Fiddler´s Green / The Feelgood McLouds @ Köln 2024

12.04.2024 Carlswerk Victoria, Köln, Germany

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The evening got off to a relaxed start – outside in good weather and pleasant temperatures, relaxed with beer and snacks, or in the darkness of the Carlswerk in the first rows – depending on your wishes and desires. Shortly after the doors opened on time, it was still relatively empty inside.

The hall filled up very slowly, and when THE FEEL GOOD MCLOUDS went full throttle on stage, there was still plenty of room to dance everywhere. The band started their own party on stage, and the audience got more and more into it. At the beginning, the atmosphere still had a Northern German feel to it here and there, but then the party mood of the people of Cologne really became visible.

The well-mixed audience danced, clapped along diligently and let their souls dangle – and also welcomed Paddy from THE PADDYHATS with open arms when he supported the band for a song and a bit of self-promotion. The gig was entertaining and fun – even if there were a few skeptical faces – the vocals were simply not to everyone’s taste.

Once again, the changeover break dragged on, the still relaxed audience just couldn’t wait anymore – the hall was far from full, but that didn’t dampen the mood. Because when FIDDLER`S GREEN took to the stage, the people of Cologne were in their element: they celebrated, danced and sang along – and they really didn`t need any prompting from the band.

They were clearly having fun on stage and the setlist for “The Green Machine” tour, based on their new album, was a really good one.

It started – how could it be otherwise – with the album’s opener, “Shanghaied In Portsmouth”, and the atmosphere already went from 0 to 100 and the air conditioning system in the hall must have kicked in. The show then continued with another song from the new album, namely “Muirsheen Durkin” – originally a song by The Dubliners, but here with the boys it was even more lively and, for me at least, much more convincing than the original.

Something older was then dug out, and the fact that the song made it onto the setlist was a visible delight for many: “Perfect Gang” – simply a song that perfectly described the “entity” that the band and audience had created there that night. In addition to “classics”, there were also drinking songs such as “I don’t like alcohol”, which – judging by the volume of the vocals – spoke to some from the soul.

Of course, there were also danceable tracks – love songs such as “My fairy of the west” or the ever-requested song “Yindy” simply invited you to move. Anyone who just stood there would have been out of place here.

The good news is: nobody stood still, the hall was full of dancing happy people. Things got quieter and more reflective with “A fleecy cloud” – the first rows stood almost reverently in front of the stage and listened to singer Albi, equipped with an acoustic guitar. A thoroughly emotional song, and I’m always happy when an audience reflects this and nobody thinks they have to gossip loudly.

My personal highlight, however, was how close the band was to the audience – while it’s nothing new anymore for violinist Tobi to stand on a ladder in the crowd to perform, it was something new that the rest of the band joined in afterwards.

So even those who hadn’t made it to the front rows had their moment very close to the band. Actions like this and simply a band that has fun on stage and knows how to party, that’s what makes an evening an evening to remember. And that you want to repeat!

If you want to go again or have finally acquired a longing for it – you can find all the tour dates here!

Setlist
1. Shanghaied In Portsmouth
2. Muirsheen Durkin (The Dubliners cover)
3. Perfect Gang
4. A Night in Dublin
5. I Don’t like Alcohol
6. My Fairy Of The West
7. I’ll Tell Me Ma (Traditional)
8. Greens And Fellows
9. May The Road Rise Up To Meet You
10. Bottoms Up
11. A Good Old Irish Bar
12. A Fleecy Cloud
13. The Bog
14. Tobi`s Shamrock Tunes
15. Raggle Taggle Gypsy
16. A Bottle A Day
17. Yindy
18. Victor And His Demons
19. One Fine Day
20. Folk’s Not Dead
21. The Galway Girl (Steve Earle cover)
22. Old Dun Cow
23. The Wild Rover (Traditional)

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