Project Description

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CLANNAD.

CLANNAD
@ The State Theatre, Sydney,
16th March 2023
(Live Review)

Review by Phillipa Kelly

Photos by Glen Morgan Photography

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Clannad

CLANNAD // Photo – Glen Morgan Photography

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On Thursday 16th March, I had the pleasure to review Clannad, performing their ‘In a Lifetime’ Global Farewell Tour. Clannad’s Australian tour covers Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Canberra and is sadly nearing it’s end. They have won multiple awards in their time, including a Grammy Award, BAFTA, Ivor Novello and a Billboard Music Award. The Irish group are particularly renowned for broadly popularising Celtic music and bringing it to an overseas market, with records in 6 languages and 8 UK top 10 albums.

This retrospective performance of their expansive contribution to Celtic music covers a career of 50 years, and was an absolute treat. The tour was delayed by the tragic passing of founding member, Noel Duggan, in 2022 – to whom they paid immediate tribute – and has been on the cards since 2018. 10 years on from their last performance in Sydney, they definitely had an enthusiastic welcome.

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Clannad

CLANNAD // Photo – Glen Morgan Photography

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A performance that took us across time and distance to a romantic era of ballads and folklore that is missing in the modern day and age – and something that many of us crave. Some of the songs date back to music written by bards from the 15th century. A welcome escapism for all ages and the music speaks to a more ancient nature and tribal drive in all of us. Clannad’s music is a blend of Irish folk, folk rock, traditional Irish and new age. With no support act needed, the night started ephemeral, ethereal and gripping. Haunting at times, it did end with the audience singing along, clapping above their heads and stamping their feet. The crowd obviously had many long standing fans across the years, as well as local family members cheering along to drinking songs such as Nil S’en La. Of course, some audience members were already toasty and happily getting in the mood for Saint Patricks Day to follow. They ended at interval with a medley from their well known soundtrack to Robin of Sherwood.

In our modern city, the historic 1920s Sydney State Theatre was the perfect choice for their largely Gaelic language set list, particularly with the harp and fife centre stage. The band first performed in 1970, and they described the challenge of selecting a final anthology and lifetime set list from such an extensive musical history – almost 300 songs, in fact. In the making of their recent anthology, released by BMG Records, they rounded out their 50 years of musical talent and performance. This included new tracks paying homage to the beauty and length of time passed in this career and the casual optimism and ease of youth in days gone past. These new songs, such as ‘Celtic Dream’ held their own along some of their best and this speaks to their ongoing contribution to the genre after such a long career. It was a poignant farewell to a group of musicians that clearly have so much talent and a passionate fan base.

Since the conception of this tour, Clannad has not only gone through personal challenges but the world has had many also with the arrival of covid – so it’s such a pleasure to see them on them on stage in Sydney and be amongst the very warm and familiar response from the crowd. As a Kelly myself with a small exposure to Irish dancing it spoke to something cultural that runs deep, and that was visible in those around me as well.

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Clannad

CLANNAD // Photo – Glen Morgan Photography

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The musical talent was clear across the band – featuring the children of Moya Brennan in backing vocals and piano, keeping tradition in the family. Aisling Jarvis did a brilliant job on vocals, with her brother Paul on keyboard. The group called on the world for racial tolerance and environmental responsibility in their songs. These are long philanthropic concerns of theirs from early days with which the world is only slowly getting onboard. Importantly, they also celebrated 25 years of peace in Northern Island. Social responsibility, respect for history, the planet and tradition was central to their performance deepening the meaning of the music and the crowd was right on board.

There was notable sadness to see the night come to close – however they ended on a high note with an encore translated to English as “You can all go home now”. Audience members were dancing in the aisles and the back of the theatre.

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Clannad

CLANNAD // Photo – Glen Morgan Photography

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Check out Glen Morgan Photography’s full gallery of this event HERE

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Clannad

CLANNAD // Photo – Glen Morgan Photography

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Press Release 23rd November 2022 (below) HERE

CLANNAD
announce
2023 Australian dates for
50th Anniversary Farewell Tour

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