UltanJohn & Sabrina Dinan

That explains the keyboard then....

Just imagine for a moment if you will, FolkingAbout arrive eager and excited at Slattery's in Dublin, order up the Guinness, confirm that the gig upstairs will start at 9pm and settle down after a long day, early start, drive to Holyhead, ferry to Ireland, train to Dublin, trams and buses, check in at the hotel and all has gone so well. Only to be told at 9pm that we were in THE WRONG PUB! "UltanJohn? Not playing here mate!" Despondency sets in - it seems as though the FolkingAbout's first international gig may have gone horribly wrong at the last minute - fearful flashbacks of other recent debacles cross our minds as we troop back down the stairs - questions, questions "Why would anybody do this to us?" UltanJohn have been Gilly's MySpace friends for so long that we felt like we knew them already - so where are they? Or have we been set up for one massive practical joke? We regroup - sup some more Guinness, ask the barman - no, he's never heard of them either - but maybe they're playing at the OTHER SLATTERY'S? Other Slattery's? You mean there's two? One quick phone call later and the Guinness is downed in one, the barman profusely thanked and we're in a taxi hurtling across town to where, at last, we are enthusiastically greeted by Ultan, John and Bernie the band's publicist.

Upstairs at MB Slattery's in Rathmine Road is a lovely warm place, long and thin with open fires and warm people - the wallpaper is ancient, painted glossy dark red and with dark varnished wood everywhere - the decor is aided by two posters - one for Nick Cave's fantastic double album "Abattoir Blues / The Lyre Of Orpheus" and the other for Jeff Buckley of whom, more later. We were first in and soon being "made a fuss of" by Bernie and the band. More Guinness and soon it was time to settle down and do what we'd come for - listen! Bernie said that "before the boys play, there's somebody else going to do a spot who I think you'll enjoy." So listen we did, to Sabrina Dinan who wandered on and picked up Ultan's guitar, looked up at the crowd and breathed a few deep breaths before admitting to some serious nerves before playing anything. I had honestly assumed that she was "just a friend", or a relative even of somebody who was just setting out, so nervous and unassuming she seemed, but when she started to play and sing, all that changed in an instant. No starter this, Sabrina's songs are fine things, her guitar playing is positive and dexterous, her lyrics are marvelous. I was busy trying to write snippets down during her first two songs, but failed to do them justice, anyway we bought her CD later so I could hear them all again. Sabrina played 5 or 6 songs, three of them used the capo on the 6th fret which I suspect is unusual, but it provided a nice ringing sound from Ultan's Taylor guitar, her voice earning positive comparisons to Billie Holiday, although she looks for all the world like Janis Joplin. "Train Song" came mid-way and is powerful both lyrically and musically, but is also delicate and fragile at the same time.

The crowd were being quite noisy behind us, lots of loud chatter, and it was to their credit that both Ultan and John placed themselves in front of Sabrina and gave her plenty of visible support, even turning the PA up a couple of times to help with the background racket. It's a shame the chatterers weren't listening because they missed a real treat. The Billie Holiday influence shined through brighter as Sabrina sang her own bluesy "Captain's Little Mama" and finished her set with Marvin Gaye's "Sexual Healing", took the guitar off and almost ran off the stage! Lots of well deserved applause followed her back to her seat and we drew breath and agreed how good she was.

Later we learned that Sabrina is already well on her way, having toured with Luka Bloom in the USA, but not before we said goodbye as she rushed of into the Dublin night at some unearthly hour, apologising for having to rush as she was due in work at 7.30am later that morning. Rock and roll eh?

So we're well prepared now, and into the groove for the main feature. UltanJohn are John Conneely and Ultan Conlon, John is a refugee from Charis and Ultan is a singer/songwriter in his own right, the two joining forces recently when Charis split up. Both are singers and guitarists, and the two play mostly their own songs. Gilly and I have nearly worn out MySpace's copies of the 2 songs UltanJohn have put up there, so we knew the first song right away - "2019" features John's immediately recognisable distinctive voice and Ultan's flowing and delicious guitar playing. Next up, "The Will" reverses the vocals, with Ultan leading and John providing beautiful soft, high harmonies, a real feature of this duo is the way the 2 voices blend so well, whichever takes the lead, the other is weaving around the melody somewhere nearby, and in "Flying", next, we find them singing in the round!

Ultan seems more shy and quiet, dark and brooding, whereas John has the more striking look and hardly stopped talking all night, it's a good pairing. "All I need now" then "Dark Desert Sky" in which John's voice sounds like the winds blowing around those tall rocky spires out there in the desert, then, after "Without You", we get the new single "Really Gone". The single features vocals from none other than John Martyn, and whilst he wasn't at the gig, the 2 voices managed to provide something close to the gravelgrowl of the man himself. It's a fabulous song, and it's just out, available any time now from the band's website, and, apart from having John Martyn on vocals, it also features some achingly good trumpet playing from Stefano Muscovi. Back with the live version, Ultan was playing his heart out, his knees knocking together as his legs jumped around to the tune! "Old and Wise" is a slow burning song, and was followed by "I don't want to know about evil" a classic John Martyn song done well and then a lovely close vocal performance in "Niall T." The band were still struggling a bit with people chatting loudly at the back, who were asked several times to "shush!"

Suddenly though there is a change. John had told us earlier that they had been up late the night before, following the launch of the single, and that they were feeling a little jaded, but that sometimes he got the energy while performing that allowed him to go on longer and... well at this point the energy clearly arrived. A Tracy Chapman cover (sorry it has escaped my notebook which one - "Behind The Wall" - thanks Bernie!) was neatly dovetailed into "Minnie the Moocher" and suddenly there was a buzz in the room - the crowd finally shut up chatting for a bit and joined in and it was like somebody had lit a fire under their stools. "All that I believe" produced some Dylanesque phrases, then an energised version of "Isn't it Clear" - the other track from the CD/MySpace and "Something to Give" took us up to the band's closer - a cover of Jeff Buckley's version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" which was sublime - John's vocals becoming Anthony (and the Johnsons) like, ripped apart by emotion and finally giving out on the last phrase - a very rare event apparently.

A long break for us all to recover before the band returned to finish us off with Tom Waits' "Heartattack and Vine" then "Whiskey Bar" to end the night. It's hard to describe the high that we all felt after that - it was a truly good night of music - and everybody milling around afterwards seemed to agree.

UltanJohn should be a big thing - if they can keep up the energy they will be - there is a unique quality in their music that deserves to be heard everywhere - and they are really nice people too. We'll keep you informed of any developments and especially if any of the plans for UK festival dates come off, as we'll be there for sure!

Keyboard? Well, UltanJohn don't use one and we wondered why one was taken upstairs at the first - wrong - Slattery's- that explains the keyboard then!












FolkingAbout with (l-r) Sabrina, Ultan, John and Bernie