Following The Pied Piper To Ireland

There aren’t many bands left that I’d travel to see perform live; even fewer that I’d cross borders to see.

Back in April 2005, while we were still living in California, I flew to London for two days, leaving a heavily pregnant Sarah behind, in order to see Dead Can Dance play twice at the climax of their reunion tour. The band hadn’t played live for nine years and the reunion tour might mark the last dates the band would ever play.

A few months later, we moved to Amsterdam, a move immediately preceded by Dead Can Dance’s announcement of the North American leg of their tour. So, in September, I flew back to California to take in two consecutive shows in Oakland, followed by gigs in Hollywood and San Diego. If only the band had first toured North America and then Europe, I would have been on the right continent for each leg of the tour. As it turned out, the logistics were bad, but the gigs justified every cent of the expense.

Anyway, Dead Can Dance are no more, but we still have Lisa Gerrard and, more rarely, Brendan Perry performing solo from time to time. The advantage of a solo artist is that they can’t split up.

Brendan is currently touring in promotion of his soon to be released second solo album, Ark. In fact, it was available for sale on the merchandise stand towards the end of the first leg of his 2010 tour. Unfortunately, the CDs weren’t ready in time for me to pick up a copy at the Brussels gig, which was only a few dates into the tour.

Brendan has just announced a few more gigs at the end of May, three of which are on consecutive nights in Ireland. Now, Ireland is a relatively small and easy country to get to. Flights are cheap and I have family there, so I can kill two birds with one stone and see both my father and Mr. Perry on the same trip.

The gigs in question are in Dublin, Cork and Galway. I’ll overnight in Cork on the second day, but drive back to my father’s house after the gigs in Dublin and Galway. I’ll spend the next day with the family and then fly home the day after that.

It’s going to be tough not to see the children for a few days, but if anyone can make it worthwhile, then it’s Brendan Perry. Even he doesn’t make me relish spending time in Cork, though, which is a complete armpit of a town.

Needless to say, it’s my intention to record all three gigs and share them on DIME. In fact, Brendan recently went on record, stating that he has no objection to the recording and sharing of his concerts. Of course, it’s doubtful that this enlightened view will be passed on to the security staff on the night, so stealth recording is still the most prudent approach, I feel.