Damien Dempsey at Iveagh Gardens: Euphoric crowd revels in ‘summer singsong'
Iveagh Gardens, Dublin
★★★★☆
In Colony,
Damien Dempsey
sings of Freddie, who came from the Iveagh Flats, one of a cast of characters from the wrong side of the tracks.
But the singer from Donaghmede on Dublin's northside has made the
Iveagh Gardens
off St Stephen's Green a home from home. This is his 12th year performing there and it hasn't rained once, he says. 'The sun gods must approve of this summer singsong.'
On the afternoon before last night's gig, he tells the crowd, he stood on the Hill of Howth and looked down over his city, his heart beating like a surfer anticipating a big wave.
If he was anxious, he need not have worried. This is a crowd he could surf on. In fact, Dempsey doesn't attract an audience so much as a volunteer choir of acolytes, amplifying every chorus. 'You're in fine voice tonight,' he says, often applauding them at the end of a song.
READ MORE
A marvellous rendition of Almighty Love, with his young nephew Cathal Dempsey joining him on guitar, kick-starts the night, followed by I Can Feel Your Presence, one of his best ballads, and the anthem Seize the Day, which allows the band to come into their own. The cellist struggles to be heard over guitars and drums but the uilleann pipes and flute give the concert a home-grown sound.
Dempsey is an honest, impassioned singer, who leaves nothing on the pitch, even on weaker numbers. If the simplicity of his lyrics occasionally borders on the banal – the advice to tell the truth but tell it slant either unheard or unheeded – the sincerity of the delivery redeems it.
He dedicates a song to 'our Celtic warrior queen fighting tomorrow night',
Katie Taylor
. It's a warm night and Dempsey, a former fighter himself, is breathing heavily between rounds. 'I couldn't wear skinny jeans tonight so I can't hit the high notes,' he jokes.
He dedicates Chris & Stevie, about two friends who died by suicide, to his mother, who helped him through hard times. 'To all you people, be proud of who you are,' he sings and it resonates. He is a blue-collar mechanic for the soul. 'I'll give you a lift after that,' he says, 'but you have to grieve.'
[
Damien Dempsey: Hold Your Joy – An infectiously wholehearted approach to singing and storytelling
Opens in new window
]
Ironically, perhaps, the upbeat number he chooses is Schoolday's Over by Ewan MacColl, about a school-leaver going down the coal mines. Far more uplifting and lively is Patience with its reggae vibe. 'You know I got no brakes!'
'We are travelling on a blue jewel around a burning star,' he tells the crowd. 'How could you not sing?'
Serious is next, a powerful, believable ballad about a boy being groomed by a drug dealer, followed by the anthemic Apple of My Eye, his love letter to New York, on which the uilleann pipes come into their own. Then the crowd explodes during a full-blooded rendition of the Rocky Road to Dublin. Suddenly it's raining beer as plastic glasses sail through the air. It's euphoric.
Dempsey prefaces Colony, an anti-imperialist song, by expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people and the Jewish activists supporting them and he calls for support for Frances Black's
Occupied Territories Bill
.
Negative Vibes reintroduces a welcome reggae beat – 'Lord won't you give me the strength to be strong and true?' – and as the night draws to a close, the singer pays tribute to our glorious dead – Shane MacGowan, Sinéad O'Connor, Seamus Begley and Christy Dignam – with a tender rendition of the beautiful Rainy Night in Soho. He has the measure of our dreams.
Damien Dempsey plays the Iveagh Gardens again tonight
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Damien Dempsey Iveagh Gardens, Dublin ★★★★☆ In Colony, Damien Dempsey sings of Freddie, who came from the Iveagh Flats, one of a cast of characters from the wrong side of the tracks. But the singer from Donaghmede on Dublin's northside has made the Iveagh Gardens off St Stephen's Green a home from home. This is his 12th year performing there and it hasn't rained once, he says. 'The sun gods must approve of this summer singsong.' On the afternoon before last night's gig, he tells the crowd, he stood on the Hill of Howth and looked down over his city, his heart beating like a surfer anticipating a big wave. If he was anxious, he need not have worried. This is a crowd he could surf on. In fact, Dempsey doesn't attract an audience so much as a volunteer choir of acolytes, amplifying every chorus. 'You're in fine voice tonight,' he says, often applauding them at the end of a song. READ MORE A marvellous rendition of Almighty Love, with his young nephew Cathal Dempsey joining him on guitar, kick-starts the night, followed by I Can Feel Your Presence, one of his best ballads, and the anthem Seize the Day, which allows the band to come into their own. The cellist struggles to be heard over guitars and drums but the uilleann pipes and flute give the concert a home-grown sound. Dempsey is an honest, impassioned singer, who leaves nothing on the pitch, even on weaker numbers. If the simplicity of his lyrics occasionally borders on the banal – the advice to tell the truth but tell it slant either unheard or unheeded – the sincerity of the delivery redeems it. He dedicates a song to 'our Celtic warrior queen fighting tomorrow night', Katie Taylor . It's a warm night and Dempsey, a former fighter himself, is breathing heavily between rounds. 'I couldn't wear skinny jeans tonight so I can't hit the high notes,' he jokes. He dedicates Chris & Stevie, about two friends who died by suicide, to his mother, who helped him through hard times. 'To all you people, be proud of who you are,' he sings and it resonates. He is a blue-collar mechanic for the soul. 'I'll give you a lift after that,' he says, 'but you have to grieve.' [ Damien Dempsey: Hold Your Joy – An infectiously wholehearted approach to singing and storytelling Opens in new window ] Ironically, perhaps, the upbeat number he chooses is Schoolday's Over by Ewan MacColl, about a school-leaver going down the coal mines. Far more uplifting and lively is Patience with its reggae vibe. 'You know I got no brakes!' 'We are travelling on a blue jewel around a burning star,' he tells the crowd. 'How could you not sing?' Serious is next, a powerful, believable ballad about a boy being groomed by a drug dealer, followed by the anthemic Apple of My Eye, his love letter to New York, on which the uilleann pipes come into their own. Then the crowd explodes during a full-blooded rendition of the Rocky Road to Dublin. Suddenly it's raining beer as plastic glasses sail through the air. It's euphoric. Dempsey prefaces Colony, an anti-imperialist song, by expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people and the Jewish activists supporting them and he calls for support for Frances Black's Occupied Territories Bill . Negative Vibes reintroduces a welcome reggae beat – 'Lord won't you give me the strength to be strong and true?' – and as the night draws to a close, the singer pays tribute to our glorious dead – Shane MacGowan, Sinéad O'Connor, Seamus Begley and Christy Dignam – with a tender rendition of the beautiful Rainy Night in Soho. He has the measure of our dreams. Damien Dempsey plays the Iveagh Gardens again tonight
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This weekend two years ago, they were in the Tailteann Cup final. Anyone suggesting they'd go from there to beating Kerry, Dublin and Galway in the 2025 championship would have been laughed out of Croke Park that day. Yet here they are. McEntee would have dearly loved to be part of it. He's still only 31 and was the Meath captain as recently as 2022 so age is no barrier. But he's had two back surgeries in recent years and however willing the spirit, the body won't play ball. Brennan had him in late last year as part of the extended panel but when time came to pare it back ahead of the league, McEntee didn't make the cut. Couldn't, basically. It means he has a unique perspective on the Meath season under the new manager. McEntee was there for those initial couple of months when Brennan was bedding in, setting a tone and unifying the group. He sat in the team meetings and listened as the new man set about them. It was the middle of the winter slog and the sports-and-conditioning guys were working on their bodies. But Brennan knew that unless they had belief in what was possible, all the gym work in the world was pointless. 'Robbie makes fellas feel very good in themselves,' McEntee says. 'He's really positive, really upbeat. He made a comment about Jordan [Morris] early in the year while I was sitting there. He was talking about the level he thinks Jordan is at, that he's up there with the top forwards in the country. 'That's not really an Irish thing. It's not really a GAA thing to make these big brash statements. And having seen Jordan play a lot, I could see what he was getting at. But he has reached new heights this year. He has proved Robbie right. Meath manager Robbie Brennan hopes his team can overcome Donegal in an All-Ireland semi-final this weekend. Photograph: Morgan Treacy/Inpho 'I think Robbie was saying that based on his potential more so than his consistent intercounty form to that point. But there could well be a correlation there between the amount Robbie was praising him and the level of confidence he's playing with. Because Jordy has obviously been phenomenal this year.' Walsh was standing at the other end of Croke Park a fortnight ago as Meath ate the final minute before the hooter. He reckons he was resigned to Galway's fate before the rest of them – he didn't hold out much hope of a Brennan team mismanaging the dying seconds. They didn't get to see each other on the pitch but his phone pinged afterwards with 'a lovely message' from his old boss. 'For a big fella, he's well able to shed a tear,' Walsh says. 'But he has a winning mentality. I don't know if that comes from him rubbing off on players or players rubbing off on him. But whatever it is, he's about winning. He's not in it for a lovely story about Meath getting to a quarter-final or a semi-final. He's in it for the main thing. 'And you can see he has it with the Meath lads. They have that energy with him. When they beat us the last day, you could see loads of them running over to him and celebrating with him. And a lot of that I'm sure is down to the belief he's instilled in them. He'd make you feel 10ft tall.'
