The Weekend - Busking Festival in Hometown

It is one of my favourite weekends of the year in my hometown in Tipperary where the annual busking festival takes places. Now you all know I love @ablaze 's ThreeTuneTuesday and I have a special love for quirky covers of famous songs. Well the busking festival gives me all that in my hometown. It was started up around 7 years ago by a really good local musician whose child was diagnosed a serious illness He wanted to raise money for the childrens hospital for taking care of his daughter so well so he organised the busking festival in my hometown. Through his traditional music and overseas friends , many buskers from all over the country and abroad descended upon the town and helped raise money for this great institution. Here he is below on the right at the very first busking festival in 2016

Source
Over the years it has gone from strength to strength and now it is somewhat of a tourist attraction with a somewhat festival atmosphere around the town over the whole weekend. I try and get to see as many musicians as I can. Myself and my wife are heading out tonight to see a guy called Ross Boland who we saw recently and we were blown away by him. A local guy who has a swagger like John Lennon, a guitar playing style like Bob Dylan and music style like Van Morrison. We were at this choir one night and he came on in the interval and started playing and I was blown away by him. He was covering Van Morrison and Mic Christopher but the cover songs were better than the originals. Also these songs were not main stream or pop hits. They were B sides or songs off albums that you would not think would be played. Anyway he had this way about him that I loved so he is on the agenda in a bar tonight. Here is a video from him a few years ago.

Source

I am also hoping to get my dose of trad music in as there is quite alot of that in the bars around this weekend. There is a band called the Pheasant Pluckers (nice play on words) that are amazing. A family band who swap instruments because they can all play everything. There is always a deadly banjo player around them as well who I love. It's a great felling to be in a cosy little old man pub with a trad band on full tilt.

As I am now getting auld, I will not go out the 3 nights. I need to recover so I will do one night and then a whole day Sunday. Sunday is with the kids so we will go to the park where there will be lots of music and kids rides and amusements. Then we will go to the outdoor beer garden with them my 7 year old wants to see the Papa Zittas who are a great band with a brass section and backing singers dressed in cocktail dresses. In fairness I am mad to see them as well. So we will have a little drink and dance with the kiddies at that and head home before bedtime.
I quite like when the town is invaded by buskers of all shapes and sizes. The homeless buskers, the hippy buskers, the serious "I'm gonna be the next Ed Sheeran" buskers, the buskers who do it for their love of music, the talented introvert buskers who are embarrassed at playing in front of people, the buskers who put on a show like Mick Jagger. It's a great old weekend and if any of you are ever nearby in August you are welcome to come by and go for a wander down the busking boulevard.