What a great weekend in the land of wolverines, badgers, Tasmanian devils, whatever. They may be short on carnivorous critters up there but I'll tell you what they do have. A hell of an Irish Festival.
Helped along by chamber-of-commerce weather (and of course The Shamrocker) on their gorgeous grounds by the lake, the Michiganders saw record crowds this weekend and those record crowds saw some great music. A highlight was their first ever Tionól (the Irish for 'gathering'). Directed by Eamonn de Barra of the great band Slide, the Saturday afternoon event brought together mixes and matches of most of the weekend's acts in sort of a showcase/sampler and it provided some astounding sets. Beoga and Goitse together. Old Blind Dogs and Slide. Scythian with members of Beoga, Goitse and Slide. You get the idea. And then capped with an all-hands-on-deck finale, as we do here to close the fest on Sunday night.
And speaking of de Barra, he provided the best moment of the weekend in Tommy's Shamrocker tent too. He came by the tent to play the game and before long had a crowd of about 30 cheering and betting on what Tommy's score would be playing the toughest song in the game on the 'expert' level. Hysterical.
The weekend was flawless, save for my genius son losing one shoe–yes, just one–on Saturday night. And he was sober. HUGE thanks to all the staff and volunteers at Michigan who treated us like kings and made us feel like part of the family. We can't wait to come back. I have a phone and a head full of ideas that we'll be stealing shamelessly was we plan the 2012 KC festival. And as you plan your Irish summer for next year, trust me on this: put The Michigan Irish Music Festival at the top of your must-see list. Okay, second from the top under Kansas City.
We love you Muskegon. Thanks again and congratulations. Hope you enjoyed that good Kansas City barbeque!
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