Frank and Walters, Power of Dreams, Sultans of Ping FC – INEC, Killarney

It’s that quiet time between Christmas and New Year, I’ve actually got a few days off work for once too, so I’ve decided to travel from Essex to Killarney in southern Ireland to watch

This was literally on the spur of the moment – I only organised it a couple of days before Christmas. I booked an Aer Lingus flight from Gatwick to Cork, picked up a car at the airport and driven the 50 miles or so west to Killarney, which took about an hour.

I’ve no idea where to stay in Killarney so I’ve gone to Google and found a hotel called the Gleneagle Hotel for 99 euros a night. So I’ve checked in, gone to reception to ask where the venue, the INEC, is. He turns round and points. “In that room”. I’ve actually gone and booked a room in the hotel above the venue!

The gig tonight is part of a triple-headlining tour called Reverberation (no, me neither). The three bands are playing in the ballroom, which is decked out with about 200 seats. Having found out that the first band is on at 10.30pm, I’ve headed to my room to watch a Father Ted documentary on RTE (not sure if they ever showed this in the UK).

I wandered down eventually to catch three excellent sets from the Sultans of Ping, the Frank and Walters – and the Power of Dreams, who I am seeing live for the first time. The crowd were lively (despite all sitting down) and it was so weird to be seeing bands play until about 1.20am in the morning.

2 minutes after the gig had finished I was in bed. Must go to more gigs like this!

In the morning I have a nice pleasant Sunday morning drive through villages like Macroom and Dripsey, get to the airport and find that my flight home has been cancelled. I managed to get one to Heathrow, and then get a bus from there to Gatwick so I could pick up my car, which took hours. I was still emailing Aer Lingus six months later trying to get compensation. Thanks, shitty Aer Lingus!