TONIGHT, THE Crane Bar welcomes a special performer who will be well known to many of us for varying reasons. While Maria Doyle Kennedy has starred in some of the most popular films and television series of the past two decades, tonight this multifaceted talent will bring her musical gifts to an enthralled Galway audience. Since breaking onto our screens playing Natalie in The Commitments in 1991, Maria has gone on to feature in The General as well as prominent roles in television series such as The Tudors and Dexter, not forgetting the “great honour” of appearing in an episode of Father Ted.
Tonight however, she returns to her performing roots with a rendition of her stage show, a role she says she was always destined to fulfill:
“I was always singing, according to my mam. She says it was a great way to gauge my humour. She could always tell how happy or unhappy I was by the amount of singing going on. I love both signing and acting but for very different reasons. Singing is a true expression of me, what I feel and believe, I could not imagine a world without music. Acting is more like playing, telling a story by pretending to be someone else. The first time the earth moved for me, in a musical sense, was when I heard Billie Holiday sing, her voice is one of the most affecting sounds I have ever heard, she is still the Queen for me though I am listening a lot to Midlake and Fleet Foxes at the moment.”
Her show is fresh off the back of a European tour and a number of dates around Ireland, so Galway fans should be set to witness an act in peak form. Speaking to the Advertiser, Maria outlined her love of the city and gave patrons a sneak preview of what lies in store: “We have played in Galway quite a few times, great audiences, I always look forward to a show there. This time we are playing The Crane Bar tonight and I’m especially happy to have The Brad Pitt Light Orchestra opening the show, they are wonderful. We released an album of Appalachian music earlier this year and are loving playing those songs live, we are also previewing songs from SING, the album we are working on at the moment and for which we have recorded duets with John Prine, Damien Rice, and Paul Brady.”
Admission to the gig in the Crane Bar tonight is €15 or €12.50 for members and the show gets under way at 9pm.
