up the atmosphere and vibes from that crowd and how perfectly wonderful that all were treated to a lovely long show the more the merrier eh and loving the sounds, especially with the addition of the fiddle Bet it was fantastic soaking up the total atmosphere of the whole experience oh ....and hoping lots of D merchandise was sold . Thank you for such a terrific report Trilly...really wish I could have been there, but so glad you lovelies were

[princess1]

I have to go to work now and I slept most of yesterday afternoon, damn Irish whiskey my head hurts!!! but I'l be back tonight to end the report

[thebraff (Braffy)]

I'll look forward to it Princey. I hope your head is feeling better.

[plugger]

Thanks for report Trilly! Sounds like a great time had. Oh Princey, hope you are feeling better.....Irish Whiskey..........tastes great but loads of punch. Look forward to hearing your news too.

[dmac]

Looking forward to it Princey hoping you feel better soon

[princess1]

Hi everyone, sorry I didn't get back last night to post my report, I ended up with a massive headache and went to bed very early, maybe a 2 day hangover anyway.......
Trilly has told you most of what happened at the show, we hung around a bit after the show, Damien was doing a signing and I ended up taking photo's for quite a few people just because I was hanging around We had spoken to a few people about Damien and how good he was and a lot of people were very impressed. Eric was on the merchandise and he sold quite a few items including books, cd's and tea towels. Imogen was just across from Eric and Damien selling her cd's and her new single, she was a lovely girl and wow what a voice.
During the show we had been spotted in the crowd, first by Eric and then by Damien, he gave us a lovely mention from the stage and pointed us out to the crowd, so people who were sitting around near us knew then that he knew us
Then it was our turn to talk to Damien, we had a nice chat with him and he thanked us for coming, we said goodbye and left, Trilly and I walked along the street and couldn't go past the pub on the corner I think it was called Murphy O'Rourkes, we couldn't resist stopping, there were musicians with their instruments just sitting at the tables outside playing their instruments and singing, we enjoyed the atmosphere and decided to sit and listen for a while, of course we couldn't just sit and listen without having a few bevvies we soon ended up wandering inside where another band was playing, a few more bevvies, lots more music, talking, dancing, more bevvies, more talking, more dancing, before we knew it was 9 o'clock, boy those Irish really know how to party, everyone was so friendly and welcoming, we ended up having a great night but like I said I suffered for 2 days. All I can say is it was a fantastic way to spend a Saturday night and having seen Damien singing before all this really topped it off

[Trilly]

Mickey O'Rourke's, Princey. The Guinness didn't leave such a nasty hangover, thankfully. Hug. But boy , what a great town and fun, friendly people. We had a blast , didn't we? Thankyou so much for your great company,hun. 

Just remembered Fisherman's Blues was sung too- woohoo hoo!!

[dmac]

Really glad you had such a great time Princey but sorry you paid a heavy price ...oops sorry shhhhhh hope you're feeling better now and thank you for coming in to complete the report

[princess1]

Thanks Dawn, I'm fine now, it'll be a while till I have that much alcomahol again
oooops my bad Trilly, I was close, haha. Yes it was a great weekend and thankyou too

[thebraff (Braffy)]

Thanks for coming back in again Princey and giving us some more insight into the weekend.

You can't beat Irish pubs for atmosphere. Had a great time in some when we were in Ireland a few years ago.

The Festival sounds like it was a lot of fun and it was so good that you were able to go.

[plugger]

Thanks Princey for coming back in. Irish pubs do have the atmosphere....sounds like a great festival too. It probably did take you 2 days to recoup.......you are not a big drinker! Stay away from the Irish influence Princey

[princess1]

I think that was the problem Plugz, I'm not a big drinker at all

[Trilly]

May 1, 2014 5:56:01 GMT 10 princess1 said:

I think that was the problem Plugz, I'm not a big drinker at all

The whiskey was the problem, hun. It's deadly if you have a few.  Guinness is filling, so it's hard to overindulge to any great extent- well, harder! LOL!

We had such a great time though !