Craic On

Al Diesan from Sardinia

Prehaps Europe’s best Dylan act, Al Diesan, will be playing Stuck Inside of Moville, the DylanFest on the Lough, at the end of August.

Many of those who have seen him previously at Moville’s DylanFest will be delighted to hear that.

This will be Al Diesan’s fifth visit to the festival and DylanFest goers never get tired of him. Indeed, it is the most asked question prior to a DylanFest “Is Al Diesan coming?”

First Visit to Moville’s DylanFest

Said DylanFest organiser, Gerry McLaughlin, “the first ever communication I had from Al Diesan was in 2009, when I got an email from him saying “Coming to the DylanFest on Thursday, staying at the Caiseal Mara Hotel”. I thought that this was good news that we had another spectator. I wondered if he played and emailed him back asking him. I’m glad I did”.

Al Diesan hails from Cagliari in Sardinia and does a Dylan gig every week in a bar there. He has been playing Dylan songs for almost 30 years.

Dylan Pilgrimage to Moville

He decided that he would do a Dylan pilgrimage every year. The first year he went to Greenwich Village in New York where Dylan lived and played and Al played in many of the locations where Dylan performed.

The next year he went to a Dylan festival in Austria. The following year he had decided to come to Moville in Donegal, Ireland. There he found his spiritual home and has made his annual ‘pilgrimage’ every year bar one to Stuck Inside of Moville since.

Al Diesan in Rosatos

His Saturday night gig in Rosatos has now become the centrepiece of the festival. He has played many great gigs but perhaps the Saturday night in Rosatos in 2013 was the greatest and is still being talked about in Moville.

It was like a stadium crowd rather than a pub crowd. There was an appreciative roar each time he started a song. the very peak was when he played Dylan’s “Like A Rolling Stone”.

Said Al “I’ve never had such a feeling as when I played that song that night. The hairs on the back of my neck rose. Maybe only when I was at a Dylan concert have I experienced such a feeling”.

In the first few years, Al came over to play with fellow Sardinian, Pino Toco, but the last two years he has played on his own.

Al Diesan and Pino Toco playing in Sardinia

DylanFest on the Lough

There’s a great sense of anticipation as Moville’s 9th DylanFest on the Lough approaches. It runs from August 27th to 30th in the sleep, idyllic town of Moville in Donegal, Ireland. There will be acts from all over Europe and people from all over the world at the festival.

Al Diesan will be opening the festival in Rosatos on the Thursday night and will play the keynote gig in Rosatos on the Saturday night.

On the Friday night he will play The Clock, a great location for music on the Friday, for the first time and will finish off the festival in Annie’s Bar on the Sunday night.

For the full DylanFest programme see 2015 DylanFest Programme of Events