SWMBO and I are going there this summer by car. It is the only province in Canada that we have not seen yet. (She get’s quite seasick quite easily).
Can anyone recommend any good spots in St. John’s to hear good live folk music, Celtic or whatever? On any night in particular?
TIA,
TP
The thing about St John’s is if you walk around downtown, “concert” flyers are everywhere, letting you know what’s going on for the next couple of days. There will probably be quite a lot, so your trick will be figuring out what performers you like.
In general, I think we usually visit The Ship Pub, O’Reilly’s, and Erin’s. The latter two spots have weekly sessions in addition to paid performers, and there is a great Tuesday early afternoon session at Auntie Crae’s. O’Reilly’s is on George Street, and many of the pubs there have live music most nights, frequently more than one act a night.
If you’re not terribly familiar with Newfoundland musicians, I’d particularly recommend Fergus O’Byrne, Jim Payne, A Crowd of Bold Sharemen, The Mahers Bahers, and The Punters. But that’s only the tip of the iceberg…
(Edited to add: My wife says you should make sure to stop in Fred’s Records – they have an amazing selection of Newfoundland recordings.)
tip of the iceberg…Newfoundland…good one.
Great tips, thanks. Fred’s will be on our list!
Just occurred to me – one gig you can usually check ahead on is the regular Wednesday night Folk Night at the Ship. It can be hit and miss, but for instance, the Mahers Bahers were there this week (with Frank trying out his new accordion, wish we could have been then) and Vince Collins is there the last Wednesday in March. Both play a lot of really nice traditional Newfoundland tunes.
(In fact, note to self – you told Vince that next time you made it to St John’s, you’d have a few of his tunes learned. Do not forget.)