It’s unusual to have a festival atmosphere on a Monday night in a west of Ireland town in early February, but that was the case in Castlebar last week, when several large band trucks arrived into town that day and set up outside the Royal Theatre. The job of unloading stage equipment and instruments started early, and by 5pm all was in place for a magical ‘Night With The Stars’, hosted by Midwest Radio.
And shine brightly the stars did, to a capacity crowd, who cherished each performance – including some surprise guests. Midwest Radio general manager Tommy Marren was MC on the night. The night started with Amanda Ryan, competitor on Glór Tír. Her performance was followed by Gerry Guthrie and later Robert Mizzell, Crystal Swing and Mike Denver.
The second part of the night started with Jimmy Buckley, with a surprise appearance from his 14-year-old daughter Claudia, who sang a duet with her dad. Jimmy said afterwards “I can’t tell you how proud it makes me to have her perform on stage.”
The next surprise was Paul Claffey with his fine singing voice, followed by comedian Conal Gallen, who sang ‘50 Shades of Grey’.
The show continued with Patrick Feeney, followed by Derek Ryan and Nathan Carter. The show finished with John McNicholl.
Mike Denver will be back in the Royal Theatre on Saturday, March 9, for a special Tenth Anniversary Concert. He will be joined by Crystal Swing, Ray Lynam, Philomena Begley, Brendan Quinn, Gene Stewart, Big Chief and Kevin Prendergast.
To book tickets for Mike Denver’s anniversary show, contact the Royal Theatre on 094 90 23111 or visit www.royaltheatre.ie.
