Craic On

They came from all over the country and from many countries to the DylanFest and to see Al Diesan who himself has come from Sardinia via Milan and Belfast to play. He brought his wife with him for the first time to see Stuck Inside of Moville.

There have been some great night at the DylanFest, notably the Phantom Engineers in the street at the 2007 and 2008 DylanFest, The Plea’s great 2009 Town Clock gig, Al’s Rosatos gigs in 2010 and 2011 and Jacques Mees in the Bar-a-Cuda in 2011 but so many people told me that Al’s gig last night in Rosatos was the best ever DylanFest gig. I hope you were there to see it. A lot of people were. Indeed the majority of the crowd were visitors to the town and what a massive crowd it was.

Football Crowd

At the end it was like a football crowd. I’ve never heard anything like it in a pub. It started off with clapping then whoops but for the last third of the act virtually every song’s finish was greeted by roars from the crowd. The highlight was Like A Rolling Stone, now Moville’s anthem, with the whole pub singing along with it and then roaring with delight at the end.

I wonder if Al, who plays a Dylan gig every Saturday in his home city of Cagliari in Sardinia in Italy, has seen or heard anything like it either. He looked pretty pleased at the end. His wife, who was over with him for the first time, was smiling very proudly throughout the night. They won’t forget this weekend in a while. It was a magical weekend.

CDs

She must have sold a lot of copies of his CD as she went through the audience. Al, like many of the other foreign acts, loses money when he comes here for the privilege of playing at Moville’s DylanFest. I hope he managed to recoup at least some of it with the CDs his wife sold last night.

It was glorious! It was magnificent! It was like a stadium gig. If you weren’t there when the greatest ever Dylan gig was played you’ll certainly be told about it – many times I think. They’ll be talking about this gig for a long, long time in Moville.

There’s still one day left. There’s an Open Mic with Mickey the Hat and Billy McInnes at the Putting Green Cafe from 2pm to 6pm. There’s also Michael Moravek, from Germany, and Sean Hiboy, who played such a great gig in Rosatos on Friday night, playing at 3:30pm in Maguires Bar.

Tonight

Then tonight we have the Relics of Saint Valentine from Dublin playing The Ferryport at 10pm and we have Bulrush from Derry in Rosatos tonight. That’s Ryan O’Dochertaigh and Kevin Brown who formed part of The Cannibals who played one of the greatest DylanFest gigs in the Bar-a-Cuda in 2009 the last time they appeared at the DylanFest. They play Dylan in a high-octane style much like The Plea did when they used to play Rosatos. they had everyone in the Bar-a-Cuda up dancing on the floor when they played there. It was astonishing.

People were telling me last night that this was the best ever DylanFest. It’s not over yet. If you haven’t managed to get out make sure you get out to Maguires, the Ferryport, Rosatos or the Putting Green Cafe today.

What a weekend!

And tonight Al Diesan and Michael Moravek will be spectators at the feast. Maybe they’ll get to sing a song.

Be there!