IRISH Night at the Old Colony Club was a bitter-sweet affair as some revellers opted to drown their sorrows in strong spirits as the Bermuda Folk Club hosted their last performance at the Trott Road, Hamilton venue.Mistress of ceremonies Val Sherwood opened with an a cappella rendition of The 12th of Never. Making his second appearance at Irish Night was the Scottish sensation, Scott Neil.

The normally smooth-talking crooner delivered by far his most intense performance that had the crowd into his performance. During his delivery of the Waterboys clic Raggle Taggle Gypsy, some ladies in the front row took advantage of a Kodak moment to photograph the sensational one at his finest!

This was followed by another Waterboys classic, A Man Is Love<$>, from the album Room Room<$>. Neil’s short performance was excellent and wasted no time in raising the bar for the following acts.

Another Folk Club favourite, Mike Cacy, gave an entertaining set and had the audience participating in the hilarious tune Seven DrunkNights<$>. Before launching into his rendition of John Barleycorn, Cacy explained: “Some people would think he (John Barleycorn) is a living person, but it is just a metaphor, the lyrics are not about the gruesome death of a person. It is just about the harvesting of barley!’

Cacy’s short set was entertaining and informative as usual as he made way for the first duo of the evening.

The pairing of Bob and Tony (Robert Lansing and Tony Brannon) came as an unlikely duo but the two seasoned performers made a fine showing and delivered an excellent performance with Tony singing lead vocals while Bob showed his prowess on lead guitar as they rounded out their set with a blues tune.

The next performer has been a past artist at the Folk Club as Paul Maccoy, celebrating hisd birthday, performed a stirring a cappella version of WillMcBride<$>. Toby Colombe made a return appearance and gave a three-song set comprised of Newfoundland favourites from the band Irish Descendants. His performance of West Country Lady, Cape St. Mary’and Catch the Wind tested his abilities and Colombe seems to improve with every performance.

After a brief intermission, the quartet of Marcel Zettler, Mike MacPhee, Eddy Wicks and Alana Dean rocked the house with a four-song set, Where the Streets Have No Name, Leave Me Breathless, Salvatand Zombie by the bands U2 and the Cranberries respectively.

After winding up their set Dean remained on centre stage to perform the a cappella version of She Moves T the Fair <$>before making way for John Bohan and Hugh Brennan.

Bohan has organised several past events at the Folk Club and he and Brennan, sans beard, made a return appearance. Their opening tune was Backme in Derry<$>, made famous by Bobby Sands.

Bohan was a wealth of information as he explained the origins of the tunes and their significance, whether political, economic or social.

Robert Gerard Sands, commonly known as Bobby Sands, was an Irish Provisional IRA member who died at age 27 while on hunger strike in prison for the possession of firearms. He died in HM Prison Maze (known as Long Kesh by Irish Republicans). He was the leader of the 1981 hunger strike and had been elected as a Member of Parliament (Anti-H-Block/Armagh Political Prisoner) during his fast.

The duo performed another Irish favourite, Lisdoon Varna. The only working spa in Ireland (once there were several), the mineral-rich waters (iron, iodine, sulphur, magnesium) are reputedly cures for disorders of the arthritic / rheumatic sorts when bathed in, and for internal disorders of the blood and glands when ingested.

Lisdoon Varna’s other claim to fame: its match-making tradition. Every year, in September (after the hay harvest was in), young (and not-very-young) farmers came to take the waters and, if single, find a bride.

To facilitate the latter aim, professional match-makers offered their services to these seekers, and for a few weeks the town enjoyed an almost 24-hour life. Today, the tradition has been formalised into a match-making festival, which is still held in September.

They finished off their set in true Irish style by performing a U2 cover tune. Bren performed North and South of the River<$>, while making his guitar playing debut.

Another entertaining duo were Kevin Ingham and Joe Bento who opened with the Celtic folk tune The Fields of Athen Rye followed by Brown Eyed Girl, Whiskey in the Jar <$>and finishing with the cover tune Tequila Sunrise. The ever-bubbly Mike Keats performed a pair of Rory Gallagher songs punctuated with his unique brand of humour.

The only encore of the evening was by the Sensational One who was more accommodating to a group of ladies seated in the front row by whipping off his jacket beforaunching into Raggle Taggle Gypsy Woman.

The crowd was totally into Neil’s performance and ladies in the front row gushed as he proved he is not rhythmically challenged and even threw in a kick, a la Michael Jackson for good measure! That was all it took to get the flashbulbs going and the ladies in the front row whistling.