lynnhayes’s trip to Dublin

Spending a few days in Dublin before venturing off to the Wild Atlantic Way. Hoping to find (a) a friendly open session which won’t mind my amateur whistling as well as (b) a great session which has room for an experienced backer on guitar to hop in on a few tunes.

Avoid Temple Bar like the plague unless you’re happy to just sit and listen. There’s plenty of opportunity to do that and the musicians are many and excellent , but joining in is next to impossible. Fair enough because many of the players are getting paid to entertain the tourists. Oh…and ten euros for a drink doesn’t help either. Look further afield. Well, that was my experience.

In spite of my intermediate level whistle skills, I found a very nice welcome at the Cobblestone one afternoon a few years ago. There were varying levels of expertise among the players, but everyone was very accommodating, and my very first public session (in Dublin, no less!!!) was a great success and an enduring memory!