Christmas came early this year for me. Never did I think that Me First and the Gimme Gimmes would be playing Dublin, and never did I ever think I'd get to shoot one of their shows! Well, that all changed last week when they played the Academy in Dublin on a cold, damp, Monday night! I've been a fan since 1997, when one of the lads I worked with, brought in a copy of Have a Ball . It was love at first listen! I did manage to catch them live back in 2019 when they played the O2 Forum in Kentish Town , London, and it was every bit as good as I'd hoped, but it paled in comparison to Monday night in Dublin. So, how did it come about? Well, back in 2013, I interviewed the band for a now defunct Irish website called Chunk.ie . Over the years, I've stayed on their PR roster, so I took a chance and emailed my contact there. Lo and behold, a few emails later and all was sorted, I was down to photograph the show. How was it? Brilliant, amazing, fantastic,...
OK, this is a bit of a strange one... So, I went along to Clontarf to see Aleigh perform. They were the support act on the night for Irish music legends, Bagatelle. Now... Well the photos of Aleigh turned out fine, but the ones of Bagatelle, well they were an unmitigated disaster! Oh well...
Right, on to the gig. It was a cut down Aleigh tonight, only 2 members of the band playing an acoustic set. As always though, great gig and the crowd seemed to love every minute of it!
They have a great rule in place at Contarf Lawn Tennis Club, when the band is playing, they shut the bar. This cuts down on a lot of background noise and makes for a very attentive crowd.
Right, on to the gig. It was a cut down Aleigh tonight, only 2 members of the band playing an acoustic set. As always though, great gig and the crowd seemed to love every minute of it!
They have a great rule in place at Contarf Lawn Tennis Club, when the band is playing, they shut the bar. This cuts down on a lot of background noise and makes for a very attentive crowd.
Seemingly they've had Christy Dignam, Jerry Fish, Mundy and others all play in the club. It's a nice place and its mostly members who attend. So it's always a full house!
Anyway, that's it. No photos of Bagatelle unfortunately... I'll try harder next time.
Check out the photos of Aleigh below: