Craic On

DylanFest Headliner

Robert Harrison, or Bobby Does Dylan, as he is known when he plays, played the Tall Ships Race in Greenock in 2011. Since then his career as a Bob Dylan tribute acts has been on the rise. After that he got an opportunity to play at the Oran Mor in Glasgow in front of 9,000 people in 2013.

While there, he decided, as it was a good sunny day, to play a few songs for the people who were passing by in the street. It was a stroke of inspiration for Robert and his career. He put it up on YouTube. People stopped to watch and enjoy the music. It was like the iconic video of the Beatles playing songs from their Abbey Road album on the roof of Saville Row.

It got a lot of views, the most important of which was Bob Dylan himself, so much so that he asked a top Scottish DJ how he could contact Bobby Does Dylan next time he was in Scotland. Robert was very surprised to get a call while he was practising on his guitar to say that Bob Dylan wanted to meet him. “Say that again?” he said.

It was all arranged and in late 2013, Robert was taken to Bob Dylan’s hotel suite in Glasgow to meet him. “Is he here?” asked Robert of the guy showing him in, as there were quite a few people in the room, some of whom he recognised. “That’s him over there” Robert was told. “Bob, here’s Robert Harrison, the guy who had the YouTube video”.

Over came Dylan and they sat down together and had a chat for 5 to 10 minutes. “Thanks for playing my song, Like a Rolling Stone” said Dylan. “That’s no problem” said Robert” I love your songs”.

“Are you doing well?” asked Dylan. “It’s getting better all the time” said Robert. Leaning over Dylan cupped his mouth with one hand and said “well, you owe me some royalties then”. After being taken aback initially, Robert realised that Dylan was smiling.

They continued to talk for a few more minutes till someone came over with something for Dylan to sign and nodded to Robert that it was time to go.

Said Robert “It was one of the highlights of my life. Sometimes people are disappointed when they meet their heroes. I was the opposite. I thought even more highly of him afterwards. He hasn’t lost the common touch”.

After that, Robert was booked to play Europe’s biggest festival of Dylan music the 4-day long Stuck Inside of Moville, the DylanFest on the Lough in Moville, Donegal Ireland which is a picturesque town on the shore of the salmon fishing Lough Foyle.

He wowed the crowd that weekend and did so well that he is to be the joint headline act this year with Al Diesan, Europe’s top Dylan act, who is coming over from the island of Sardinia in Italy to play the festival, taking three planes to get there and three back.

Said Stuck Inside of Moville organiser, Gerry McLaughlin, who is from Greenock himself, originally, “Bobby was tremendous last year. He was a revelation. No wonder Bob Dylan, himself, was impressed. He has the big sound system, the lights show and most importantly of all, the music. We just had to get him back again”.

Al Diesan, Europe’s top Dylan act, wanted to play with Bobby on the Sunday night of last year’s festival and they jammed together in front of the Said Gerry, “It was great to see a fellow Greenock man doing well”.

Robert will be performing his show at the top of the bill at the Caiseal Mara hotel on the Friday and Saturday of Stuck Inside of Moville starting off with the Dylanites from Derry at 7:15pm before Bobby comes on at around 8:30pm

Stuck Inside of Moville takes place from August 27th to 30th in multiple venues in Moville, Donegal.

Tickets for Bobby Does Dylan for each of the nights at the Caiseal Mara Hotel are €5 each and can be bought at the Caiseal Mara Hotel, the popular Rosatos Bar or Moville Holiday Hostel.

Moville

Moville is a small picturesque town in the countryside in Donegal which lies 18 miles north of Derry on a straight road along the salmon fishing Lough Foyle.

City of Derry is the nearest airport with Ryanair running cheap flights to there – especially if booked in advance. Through Ryanair we are in easy reach of the West of Scotland, Liverpool, Birmingham and London (Stansted).
A taxi to Moville from the airport costs £28.

Belfast’s airports are about 1.5 hours away. An Airporter Bus outside the airport takes you straight to Derry.

Accommodation

See Moville Holiday Hostel

See Self Catering Holidays in Moville

See Bed and Breakfast in Moville

See Redcastle Hotel – It’s a great plush hotel with Spa, swimming pool, gym and golf course. You could book early for this year’s festival as it will be all booked out by festival time

Caiseal Mara Hotel – It is in town and has just re-opened. It has 45 rooms. It is €55 a room sharing and €60 not sharing (I’ll need to check that still applies). That’s with breakfast.

They can be contacted on 0749382600 or 087 6888548 inside Ireland and 00353749382600 or 00353 876888548 outside Ireland.

For the self catering and B&B accommodation becoming available click on Accommodation Available

Moville People

If you have Bed and Breakfast or self-catering facilities to let for the DylanFest, and you are not already on the appropriate pages, let us know and we will add you.