Celtic Rock

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We did the family outing thing on Tuesday evening and went to Gateway's Barnyard Theatre to watch Celtic Rock. That's the Theatre's festive season show for this year and it runs until 6 January, with reduced price specials on Tuesdays and Sundays.

I'm pleased to report that Celtic Rock, which features both traditional and contemporary music from the Emerald Isle, is a refreshing change after so many "This era in music" tribute shows. As a result it's one of the best of the recent Barnyard productions. As a plus the cast features several Irish and English performers - for that extra touch of authenticity!


I'll admit that many of the drinking songs were lost on me, but out of the tracks I recognised, highlights include a Corrs medley, U2's Sunday, Bloody Sunday, Van Morrison's Brown Eyed Girl, Sinead O'Connor's Nothing Compares to You and the well-known traditional songs Toss the Feathers and River Dance.

The "heaviest" song of the evening was Zombie from the Cranberries, and it was utterly awesome! The Barnyard has some great acoustics when the on-stage band is allowed to completely rock out. And it made me wish for the impossible - a heavy rock / alternate music tribute show. Pity that the Barnyard runs on the money of middle-aged, middle-class patrons, which makes anything post-1995, or anything "content-unsafe" a performance impossibility.

In a related vein, looking around the theatre, we realised we were almost the youngest people there. All around us was a sea of rapidly greying heads. Reading this News24 article on white South African emigration, however, it all suddenly made sense!

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And in case you were wondering about my absence yesterday, hopefully there will be some (not too embarassing) photo evidence uploaded here before the end of the day. Otherwise brace yourself for it on Monday.

Comments

Dante said…
Me and Mel are going to watch it when i come visit in November. Sounds fun.
3:19 PM
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