The Cape Cod Melody Tent, which claims "No seat more than 50 feet from the stage," is a theater in the round with a revolving stage. Unlike at its sister venue, the Music Circus in Cohasset, customers can carry large, frothing pints of beer to their seats, so by 8:00 the full house was well lubricated and throbbing in anticipation. The faithful erupted when the musicians entered the narrow runway and mounted the stage; in his blog the next day, Leo Moran would write, "The Melody Tent was amazing – we felt like The Beatles coming down through the noisy and excited crowd at the start of the show. Brilliant."
A bit blurry, but from the left are keyboardist/vocalist Kevin Duffy, guitarist/lead vocalist Davy Carton, drummer Eimhin Craddock, lead guitarist/vocalist Leo Moran, and bassist/saxophonist/harmonica player Anthony Thistlewaite.I'd become accustomed to the band opening with the roots rocker "N-17", but this night they blew the tent open with a driving "That's What She Said Last Night"/"Bless Me Father" combination, turning the worshipful throng into a single, frenzied organism. No one would sit down for the entire evening.
Judging by the position of the stage and Davy Carton's gesture, this was probably shot during "Tommy K." Notice the lettering on Anthony's guitar case lid.Every Saw Doctors concert features sing-alongs , but at this one the fans weren't satisfied with mere choruses. Davy let the house take over for the second half of "Clare Island"--
Will you meet me on Clare Island--and Leo found his lead guitar superfluous on "Exhilarating Sadness" as the throng filled in with "Bump-bump ba-da-da-da!" I noticed Anto turn to Leo and just mouth "Wow!"
Summer stars are in the sky
We’ll get the ferry out from Roonagh
And wave all our cares goodbye
And we’ll go dancing at the ceili
We’ll go kissing on the strand
Take our clothes off in the moonlight
Skinny-dipping hand in hand.
We were surrounded by enthusiastic, well-oiled twenty- somethings who continually sang, danced, and toasted the band. I was wearing an authentic maroon and white Galway football jersey (purchased for me in Galway by my niece Susan and her husband Kevin) which gave me a bit of celebrity--the young people seemed to think I was likely a retired player, and I did nothing to disabuse them of the notion. This misapprehension resulted in a flurry of handshakes, backslapping, and offers of beer, especially during "Galway and Mayo," when Leo fantasizes about bringing the all-Irish cup back to Galway--"...maroon and white forever...Galway and Mayo."
The band ended the set on this night with "N-17" and returned quickly to the pulsating crowd for a lengthy encore. They'd saved some real favorites, including "Red Cortina," and finished with the traditional, frenetic "Hay Wrap, " which included a bit of Elvis's "The Wonder of You" somewhere in the middle.
