St. Pat's Day: Setting ourselves up to flop horribly?

[micguy]

Have your keys player work up a penny whistle patch; throw that into every 2nd or 3rd tune at some point.

Put most of your real Irish stuff in early - once everyone has a couple Guinness in 'em, you can slack off a bit.

 

[HolmeBass]

You are being a chicken. I think you learn 4 or 5 trad-ish tunes, Whisky for Breakfast, some Pogues, take a hack at Danny Boy.

Then 4 or 5 U2 / Van Morrison / Thin Lizzy and then otherwise play your normal set.

They will be drunk. You can sing the same verse over and over. Raucous energy is much more important than technical perfection.

 

[Pocket Dave]

Sounds like you've got this, @dalkowski.

FYI, if I find myself in a situation where a gig offer is going to take more bandwidth than I can healthily provide in the time alloted, a simple "not availble then - thanks for thinking of me/us" more than suffices without burning bridges.

 

[Phud]

Dropkick Murphys

 

[Smooth_bass88]

So many st. paddy's day gigs i've done. we would do "wild rover", "whiskey in a jar" and like 20 U2 songs. People went nuts over it.

 

[sean_on_bass]

We are not an Irish music band. We don't know any Irish songs. But a pub where we had a successful first-time gig a few months back reached out to our BL asking if we do any Irish music and are we available SPD weekend.

BL thinks learning 3-4 Irish ditties and sprinkling them into our usual jazz/blues/roots repertoire would be enough for a 3-hour night. I think he's clueless, and that we need to come correct with a full quiver of appropriate music for a proper SPD rager (not to mention the inevitable requests requests requests).

Drummer was worried about not being invited back if we say "no," but I've brought him around to the greater likelihood that we wouldn't be invited back if we were lame.

(Also, we don't really have time/opportunity to research/select/learn/rehearse the songs we'd need.)

I'm a "no" on this idea. Am I being a chicken-?

I'm with your BL. Full irish bands aren't really common, so bars will have to compromise if they still want live music that day.

 

[dalkowski]

"Do you play Irish music?"
"Yeah, Irish we didn't suck."

Thanks everyone - seriously helpful thread and I'm glad I teed up the topic.

 

[Killing Floor]

The other thing is the booker already knows you're not a traditional Irish act. It's less than a month out and they couldn't find one. Take it.

 

[Fuzzbass]

Did someone say Cranberries already?

I live in a huge metro area, and there are a few bars that prefer old school Irish music, but when it's full bands (rather than solo/duo acoustic guitar) you still see traditional Irish instrumentation: fiddle, mandolin, etc.

You guys already played there. The owner knows what you are about or he wouldn't have hired you. So it's pretty much on him.

This. OP, you should have plenty of time to add a couple of easy Irish tunes if you want, but my gut says that even this is optional. I get that some owners are unreasonable, but I can't believe you'll be expected to transform into a different band for one gig.

 

[chux]

Don't forget the Siege of Ennis. Very important for a Paddy's Day gig.

 

[Spidey2112]

"Do you play Irish music?"
"Yeah, Irish we didn't suck."

We played SPD last year, at a smaller than desirable (for us)... it was packed (it didn't take much), great energy from the crowd, great time performing there... not a single Irish song on any of our lists.

As @buldog5151bass said, unless it's a traditional Irish pub (Finnegan's Wake, Flanagan's Pub), they just want to hear some good music for a couple of hours, to forget what's waiting for most of them, when they leave for the night.

Good luck, @dalkowski!

 

[Oddly]

OP, I believe you're in Boston, which has a pretty strong Irish connection.
Depending on the bar, expectations may be high.
I'll suggest you at least try some Dropkick Murphys...'Shipping Up to Boston' at a minimum. Heck you can drag that out for at least 15 minutes!

 

[dalkowski]

I'd be pretty stoked to rip on "The Body of an American."

 

[PrinceByTor]

Here's some ideas for you; the Manic Street Preachers are another good one, even though they're Welch….

 

[Killing Floor]

The Proclaimers were Scottish!

And they had one song which is arguably the most annoying ear worm of modern human existence. But that's a completely different thread.

 

[sheesh]

slightly random but I was in a rock group (with no vocalist) in high school and we played a jr. high school dance when Queen was big and the kids kept asking us to do Bohemian Rhapsody . . .

The other is that as an adult I was in a band where the band would do a Irish night on SPD and they would get this other drummer, a stand up bassist, and a fiddle player to cover that, so I never had to do it.

Sorry probably not that helpful. I guess you are finding out what the promoter is expecting.

By the way - he HAS seen you play. At any point, did someone from the venue say, "Hey, can you guys do Irish tunes?"

 

[KenD]

You need to know clearly what the pub wants and is expecting. If they're OK with some usual Irish ditties sprinkled in with some rock by well known Irish artists, go for it. If they're expecting a full traditional Irish show, pass with thanks for being asked.

 

[Rojd]

Anything by Gaelic Storm

 

[DirtDog]

Play your normal set, but add "Black Velvet Band" once every three or four tunes.

 

[klyph]

reached out to our BL asking if we do any Irish music

3-4 Irish ditties and sprinkling them into our usual jazz/blues/roots repertoire would be enough for a 3-hour night. I think he's clueless

I hate to be the jerk, here, but your original instincts were probably correct. You could probably warm up with some mellow stuff, and play danceable soul music towards the end of the night, but you want to be playing Irish tunes between 9 pm and 11pm. Otherwise, you may lose the crowd, or worse. I don't know where you live in MA, but we get an influx of trad Irish bands from elsewhere on SPD. I wouldn't take a St. Patty's Day gig unless the venue specifically said "we don't need you to play Irish music". Not because I don't like it (I do), but because I don't play it. The expectation of the crowd in a state where half the population is of Irish descent ("the land of Murph and Sully", as we say) on SPD is a solid hour or two of singalong Irish tunes. There will be daytime patrons who have put the bar owner's kids through college, who NEVER see bands there, who you will never see again, who will be there expecting Irish music. I've known bar owners who hate this, and have been hired on SPD and told specifically that Irish music isn't required, but that is probably pretty rare these days. It's a little late to cancel and not lose the venue completely… I hope you guys can whip together SOMETHING, or it's gonna be a long night.
Of course, maybe I'm wrong and your singer knows better. But that wouldn't fly around here.