26/03/2018
John Boyle O’Reilly Association: 30th Anniversary Wrap
By Peter Murphy
Saturday afternoon saw members of JBOA sitting in the back stalls at Bunbury’s ‘The Cube’ theatre listening to Damien Leith and his band go through their rehearsal for their night’s performance to help celebrate our association’s 30th anniversary.
It was to be our first opportunity to see the band’s new violinist play her stuff and disappointed we weren’t, as she handled her strings with such precision and passion you’d swear it was the real performance.
Next up for a sound check was Irish folk singer/songwriter Rory Faithfield, and after some minor technical tweaking, 12 months of planning was now about to reveal itself; and on whether we could keep our promise that this would be the best show in town; better than Jackson Brown’s concert further south.
By 6.00pm we were in place, showered, shaved and in our best clobber, and with our JBOA id badges proudly pinned to our chests.
Suddenly, the doors of the theatre swung open and in the crowd swarmed like bees around a honey pot. By 6.30pm the upstairs Sky Bar was packed, the bar itself six deep.
By 7.30pm our 200+ audience was seated. After a few formalities including thanking our sponsors such as RetraVision Group, Go West Tours, Cathy Rice Travel and Government of Ireland Emigrant Support Program, supporting artist Rory Faithfield hit the stage.
Rory’s storytelling and musical arrangements via his guitar slaps/loop station/octave pedal/harmonica and sweet vocals charmed our audience. His stirring rendition of ‘Back Home in Derry’ had the hairs on the back of my neck standing. However, it was his beautiful melodic composition ‘Big Blue Western Skies’ (a song he wrote to his wife when she was unwell) that would bring the audience’s loudest applause (image attached).
After a short intermission our audience made their way back to their seats. Next up was Bunbury teenager Lachlan Kelly who charmed the attentive audience with what is probably John Boyle O’Reilly’s most acclaimed poem ‘Cry of the Dreamer’. And to see and hear our youngest member, recite the Irish patriot’s famous poem with such passion and confidence, brings great hope for our next generation of Fenian storytellers.
House full, lights down, the cheer that went up for Damien and his band heard I’m sure as far away as Donnybrook. And what a charmer, performer and ambassador to his country of birth is this man from County Kildare! Damien, his guitarist (Eric) and violinist (Emma) just couldn’t put a foot (or fret) wrong, as every song was so professionally executed.
Tunes from Damien’s ‘Songs of Ireland album’ and some lively improvised Irish jigs had the audience on their feet clapping madly; especially ‘Girl from the County Down’ while a reflective ‘Fields of Athenry’ paid homage to the many Irish political prisoners transported to Australia’s penal colonies back in the 19th century.
Requests from members of the audience flew thick and fast, with Damien launching into Roy Orbison’s ‘Pretty Woman’, executed with such panache, followed by Chris Isaac’s ‘Wicked Game’ which incidentally left the original version for dead. Leonard Cohen’s ‘Halleluiah’ somehow managed to morph into a classy guitar solo by the band’s lead guitarist and then into an Irish jig that had some members of the audience dancing in the aisles.
An encore wasn’t (in the slightest) out of the question. Taking-up again their respective stage positions, including more requests, Damien and his band launched into Orbison’s ‘Crying’ followed by ‘Danny Boy’ which again morphed into another Irish jig that had our audience in a pure state of rapture. My last recollection of the show was our audience’s standing ovation which seemed to go on forever.
Later on in the Sky Bar, Damien and his band mingled with fans and weren’t shy in signing autographs or having their photograph taken, which was humbling to see.
Next day:
Sunday morning saw the faithful gather at the John Boyle O’Reilly Memorial at Australind to pay homage to the great man himself. A guided tour along the JBO Heritage Trail set the pace for what was going to be a hectic morning (3 images attached).
Highlight of the morning celebration was unveiling of a bench/seat (‘reflective seat’) in honour of the late Liam Barry for his tireless work in helping bring the John Boyle O’Reilly and Catalpa Rescue stories to public prominence. It was a great turnout with around 50 friends and supporters (2 images attached).
Liam’s wife Lyn unveiled the bench/seat to a sombre audience including family members, while Bunbury Prison Chaplin, Paschal Kearney read out some heart-felt reflective words about Liam’s work including his advocacy for human rights (image attached).
Poetry, song and orations peppered the rest of the overcast morning, with one of the highlights being Rory Faithfield’s rendition of ‘Ballad of the Catalpa’ and which saw our audience join in the stirring chorus (image attached).
Thank you to all our friends and supporters for making our 30th Anniversary such a memorable one.
A gentle reminder: Easter Mon (April 2) will see a gathering at the Catalpa Memorial at the Rockingham foreshore to celebrate the rescue of 6 Irish political prisoners from Fremantle Prison back in 1876. For more info contact Australian-Irish Heritage Association: email [email protected] or www.irishheritage.net.au or phone 959 28 881.
