Imelda May reveals Cork connections during Live at the Marquee show 

Imelda May, one of Dublin’s most iconic voices, came to Live at the Marquee on Friday, bringing her ‘Raised on Songs & Stories’ show to one of Cork’s biggest stages. 

Drawing from both her own original songs and classics such as Dublin in the Rare Old Times (from which the title of her show gets its name), she told stories from her own life in between each song, creating a patchwork-quilt insight to her life and musical artistry.

While the stage was dressed completely like a sitting room, with personal photos on the mantlepiece, lamps around the instruments, and armchairs for guests, the microphone front and centre was what the evening was all about. 

Songs like Meet You at the Moon from her 2008 album Love Tattoo, and Just One Kiss from her more recent 11 Past the Hour sounded perfect in the intimate setting she had managed to create within the large space.

It wasn’t just songs and stories though, as her poems also featured throughout the show. The Dancer and the Dream and Jammy Dodger were both from her poetry book A Lick and a Promise, which was printed in 2021 and was released as an album the following year. 

Indeed, some of the introductions were longer than the poems themselves, as Imelda May told us anecdotes of her father wearing clown suits, her mother reusing valentines cards, camping near the Eiffel Tower, and many other family memories.

Family is clearly very important to Imelda May, as she disclosed to the crowd that her great granny was from Cork, which in turn led to us finding out she had a branch of her family tree that she’d never met in the crowd, in the form of some cousins named Buckley! She told them to meet her in the bar afterwards.

One wonders how many people were adopted into that particular family over the course of the night!

She was sure to praise Mayfield’s James Keegan for playing a great opening set, to set the atmosphere for her own show. 

Another nod to the Cork audience was a rendition of Rory Gallagher’s Bullfrog Blues led by her guitarist Ollie Darling. 

Her other two band members were Barry Donohue on bass, and Dave Hingerty on drums, who deftly backed her through all the different musical styles on the night. They managed the rhythm and blues of her own Johnny Got a Boom and her take on Boom Boom Boom by John Lee Hooker, as well as a beautiful rendition of When You Were Sweet Sixteen. 

Imelda May made a point to thank the audience for coming to the show, but not just her own show — she thanked them for coming to live music in general. 

She spoke on behalf of all musicians when she declared "We Need You!", and to "never mind that AI shite!" 

All in all, it was an intimate night of big songs and small moments, with Imelda May creating a tiny enclave in Cork that we can call the Lee-berties!