Kevin Burke at the Irish Club...

Last Friday saw Kevin Burke & Ged Foley play a concert at the Irish Club in Carrington Street. Kevin Burke is one of the most well known and highly respected fiddlers of his generation and with good support from Ged Foley on guitar he captivated the audience with a thoughtful set which included the staple of Irish jigs, reels, hornpipes, slides and polkas as well as the lovely Yiddish tune 'Itzikel' and some French Canadian reels for good measure.

Ged Foley provided a contrast to the fiddle-driven set with a handful of well-chosen ballads such as the politically charged Sting cover 'We worked the Black Seam', to the more up tempo British love song 'Johnny Todd'.

Most of the audience were in attendance however to witness the masterful playing of Kevin Burke and they weren't disappointed. Kevin's lovely tone and swinging rhythm is a real feature of his playing and the audience were soon tapping their feet softly to the beautiful groove.

Some of the audience were in attendance earlier that afternoon when Kevin gave an insightful workshop upstairs in the club. Rather than teaching as many tunes as possible in an hour and a half Kevin spoke about and demonstrated his approach to learning tunes as well as revealing some of his compact and effective fingering and bowing techniques. Kevin and Ged were both very approachable and capped a good night off by joining in for a few tunes in the post concert session.

All in all it was a good afternoon and evening of fine music and the turn out proved that the Irish tradition is alive and well in South Australia. Thanks go to all those who helped to organise the event, to Jack Brennan for a stunning support bracket and to the lads Kevin and Ged for their lovely playing.