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Fibbers – Specter

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3.28.2013 – The Thursday before Good Friday, here in Ireland. That night I went to Fibber Magees (aka ‘old’ Fibbers) on Parnell St here in Dublin, Ireland to watch an Evening of Rock & Roll bands, with the final band being a Rory Gallagher Tribute. It was a fun evening – with 3 Euro drinks, a good crowd (Friday being a day off for many, despite the ban on alcohol hitting at Midnight) and lots of great music.

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The third band of the night was Specter. To say the least, after the first two bands, they were a bit of a shock, as we went from some Bluesy Jazz and some Indie Reggae sound to some seriously hard Metal in a matter of minutes. Because of the change over in the style, it was interesting to watch the crowd change from the blues / rock fans to the metal fans in a matter of minutes. Specter is made up of Noel Duignan – Vocals, Mark Lennon – Guitars, Dan O’ Neill – Guitars, Dylan Magner – Bass, Rana Rassouli – Drums. While I’m not quite into this type of music, the crowd was enjoying themselves very much, and there are many compliments on a great gig. They were fun to watch – and so was the crowd – there was lots of thrashing about and nodding, and headbanging as the band performed their new single unwhole.

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You can see more of my flickr set from the Gig night at Fibbers here.

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For more information on the band, and when they are playing again here in Ireland, please click here.

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To see all the posts from the night, see the links below:

T’anks General:
https://blog.phoenixrosedesign.com/2013/04/13/fibbers-tanks-general/

Dem Fools:
https://blog.phoenixrosedesign.com/2013/04/13/fibbers-dem-fools/

Specter:
https://blog.phoenixrosedesign.com/2013/04/13/fibbers-specter/

Taibhse:
https://blog.phoenixrosedesign.com/2013/04/13/fibbers-taibhse/

Deuce:
https://blog.phoenixrosedesign.com/2013/04/13/fibbers-deuce/

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Travellin Man, that’s what I am

I’ve been falling behind in my blog posts for the Ultimate Blog Post Challenge. Not because I wanted to, but because I was gone for most of the week photographing my friend’s wedding and then travelling about the countryside taking other friends who were in town to New Grange Neolithic tomb in the pouring rain.

I’m back now, and back to work. I’m also back to regular blog posting – hopefully.

I heard on the news today that tomorrow marks 35 years since Lynyrd Skynyrd’s lead singer and several band members were killed when their plane crashed. It amazes me that it’s been so long (I’m only 36) because I have grown up listening to their music. Whether it was Sweet Home Alabama, Honest Man, Give Me 3 Steps, or Red White and Blue (love it or leave it), or Travellin’ Man when their songs come on, it’s always turned up and sung along to.

One of the things that I can say is that Southern Rock lives on in Georgia. It’s a basteon of local pride, rebellion, and somehow a certain amount of identity. It never fails to amaze me just how often you go to a concert and hear someone yell out “FREE BIRD!” in the background if you live in the South (Maybe this is just a Georgia thing? Maybe this is just a Drunk Redneck thing?). Somehow, in my mind, if there is no Rebel yell of “free bird” at a concert then it’s not truly a concert – it’s that prevalent. (Yes, even in Ireland, I have been known to yell FREE BIRD – just to make the concert players feel at home – most recently at the Tom Petty Concert…)

I guess that this leads me to the honorary playing of Free bird… and wondering if we will ever see bands of this caliber again.

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Tom Petty in Dublin

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Tom Petty is one of my favorite musical artists. The only way to express how much his music has meant to me is to look back on my life and realize that somehow, it’s almost like my life is set to his musical soundtrack.

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From the iconic “American Girl”, written and sung just a year after I was born, to “Southern Accents” which describes where I grew up, to “Free Fallin” which was the soundtrack to one of my first loves, to “Learning to Fly” (nicknamed Learning to Drive) and then “Time to Move On” which was released the year I graduated (and moved to Russia for a year) somehow, his music seems to just “fit” consistently into my life like a comfortable old shoe, and one I don’t want to change.

Just as I was worried about whether my work permit was going to be renewed here in Ireland, I found out that for the first time in 20 years, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers were coming to Dublin. And better yet, he was playing the day AFTER my previous work permit was supposed to expire. With hope and anticipation, I promised myself that I would buy tickets – and be here in Ireland for the concert – legally – with work permit in Hand. Luckily, it all worked out. (Insert “Good Enough” song here.)

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On June 7, 2012, I had my tickets – upper balcony seats – to Tom Petty with Helene. The show was amazing and I came away wondering why I hadn’t gone to see him in concert before, when I was living in the USA. After all, I had so many albums (once I dug them all out) and knew almost every song that he played at the O2, much to Helene’s amusement (Apparently I was dancing in my seat like a Fraggle!).

There were a couple highlights to the concert for me, here in Ireland. One was of course, when everything got calmed down and quiet – being able to yell (my momma gave me a set of lungs for a reason!) over the entire crowd – WE LOVE YOU, TOM! and getting many cheers much to the amusement of those nearby. Second was the moment that came up just before he sang “free fallin”. Tom Petty was talking about how he’d met a bunch of good people in Dublin, and how he’d bumped into some Spanish folks who wanted a special request. Somewhere directly below us – in the crowd, the Spanish guys started chanting Ole! Ole! Ole! In Typical Dubliner fashion, everyone responded to the Spaniards with Ole! Ole! Ole! right back. The Magic was when the band, confused on stage, turned around and looked at each other… (It’s a football chant here in Europe – and the European Championships are being held the week after!) They had to be told that it was a good thing. Suddenly, Tom Petty held up his hand and said well, do you want to hear the song? Which brought down the house in cheers.

Let’s just say I hope it’s not 20 more years until he plays Dublin again – becuase it certainly won’t be 20 years before I see Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers in concert – at least I hope not!

For the full blog about the night in Dublin, see the official Tom Petty post at:
http://www.tompetty.com/tour/date/id/123

It’s complete with pictures of the Spaniards who made the night even better!

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