Coors Light 'Peak' gig on Limerick Docks

LIMERICK Docks was transformed into an outdoor music venue for one night only on Saturday night, as the Coors Light ‘Peak’ concert drew hundreds of revellers down to the banks of the River Shannon to hear some fine music.

The free concert took place on Steamboat Quay in the shadow of the Clarion Hotel, with large mounds of scrap metal acting as intriguing backdrops.

Local band Walter Mitty and the Realists, along with local DJ Brigadier JC, were selected to fill a much coveted spot on a bill which also included well-known Irish acts Dark Room Notes and R.S.A.G. and UK indie band Reverend and the Makers.

This was the popular Sheffield band’s second appearance in Limerick this year and loud-mouth frontman Jon McClure told the crowd Limerick was a “lovely spot”.

McClure told the Limerick Leader that Limerick is a “lovely kind of cool town” and that he had a “wicked gig”.

The gig was particularly notable for the use of a space normally reserved for rusting metal and a number of shipping containers were used to create a sort of amphitheatre effect, while a large canopy covered the crowd, which, in the event of it being such a fine evening, was not required. Local photographer Ken Coleman had been commissioned to create some visual projections, which danced their way across the metal containers while the bands entertained the crowds. “The idea is to use shipyards and ports - custom building venues out of unconventional sites," said a spokesperson for Coors Light.

"Limerick was chosen as the first venue for this series of gigs because it is seen as having lots going on and being quite forward thinking,” added the spokesperson.

A specially designed stage and screen was custom built for the event, as was a bar made from a 40 foot shipping container. Kicking off at 6pm on a fine and warm September evening, local rock band Walter Mitty and the Realists were given the opening slot and wowed the crowd with their frenetic Talking Heads-esque brand of rock, playing songs almost exclusively from their very recently locally released debut album, Green Light Go.

(All pics courtesy of Ken Coleman)

Coors Light Peak - free gig on Limerick Docks in September

There you have it, you are looking at the site for the Coors Light Peak event, that is to take place on Limerick docks on September 19, featuring Reverend and the Makers, RSAG and Dark Room Notes, with more to be announced.
Not easy to find info on this gig, which is free and tickets are available via the Coors Light website, four per person. Something to do with docklands, a bar made out of a steel container, and gigs in Limerick, Cork, Galway, Dublin etc.
On the Beat has been aware of rumblings about this gig for sometime, due to chatter from informed circles around town and the surreptitious billboards that went up in various locations around the city in recent weeks, none containing any details or information.
We are trying to track down the promoters of said event to get more info, and you will have it as soon as we do.
Anyhow, seems to be taking place on the Steamboat Quay side of the docks, as opposed to the other end where Dolan's had their D-10 festival last year.
Line-up isn't bad, although RATM played in Dolan's already this year, but such innovation is to be congratulated regardless.
Hey, it's a free gig, and there'll probably be a limited supply of free booze, so who are we to complain! Ha!
More info in tomorrow's paper.

Free tickets to Reverend and the Makers - Heineken Green Spheres in Dolan's

I have five pairs of tickets to give away to the Heineken Green Spheres gig featuring Reverend and the Makers and Tom Middleton tomorrow night in Dolan's Warehouse. First five people to post a comment below or email to alan[dot]owens[at]limerickleader[dot].ie will take a pair each. Good luck!

I could have been a contender - Reverend and the Makers to play Heineken Green Spheres in Dolan's

Seems that Sheffield's likely lads Reverend and the Makers are to play the latest Heineken Green Spheres event in Dolan's Warehouse on Wednesday, April 29.

Yep, the lads behind Heavyweight Champion of the World, are to play in Limerick before heading off on tour with Oasis over the Summer. Support will be from Tom Middleton and tickets are available from the Green Spheres website.

Never really picked up on RATM - 'cept that Jon McClure (pic above) - aka the Reverend - is some sort of demi-god on the Sheffield music scene, a prolific poet and great mates with Alex Turner of the Arctic Monkeys (the story goes - denied by all involved - that McClure wrote some tunes for his mates). Certainly seems like he might make for a decent interview, will get right on that.

With the Enemy due in Dolan's on Sunday April 19, it seems more and more semi-decent English indie bands are starting to cast an eye over these parts. Sounds ok to me.

Wonder if this Green Spheres will be any better than when Carl Barât and the Dirty Pretty Things came to town. Yawn. Here is the review I wrote after that gig, carried in the paper on the 6.6.08.

IT IS only three songs into the gig and already my mind is starting to wander. Do you ever find yourself getting distracted by something at a gig and then you realise you have been day dreaming for ten minutes?

The gig is Dirty Pretty Things in Dolan’s Warehouse, on, of all nights, a bank holiday Monday. I should be at home in bed after the weekend I have had, but instead I am in the Dock Road venue along with 249 other brave souls - most of them obviously with no work in the morning - to witness what is left of the Libertines following Pete Doherty’s departure.

Dirty Pretty Things are in town thanks to Heineken for a Green Spheres free gig. In fairness to the mighty corporation - that I rightly feel owes me a few quid for years of shelling out for their product - Dolan’s is decked out with lights and various spooky paraphernalia, as well as some free lubricant.

From the looks of things 90 per cent of the crowd have availed of the booze on offer and the band fronted by Carl Barat and fellow ex-Libertines drummer Gary Powell and guitarist Anthony Rossomando and ex-Cooper Temple Clause bassist Didz Hammond take to the stage around ten o’clock to a huge roar.

The band play a rollicking sea shanty brand of rock and roll that veers drastically toward bland punk rock at times. Here to showcase new material from forthcoming album Romance At Short Notice, the newer material does little to impress. A friend remarks that she has seen all of this before in 1994 when she saw an early Blur gig in Dublin - and funnily enough guitarist Rossomando strongly resembles a young Alex James.

Most of the set is a jumble of confusion and noise that seems very popular with those moshing at the front. There will always be a market for this music though, yet I considered myself a Libertines fan until Pete Doherty’s antics drove me to despair.

On the upside drummer Gary Powell is a mighty force on the drums, and occasional aid from Hammond and Rossomando on vocals relieves us of Barat’s often grating vocal. On the downside, on at least three separate occasions it is impossible to tell when one song ends and another begins.

Salvation comes initially in the form of new single Tired Of England and finally with last song of the set and the very first single the band released, Bang Bang You’re Dead, both revealing a happier jauntiness that conflicts with the tired and confusing set that has gone before it.

As the band walk off stage to a wall of feedback I again find my mind wandering as I fret about the pints being thrown in the air and wondering if ‘ol Pete Doherty is at home in London stealing Barat’s telly again now that he is out of jail.

Come back Pete, all is forgiven.