Balor Theatre

Up and Down Week

2007-05-18T16:20:00.000+01:00

We had a busy week here this week with our own Balor CEPs 'Love Rides The Rails' running from monday to Wednesday and uileann piper Eoin Dillon from Kila and his Third Twin project on Thursday.

'Love Rides The Rails' was just good old fashioned fun - a melodrama set in the early days of the US railroads, played for laughs - an hour and a half of pure entertainment. The monday night show was a Gala Night in aid of The Butt Hall Tennis Club and credit must go to Tracey Alexander and all who organised and sold tickets for the night - it was a great success and hopefully the tennis club made a nice little profit too.

Thursday saw Eoin Dillon here. The Third Twin is both the name of the album and the group that Eoin has put together in his spare time when he's not busy with Kila. It's a four piece featuring Eoin Dillon (pipes & whistles) with Steven Larkin (fiddle), Frank Tate (bouzouki) & Des Cahalan (guitar). We had Kila here last year and it was a sell out so we were hoping for a big night but sadly it wasn't to be. A mere handful of people turned out which was a pity because Eoin and the boys gave it their all and played some fantastic music which I know traditional fans everywhere would have loved. Still, you win some, you lose some.

If you are a traditional music fan then please don't miss our Traditional Compositions night next thursday. It features Tommy Peoples, Seamus Gibson, Theresa Kavanagh, Ian Smith and Seamus Tansey - the finale of the night will be the first public playing of a piece special written by Tommy as part of his Traditional Musician In Residence term at the Balor.

Carnival Saloon

2007-05-04T13:02:00.000+01:00

Carnival Saloon last night - all I can say is WOW! If you missed it give yourslef a kick. Honestly, it was that good - one of the most enjoyable gigs in ages. Paul, the lead singer, just seemed to morph into Tom Waits coming down the stairs from the dressing room, had his voice, delivery, mannerisms off to a tee and kept in character throughout the show. The rest of the band were damn fine musicians as well.

With some tribute bands they have the music down pat but don't quite recreate the feel of the artist - well Carnival Saloon obviously put as much work into the presentation and theatrics as they do into the music and, for a Tom Waits fan like myself, this was just perfect.

Leslie Dowdall cancelled - next up Carnival Saloon

2007-04-25T21:37:00.000+01:00

Unfortuately our scheduled gig with Leslie Dowdall & Mike Hanrahan tomorrow night has been cancelled due to illness. Apologies for any inconvenience. It's a pity as I was a big fan of Leslie from her In Tua Nua days and was looking forward to it.

Anyways, next up is Carnival Saloon who, trust me, are absolutely brilliant and will make up for any disappointment. There's a Tom Waits tribute act from Dublin and are a real must see for any Tom Waits fans out there. I've just got off the phone from Letterkenny bluesmeister Mark Black who has agreed to do the support slot so even more value for your money. And at €12 it's hardly going to break the bank.

See you next thursday...

Urban Hermits Last Saturday, Leslie Dowdall this Thursday

2007-04-23T17:07:00.000+01:00

Well, fair play to Tommy and the rest of The Urban Hermits lads - last saturday was a great night. It takes a bit of balls to put on a gig in your home town - there's nowhere to hide if it all goes pear-shaped - so we're delighted to see it pay off for them with a great night.

The Balor was packed, both the Hermits and support act Mark Black got rousing receptions and a great night was had by all - including a certain local DJ who got extremely carried away and began throwing underwear at the stage!

The music continues this thursday with Leslie Dowdall of In Tua Nua fame and Mike Hanrahan of Stocktons wing. Guys of a certain age will no doubt remember falling madly in love with Leslie while humming 'Do You Want Somebody To Love' in the early 80's.

Mike Hanrahan is instantly recognisable as one of Ireland’s finest musical talents. Singer, songwriter and guitarist with the legendary Stockton’s Wing, a band who released album after album of greatness during the 80’s and 90’s. Balor audiences will remember him playing here in Oct ‘05 with Ronnie Drew.

Oh, and our new May/June brochures should be back from the printers this thursday so have a look for them being distributed around the county in the next week or so.

About Time For Another Blog

2007-04-21T14:50:00.000+01:00

It's been a long time since we posted so apologies but, from now on, we're determined to keep this up do date.

There's a very busy line-up for the next few months with lots of big names - Des Bishop, Andrew Maxwell from the world of comedy, in drama we have Roy - a play about Corks most famous footballing son/moany pr#ck (delete as appropriate depending on whose side took on the whole Saipan thing) and musically, among others, there's Ronan O Snodaigh and Eoin Dillon from Kila both bringing solo acts up in the coming months and there's a really exciting exhibition and traditinoal Irish/Cajun music fusion project planned for July - full details on the listings page of the site.

Tonight we have local band Urban Hermits playing - the lads have a very good rep locally and it should be a great gig. And we promise, we will update on monday to let you know how it went...honest!

Hughie Gillespie Weekend & Annapolis Bluegrass Coalition

2006-11-02T18:17:00.000Z

Last weekend saw a fantastic weekend of traditional music in Ballybofey to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the death of Hughie Gillespie - a Balybofey native and one of the greatest fiddle players Ireland has ever produced.

As part of the weekend the Balors Traditinal Musician in Residence gave a fiddle workshop in the Balor at 3 in the afternoon and also participated in a concert that night which featured an absolutely dazzling array of traditional musicians including Tommy, Brendan McHugh from Glasgow, Martin McGinley, Tony Smith, Paddy Ryan, Brid Harper, Matt McGranaghan, Annette Owens and Marian Connolly. Apologies if I've left anyone out but there was simply so much talent on the stage that I may have missed someone.

On Wednesday the 1st of Nov we had our first ever bluegrass concert featuring The Annapolis Bluegrass Coalition. Not having done Bluegrass before we didn't know how this would go but in the end it was a resounding success. the band were great, we had a decent crowd considering it was a midweek after the Hallowe'en bank holiday and everyone went home happy.

A special thanks must go to Highland Radios Frank Galligan who gave help above and beyond the call of duty getting the word out about the show and came down and MCed on the night.

Sive

2006-11-02T18:13:00.000Z

Last week saw a highly successful run of John B. Keane's 'Sive' performed by our in-house production company which is funded by FAS.

The play, it has to be said, was an absolutely fantastic production, with acting, direction and production values on a par with anything we've had here in the 2 and a half years I've been here. Hats off to everyone involved, especially to director Kieran Quinn.

If you missed it don't worry, it'll be back for a night or two in february before they company takes it to Derrys Millennium Forum for a three night run.

Music This Weekend

2006-10-17T14:15:00.000+01:00

We've another 2 very different but hopefully appealing music gigs this weekend.

If you're a Rolling Stones fan than come along on friday night at 8:30 to see the best named tribute band in the world 'The Rollin' Clones' on friday night. Our general criteria for tribute bands in the Balor is that 1) The have to sound like them 2) They have to look like them and 3) The real band has to be either dead or so expensive that we'd have to mortgage the place to get them. The Clones fit the bill on all three counts. They're note perfect, they are the spitting image of the band (have a look at the posters, that's not Mick Jagger on them that's the Clones lead singer!) and unless we win the lotto this is as close as the real thing is ever going to come to Ballybofey. As an added bonus we have local Letterkenny band 'The Back Pedal Brakes' doing some fine support.

The saturday gig a midnight jazz gig. This is a new departure for us and we're really excited about it. If it goes well, we'll look to make this a monthly thing. Osteti are from Paris and offer a sound that's a mixture of Saul Williams, Brian Eno, Laurie Anderson, the Beastie Boys and Miles Davis, into an intoxicating jazzy mix of Spoken- word, electro and soundpainting.

We think it's going to be a really different fun night - if you're debating whether or not to come down, come along, take a chance. If after having a listen you decide that it's not your cup of tea we'll have no problem giving you your money back.

2006-10-16T15:00:00.001+01:00

Welcome to the Balor Theatre Blog. Here we will keep you up-to-date with all the acts that perform in the theatre.