Heartbreaking: Mike Scott Scottish singer, songwriter, and musician Just Passed Away At the Aged of 65…see..more…

Heartbreaking: Mike Scott Scottish singer, songwriter, and musician Just Passed Away At the Aged of 65…see..more…ws

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Mike Scott on playing Musgrave Park and why Cork is ‘Ireland’s seat of poetry and music’

Ahead of this weekend’s Waterboys head-to-head with Crowded House on the Tramore Road, Mike Scott shares his love of all things Cork with Pat Carty

Mike Scott on playing Musgrave Park and why Cork is ‘Ireland’s seat of poetry and music’

Mike Scott of The Waterboys pictured in Cork. Picture: Larry Cummins.

 

Wed, 19 Jun, 2024 – 21:00

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“I’ve spent many pleasant hours musing on the philosophies and qualities of the provinces of Ireland. Cork is the capital of Munster and the quality attributed historically to that province is poetry and music. It’s Ireland’s seat of poetry and music.”

 

When Mike Scott, founder and mainstay of The Waterboys, is in such full and majestic flow, it’s best to stay out of the way.

 

“There’s an old poem from about 1,000 years ago, “ he continues, deep in sweet reverie, conjuring up Tadhg Dall Ó hUiginn, or Oisin, or whoever he has in mind.

details the properties of each province. Connaught is knowledge, Ulster is war, Leinster is prosperity, and Munster is poetry and music.”

 

He’s reminiscing about previous Waterboys shows in the Rebel County ahead of a tantalising double-bill with Crowded House on Sunday, June 23, in Cork’s Musgrave Park.

 

“Connolly Hall, Clonakilty, The Majestic Ballroom in Mallow, 1989! It was feral, man! Brilliant! And we played Cork City so many times. I absolutely love playing there. I remember the Cork Jazz Festival, wondering why are we playing a jazz festival, yet it was a great gig. They seem to be quite loose about the genre. I remember being in the old Jury’s Hotel and how much craic it was, the liveliest hotel in Christendom.”

 

He picks one night in particular, in the Everyman Theatre, around the 2004 direction.

 

“It was an acoustic show,” Scott recalls. “A three-man band, with Steve Wickham [legendary more-fiddle-than-man figure] and our old keyboard player Richard [Naiff]. There was this authority and tone in my voice that I didn’t usually notice and it was something to do with singing in Cork. I was in the capital of Ireland’s province of poetry and music, probably one of the most coherent energy fields of cultural creativity in the world, and it was inspiring. I’ve never forgotten that and every time in Cork, I listen to my singing to see if I’m getting that inspiration.