Every two years we make a trip to this festival in County Clare o the West Coast of Ireland. it is a great wee festival run by Philippa and Peter who are a lovely couple I met at the Cork Jazz Festival a few years back.
It is a bit of a drive across to Cairnryan on the ferry to Belfast then a 5 hour drive to Doonbeg where a certain Mr Trump has a golf course.
We are always looked after with a nice house to stay in and really welcomed by the other musicians, customers and bar owners who are often very generous with the drink.
This year we had a change of drummer with Dave Hunter joining us, Dave is not only an excellent drummer but a really nice guy who surprised us by making scones on the first day.
The other personnel were Steve, Iain, Maria Speight and I, one of the things we love is the opportunity to get some uninterrupted rehearsal time which we do each day before we play. In Doonbeg we also try some new material and craft arrangements of existing tunes. For some reason although we change the set completely for each gig we end the night with our take on Midnight at the Oasis which is based on the Brand New Heavies version of that great tune.
Although it is a small festival it has a great spirit and we really appreciate being invited, this is a lovely part of the world and we have been lucky enough to have lovely weather for our annual cliff top walk each time we have been there.
Here is to another one in 2018!
