Tuesday, June 6, 2000 HQ, Dublin, Ireland

Report by Carol

Setlist: Season of the Witch, A House is not a Motel, Lazy Me, Bummer, Bluebird, Darkness,Think, Early in the morning, We’re Gonna Groove,Baby Please Don’t Go encores: As Long As I Have You, GLORIA, Trouble in Mind

Once again the traditional group warmed us up with a few reels, jigs and hornpipes before the call to prayer set the tone for the evening and got us into that familiar “rare Egyptian groove” which we love, the pre-Priory phase.

Straight into Season of the Witch and the crowd are into it. Lots of young people in the crowd tonight, a few foreign priory followers, and quite a few tourists whose smile seems to say they can’t believe their luck. I know that feeling.

Bummer in the Summer features some genuine California groovy guitar sounds and Bluebird had some very tasty feedback tonight, as well as some nice team work by Owen and Carlisle. Darkness was a treat tonight, the Gothic version,for sure, with plenty of showmanship from the master magician. Nice little variations on the cymbal thingy, which is always a highlight of the show. Think was introduced as something in a”twist beat”, and indeed we saw a few of these groovy moves, reminiscent of the legally challenged soul man as Carlisle Egypt threw his whole body into the James Brown tribute.

Robert told us he doesn’t normally go into “fawning tributes” but he says, he’s “one of the best” and so it was quite fitting to finish on one of those songs that belong to everyone, but which the soul man from Belfast had stamped his name on. Robert recalled going to hear the man long time ago when Here Comes the Night had just come out. He had obviously made a big impression on the young fellow and he’s still impressed. I know that feeling too. :o)

ALAIHY featured a dramatic finish on the drums, a nice touch there. GLORIA was great to hear again and I think the crowd lived up to the vocal challenge, egged on by the windmilling Mr. Egypt. A reference to I’m a Man and a tease of Hootchie Cootchie with a rousing guitar solo made this another high point.

Trouble in Mind is just such a nice choice to go out on, really what the Priory are all about, just the music. Roots, blues folk, who knows, but it feels so good and the smiles on all our faces told the story.

article courtesy Sali, who allowed the contents of her Calling to You website to be added to ManicNirvana.com.