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Well, as promised, Tammy and I attended the Weston Irish Fest, and I had a GREAT time. The beer was flowin', the music was awesome, and . . . did I mention there was BEER?

The festival was held in Weston, MO, a small town of about 1600 people about 10 miles northeast of here (also home of the McCormick distilling company), at O'Malley's pub and American Bowman restaurant. There were two stages set up, one outside and one down in a limestone cellar (this is where O'Malley's pub actually is) that had to be more than 100 years old. To me, even though it was dirty, crowded, and smelled like a storm cellar, the indoor stage was more enjoyable. It almost felt like I were in Ireland.






We had planned to go on saturday night which is the big night for the Irish fest, but both Tammy and I were feeling under the weather, so we went on sunday instead. There wasn't as much activity as saturday night would've had, so I'm a little upset we were unable to attend then, not because I didn't have enough fun tonight, but because if I had this much fun sunday night, I can just imagine how much fun I would've had saturday night. I love Irish music, and this was just fantastic. The three bands we saw were Jiggernaught, Brigid's Cross, and The Elders. When first moving here, I saw a video of The Elders on TV (they're a local K.C. band, but have members from Ireland) so I knew I wanted to see them, and they were outstanding. But suprisingly, the band I liked the most was Brigid's Cross, mainly because of the fiddler, who was OUTSTANDING. This guy was around 300 lbs, wearing a football jersey and what look like pajama bottoms, but played a fiddle like the devil himself. They even did a rendition of "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", but this was just showing off I think. This guy was amazing. Not only was their music great, but they played the crowd as well as he played that fiddle.

Jiggernaught was interesting because they featured a female piper, and their music was more of a celtic/rock/country hybrid, so electric guitar paired with bagpipes was kinda cool.

The Elders where the headliners really, and played on the larger outside stage. They attracted quite a large crowd, and were also kinda a rock/Irish hybrid, but more Irish than rock compared to Jiggernaught. One cool moment was when they announced the attendance of a couple that were born in Weston in 1900. That's 105 years for you math geniuses!

It was a nice change from the ordinary, and I plan on going again next year (if I'm still living here).

Anyway, I took some pics and will be posting them soon. I also plan on going to this pub more often, as they have live music every saturday, and well, I like beer.

Look for some pics soon.