Christy Moore holds young and old in the palms of his hands at the Marquee

At 79 years of age Christy Moore, sans support-act, and alone on stage save for his usual rotation of acoustic guitars, held a sold-out Marquee in the palms of his hands on a sunny Saturday evening, with a multi-generational audience ranging from children in to hear family favourites, to battle-hardened folk fans.

Just after 8pm, after the on-site bars close by order of the man himself, Christy Moore went on to the stage and got stuck directly into his famed and extensive songbook.  

‘Viva la Quinta Brigada’ remains a vital and important anti-fascist anthem, perhaps now more so than ever. ‘Ordinary Man’ stands the test of time as an anthem for class-consciousness in Ireland. A song for slain journalist Lyra McKee rails at the unfairness of it all, while ‘They Never Came Home’ has long survived proscription and blacklisting for illustrating the injustices faced by the Stardust families.

Of course, the crowd-pleasers are all rolled out for Moore’s annual Marquee appointment, too. ‘Ride On’, ‘Lisdoonvarna’, ‘Joxer Goes to Stuttgart’ and ‘Don’t Forget Your Shovel’ all make appearances on the set list, greeted with vociferous singalongs, while shouts-out to crowd attendees take in birthday wishes and a round of ‘Sonny’s Dream’ for a visitor from Newfoundland.

Of the 17 instalments of Live at the Marquee, Christy Moore is the sole artist that’s appeared at them all, and he keeps faith with his Cork connections, inviting local laureate John Spillane to take a bow before launching into ‘Gortatagort’, negotiating his way into a solo rendition of ‘Johnny Jump Up’, and busting out ‘The Big Marquee’, his love letter to his Monahan Road residency.

Live at the Marquee continues on Friday night with Mick Flannery and Susan O’Neill, while Saturday night sees The Biggest Disco roll into town, including appearances from nineties and noughties pop stars like Peter André, the current iteration of East-17, and a DJ set from Eurodance super-producer Basshunter.