Craic On

Al Diesan

Al Diesan is one of the heroes of the DylanFest and he played one of the most memorable DylanFest gigs ever in Rosatos on the Saturday night when it was like a stadium crowd with each song greeted by a roar and many singing along to them.

Al said he’d never felt anything like it – especially when he sang Like a Rolling Stone.

First Contact

The first time I ever heard from Al was when he told me he’d booked to come for the DylanFest. He was making a pilgrimage to it.

He did a pilgrimage a year and had visited Greenwich Village where Dylan used to live when he came to New York. He played in a lot of the pubs that Dylan used to play in before he became famous.

He was flying from Cagliari to Milan and then to Paris and then to either Dublin or Belfast. He had booked to stay in the Caiseal Mara along with Pino Tocco his guitarist.

On the spur of the moment I asked him if he played at all. The rest is history.

The Sardinian

Now a new Sardinian, Riccardo Delussu has booked into the Cosy Cottage and asked to be put in touch with the organisers of the DylanFest to see if he could play a few tunes.

Declan put me in touch with him and now he has booked his flights. He is flying from Cagliari to Milan to Paris to Dublin.

He’ll stay overnight in Dublin before he sets off by bus to Derry and then Moville. It is basically taking him two days to get here and two days to get back again.

During the Day

He wants to play during the day and evening and maybe open for another act and play a few songs during breaks other acts are taking. That means he can both play and enjoy the festival.

He says he is looking forward to playing Dylan songs to an audience who understand the words and the meaning. I think that is one of the attractions for the acts from non-English speaking countries.

Two Sets

He is putting together two sets. He said “If I’m alone I can made a set based on Another side of, and the bootleg series, volume 6.  I can even play something from Inside Llewny Davis soundtrack, and, of course, I’m always ready to jam”.

He said further “I can made two different sets… One from the 1964’s bootleg, and the other from the acoustic part of the 1966 tour”.

Playing for Fans

He continued “I’d like to play for  Dylan fans, so I’ll try to sing something different than the other sets (as you can see there are songs from the bootlegs).

“With my band we usually make people dance, but I’d like to play where people understand what I’m saying.. That’s the reason why I’m joining the fest. But I’ll play all songs in a rock’n’roll mood, it could be funny even for the local audience”.

Note:- I think he probably means fun rather than funny.

Paddy the Shoe seems impressed with how keen he is. Here is what Riccardo is thinking of playing for his 1964 set.

You can hear him play on YouTube by clicking Riccardo Delussu and The Tambourines

The DylanFest takes place from August 21st to 24th this year.

Accommodation

Moville Holiday Hostel

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