‘Remembering Ronnie’ show comes to Delvin
Sarah Slevin
The ‘Remembering Ronnie’ show in St Patrick’s Hall, Delvin this Saturday is expected to be a “charming and witty” evening full of music celebrating The Dubliners and Ronnie Drew.
Phelim Drew, son of Ronnie, has brought The Drew House Band together for gigs across the country, and they have been booked in to perform a show in Delvin on Saturday, March 12, at 8pm.
“I’m really looking forward to coming to Delvin and sharing the stories and songs with the people there,” Phelim said.
“We want to take the show to anyone who’ll have us. Myself and my sister Cliodhna have been contacting venues all over the country, and we got a phonecall back from Delvin saying they’d like to have us,” Phelim said.
The Drew house band have already taken the show to a number of locations and Phelim said the feedback has been great.
“They’re being received really well. Someone commented on our Facebook page that the evening was charming, witty and full of great music,” Phelim said.
For the Delvin show, Phelim said he will be joined by two musicians, Anto Drennan and Ger Kiely, and Phelim told the Westmeath Examiner what people can expect.
“It’s a celebration of my father, his life and through his music, and it’s an effort to talk about him from his early stage and introduce songs from the earlier days from the Dubliners.
“We’ll also perform some other songs that maybe people might not expect but are definitely music I’ve been influenced by as a result of my father, and then between the songs, there are plenty of personal stories and anecdotes,” Phelim added.
Phelim said that him and the band had got together before the first Covid-19 lockdown, but things were put on hold due to restrictions.
“In the year before the pandemic hit, I had been working with a few guys and done a few shows. Then that Christmas we decided this was the show we wanted to take on the road, but once the pandemic hit that was the end of that,” Phelim said.
“During the pandemic, it started to feel like we might never get back because as performers, it’s so important that the audience are comfortable, but when the restrictions were lifted, everyone in the arts hit the ground running getting shows together,” Phelim added.
‘Remembering Ronnie’ takes place at St Patrick’s Hall Delvin, and tickets can be booked by calling 087 2879581.