Mick Flannery confirmed for first Patrick’s Bar Ceol Ólta session

TWO young Ennis men are hoping to fill a gap in the market by reinvigorating the town’s music scene. Paddy Keogh and John McCarthy are hoping that the newly reopened Patrick’s Bar, aptly located in The Market, like McCarthy’s in Dingle, will attract the stars of Irish music. McCarthys has in the past secured the likes of Oscar-winner Glen Hansard, Mundy, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Damien Dempsey and Declan O’Rourke.

This weekend, Paddy and John are launching the Ceol Olta sessions with the hugely-popular Cork singer/songwriter Mick Flannery confirmed to play the first gig on March 18. They hope to hold a gig every three to four weeks from March to September. Blues legend Mary Coughlan and folk musician John Spillane will also perform in the intimate venue in the coming months.
What makes these nights so special is that local singer songwriters such as Dave Hope and Siobhán O’Brien will have the opportunity to support some of the biggest names in Irish music.
“From the outset, Paddy and I always had a vision of the kind of venue we hoped to achieve. We envisaged a live music venue with high-quality performers from around the country as well as Ennis. This took extensive research and travelling to other locations around the country to listen to bands, to find the acts that matched our vision. We now have live music here every weekend and this has been quite successful. The feedback from customers has been amazing and we feel the time is now to up the ante and this is one of the main reasons we are launching the Ceol Ólta Sessions,” explained John, manager of Patrick’s.
“These sessions will give the public the opportunity to see the artists in a very intimate and up-close setting. Our vision for these evenings is for the customers to feel part of the gig rather than watching at a distance,” he continued.
“These types of evenings have worked well in places like Dublin and Cork and we feel that Ennis deserves an outlet like this for live music. Clare has always had a great history of live music and we hope this will be the start of something quite exciting for the county,” said the venue proprietor, Paddy.
More gigs will be confirmed through the Ceol Ólta website, which will be launched this weekend (www.ceololta.com).