Music stars kick off a month of open air entertainment in Clonmel

Live entertainment returned to Clonmel with a flourish over the August Bank Holiday weekend as country music fans flocked to three outdoor concerts at the scenic riverside garden of Hotel Minella.
The concerts - starring Robert Mizzell, Mike Denver, Jimmy and Claudia Buckley - were a very welcome sign that the public can at last begin to let their hair down once again and enjoy a night out, albeit with necessary Covid-19 restrictions still in place.
Hotel Minella co-owner John Nallen reported the shows, watched by up to 200 people sitting at socially distanced tables, were a great success and fortunately the weather was great for them.
They were the first of 14 open air gigs the hotel is hosting throughout August and the first weekend in September thanks to funding it has secured from the Government’s €25 million Live Performance Support Scheme assisting commercial venues, promoters and producers to employ artists and musicians whose work dried up due to the pandemic.
Mr Nallen said the concerts brought a lot of extra guests to Hotel Minella, which ultimately benefited Clonmel’s wider business community.
“We had 130 rooms booked over the weekend, which was 260 visitors from out of town who came to Clonmel and went shopping.
“They came from all over the country from Cavan, Monaghan and Donegal to Cork and Glenamaddy in Galway. They were all music people. Some came for one night and ended up staying for two.
“It was a win-win situation firstly for the musicians to get them going, for me to get the guests here and for the town to get people visiting and spending money.”
Watching the hotel’s guests enjoying the shows over the three nights brought home to him the huge mental health boost that live entertainment brings to people.
“I never realised before how important music and entertainment were to people. To me it was a business and it was only last year when I organised the shows for elderly people (following the first Covid-19 lockdown) that I realised how good it is for people’s heads.
“There were two women from Nenagh visiting the hotel at the weekend and they were over the moon at how it went.”
Mr Nallen paid tribute to the Government for introducing the Live Performance Support Scheme to help get live entertainment up and running again. He pointed out that some of the artists signed up for their series of shows haven’t performed for nearly 18 months due to the pandemic.
The Minella’s next outdoor concert starring Dublin singer/songwriter Paddy Casey takes place this Sunday, August 8.
Comedy fans are also being catered for with comedian Neil Delamere performing an outdoor gig at the Minella on Thursday, August 12.
Clonmel band Supersoul Machine and The Raines from Galway will be the headline acts on Sunday, August 15 while fans of the Clancy Brothers should check out the Clancy’s Kitchen concert on Friday, August 20. Members of the Clancy family are among the performers.
Another popular gig will be Abba tribute band Abbaesque’s show on Saturday, August 21.
And there is also a lot of interest in the show starring Bansha singer Louise Morrissey and fellow country music stars Mick Flavin, Sandy Kelly, Des Willoughby and The Ryan Turner Band on Sunday, August 22.
The following weekend of concerts includes soprano Celine Byrne & Guests on Saturday, August 28 and country singer Patrick Feeney on Sunday, August 29. Box accordion legend Sharon Shannon will perform the final concert in the series on Saturday, September 4. All shows run from 7pm to 8.30pm.

You can view more photos from last weekend's Mike Denver concert at Hotel Minella in this week's print edition of The Nationalist.