Vicar St, Dublin Sun 7pm €30 0818-719390
Steve Cooney’s guitar had an “eruptive power” that transformed the landscape of traditional music accompaniment, according to Mike Scott of The Waterboys. It’s an apt summary of Cooney’s visceral impact on Irish music, musicians and audiences alike.
Such was the momentum and complexity of his playing that he opened up the world of traditional music to many a player and punter after his arrival from his native Melbourne back in 1981. Since then he has coloured, shaded and propelled everyone from Seamus Begley (with whom he recorded the seminal album, Meitheal), Máirtín O’Connor, Altan and Dermot Byrne and Mary Black to heights previously unimaginable. Paying tribute at Sunday’s concert will be, among other, Christy Moore, Dermot Byrne, Iarla Ó Lionáird, Luke Bloom, Mary Black, Tommy Sands and Vinnie Kilduff.
The gig also celebrates a less-well-known aspect of Cooney’s creative life: his poetry. Cooney is a gentleman and a renaissance man who has brought thoughtfulness, byzantine arrangements and a third dimension to our musical landscape. Unmissable.
SIOBHÁN LONG
