Stately, plump, Barry the Bouncer came from the stairhead, and walked into the bearpit of the Shepherd’s Bush Empire. Halted, he peered down into the dark and called up coarsely, ‘Jeez, I’d kill for a pint of porter’. Beneath, the vulgar and venereal looking lady spoke through her Guinness moustache, ‘For goodness feckin’ sake, Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without a visit to the Doctor’s …’
Actually you don’t get a stream of consciousness from this self declared ‘Joyce County Ceili Band’ – in truth its best to leave your brainbox at the door – rather it’s a flood of unremitting (and to be honest almost oppressive) good humour, mawkish sentimentality and Irish Showband fuelled folksy rock and roll. It’s loud, loquacious, and totally infectious.
If you’re not familiar with the Saw Doctors then you should have a look at some of their earlier albums – If this is rock and roll then I want my old job back, All the way from Tuam, Same oul’ town and Songs from Sun Street – which provide the majority of material for the evening. To be fair they haven’t recorded much of real note since, but they have maintained their reputation as a live act without compare.