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The highlight of the
Manchester Irish festival 2003 is a one-off reunion of the classic Toss
the Feathers line up of Eddie Sheehan, Michael McGoldrick, Dezi
Donnelly & Dave Smylie
.
Eddie Sheehan
is flying over from Dublin to play lead guitar & vocals. Michael
McGoldrick (BBC Radio 2 Folk Instrumentalist of the Year) is
on flutes & pipes, Dezi "Fiddle on Fire"
Donnelly (RTE Young Trad Musician of the Year) is on
fiddle & Dave Smylie is on bass.
Photos
from the concert are here
"Toss
The Feathers" were formed in 1987 after Dave Smylie met Pete Carberry.
They were joined by Michael McGoldrick, Angela Usher and Martin Moylan,
a session at The Bridgewater Bar in Stockport followed and the group became
a legend on the Celtic Rock circuit. The original line up had David Smylie
on bass and vocals, Peter Carberry on banjo and accordion, Angela Usher
on mandolin, whistles and banjo, on flute and whistles and Martin Moylan
on guitar and vocals
Late
in 1987 Eddie Sheehan joined replacing Martin Moylan. Paul Usher
on drums and Dezi Donnelly on fiddle joined the band and founding
members, Angela and Pete left before Chris Cormac (banjo/mandolin) made
up the 5-piece. The
classic 1989 five piece line-up was David Smylie, Eddie Sheehan, Michael
McGoldrick, Dezi Donnelly and Paul Usher.
Toss
the Feathers debut album, "Columbus Eclipse" was released in
1989 to widespread acclaim. The 1991 follow-up album, "Awakenings",
gave them a large following in Europe, mixing traditional music with rock.
Toss
The Feathers have, with differing line-ups, since gone on to play all
over the UK, Ireland, and the USA although it was in mainland Europe that
they enjoyed their greatest success. |
