We are delighted to announce that the Footsbarn Travelling Theatre tent will be back in Ballynabuc on the Dingle Peninsula from August 18th to the 22nd. They finally get to bring their new production of James Stephens’ unique novel, “The Crock of Gold” to Ireland.

The essence of the idea was to create a piece of theatre with multi-national artists, which reaches way out beyond the boundaries of language, class and culture. Glen Hansard and Brendan Begley, who share the same respect for the novel as Footsbarn, came on board to write and play the original music that accompanies the performance live each night.

As the tent is in situ for the theatre piece, Footsbarn have invited some other musical friends to play a set after each performance of “The Crock Of Gold”. Each evening’s line-ups & links to more details/tickets at eventbrite can be found here.

Please read for an important update about Glen’s tour schedule – refunds will be available at point of purchase.

I’m really sorry to report that I won’t be touring abroad for the rest of this year. Due to personal Family matters, I can’t travel too far from home right now. I’m needed here, and so I’ve had to make the difficult decision to cancel all touring for the rest of the year. This is an especially difficult decision after waiting so long to get back to work, my band and crew are at the forefront of my mind, along with all the people who’ve supported me/us and our music through the years.

Thank you for your ongoing support and understanding. The Frames anniversary show will go ahead as planned, as it is in Dublin and we’ve waited so long to do it.

Again my sincere apologies.
Glen

20 years since the untimely passing of Mic Christopher, in honour of his memory some of his closest friends revisit Heartbreaker – a Mary Janes song that never saw the light of day. You can stream/buy the tune here on Bandcamp and watch the video (made by Donal Scannel) on YouTube.

Mic Christopher had only just turned 32 when he slipped beyond the veil, into that timeless mysterious place beyond this earthly plane. His passing was sudden, leaving his family and friends broken and dumfounded: how could such a life force, such a bright, vibrant soul suddenly be no more? It made no sense, and here, 20 years on,
we still feel that same baffling shock and sorrow. 


What happens when in mid conversation fate steps in and steals your best friend away? Well, the conversation continues, somehow, although it’s changed completely; Mic is still a very real and present force to all assembled friends here, and we all hold the line open, even when the static fades.

How do we honour and remember him? We sing his songs… when words fail and fall short, we sing his words, in his melody, in his style, in his inimitable voice, we remember him by mirroring and mimicking the honourable rock star: hips out, head up, big voice, that high soaring tone, that swagger, courage, plume and strut, part Elvis, Jim, Fela, Marley, and Drake, to name a few from whom his cloth was cut. All we have now are his songs, the ones he recorded and others unfinished, incomplete beauties that we go back to, when a song is still in that first draught unfinished state, it holds a magic, an expectant potential, asking to be finished, all roads still open, to be pulled back out and re-examined. But when it’s author is no longer here to finish it, some might say leave it. And they might be right, but when the song was so near completion and so good that it already sang true and bright, the job might fall to his closest friends to pull it off the old cassette and back into the light.

We’ve gathered here his friends: Mary Janes, Frames, Kíla, Gemma, Lisa, Paddy, Mundy and many more; singers who knew and loved him, others who admired him from afar, to mark this, the 20th year of his departure, by simply doing the only good thing we know how to. We gather to honour our friend with our singing and playing.
Mic had the cool – whatever that is, he had it. And when I think of him now, it’s that broad-shouldered, long-fingered, sloping, stalling, desert boot-wearing, smiling silhouette I see walking just out of reach.
Go Mic… we still believe in you.

“May your heart always be joyful, may your song always be sung,
And may you stay forever young’” Glen Hansard