Tír na nÓg duo take to Minogue’s stage

TÍR na nÓg, the duo formed by Leo O’Kelly and Sonny Condell 40 years ago, will be performing at Minogue’s of Tulla on March 6.
Many influential artists, from Jimmy McCarthy to David Kitt to author Patrick McCabe, have listed them as influences and their latest shows have won warm reviews, with The Irish Times noting that the two veteran’s ‘fire still burns bright’.
Around this time of year in 1970, the pair were preparing for a move to London, where they planned to conquer the world. “We were doing most of our rehearsals this time 40 years ago. We had separate bedsits in Rathmines at the time and we did some really intensive rehearsals, I don’t think we ever did as much afterwards. We got a lot of material together that was on our first album and some of it was on our second and third,” says Leo.
They hit the ground running in England and were soon touring with big names like Roxy Music, The Who and Cat Stevens.
Their first album was produced by the legendary folk producer Bill Leader in 1971 and got a great reception. “It was very successful really and it was very well known. It got good reviews immediately and it was the Melody Maker album of the month,” Leo says.
Another two albums followed, but by 1974 they were dealing with something close to burnout. “We came home and we were probably a bit overworked. If our management and agency had been a bit older and wiser, we mightn’t have done as much. Also it was kind of how things were done in the music industry at the time. It was great fun but it was a bit too much. Doing three or four gigs a week would have suited us but we were playing six or seven times, even when we weren’t on tour.”
After coming home, Sonny and Leo went their separate ways despite playing together for a brief time in the late ’70s as part of jazz/rock group Naima.
“Sonny did more solo recording and about 1976, he brought out his album Camouflage. I did a lot of record producing, it was something I really wanted to get into,” says Leo.
In the early ’80s, they brought out a single, Love is like a violin, which got a lot of airplay and they toured the country.
Now they’re going around the country again, but this time it’ll be what Leo calls “a leisurely tour”. It began last week at the Pavilion in Cork and it put him in mind of how live music has changed.
“We were doing the soundcheck and I was thinking that we used to do venues that are as big as this acoustically. That would have been regular, whether it was a small hall or a big club. We’ve added a lot of equipment and we use a lot of effects that we wouldn’t have one time. It’s a more produced sound but the core songs still have a Tír na nÓg feel to them.”
He says that there is still a “telepathy” between himself and Sonny but says that when they’re not playing together, they’re not in each other’s pockets. “We’re the best of friends and he’s probably my oldest friend. It probably helps that between gigs, we’d hardly see each other. Also we’d be different kinds of people, Sonny would be more private than I am.”

n Tír na nÓg will play at Minogue’s on March 6 at 9pm. For bookings call 086 8599957.