Colm to headline stage during St Patrick’s Day Festival in Clondalkin

“THE passing of time never bothered me before, but lately I have this very indelible sense of how precious time is, and an event back home always feels like a return to base.”

Clondalkin-born singer-songwriter Colm Gavin is returning to his hometown to headline the stage at Clondalkin Village’s St Patrick’s Day festival, alongside fellow musicians Caoimhe Nugent, Sarah Gannon, Jenny Kavanagh and more.

For Colm, St Patrick’s Day is about “celebrating the very integral essence of Irishness, that which makes us what we are, sharing songs and stories, lilting tunes and maybe a drop of something cheerful for good measure”.

In regard to his upcoming performance, he remarks that these gatherings happen “very organically” as somebody reaches out to him and asks him to reach out to others; some answer the phone, and some do not.

Those who do, however, have Colm’s “unending respect, and I probably owe them more than a jar or two.”

He went busking for the first time when he was 15 years old, in the summer of 2007. He played the square in Temple Bar.

He used to shake off the nerves outside Blooms hotel before every session. “I’d yodel into the air and hope to god no one heard me, then traipse around the corner and sing Bob Dylan songs for a few hours.”

Afterwards, he would walk the length of George’s Street and Whitefriar Street all the way up to Camden to catch the 68 bus home.

Colm reflects, “On my way I’d sidle up by the front window of Whelan’s on Wexford street and think of all the wild characters that’d passed through those saloon doors, and by Christ, I wanted to be one of them.”

He has had the distinction of playing many shows there over the years, and therefore, he believes that recording a live album there was a “planting the flag” moment.

Colm is also asked about his upcoming tour of the UK, and about the differences between touring there and touring in Ireland.

He explains that in England there is a collective mindset of “whoever arrives in the town to put on a show, let’s go without pretence or expectation, and who knows, we might just enjoy it.”

He continues by elaborating that there is a “little bit of that in certain corners of Ireland, but on the whole I feel that latent curiosity has started to fade.”

Colm also reflects that he is “very fortunate” that the last few tours have been “very well attended” on both sides of the Irish Sea.

See him in action on the Main Stage at the Clondalkin St Patrick’s Day festival on March 17; his album releases on April 17 for streaming and download, and his tour of the UK starts on April 19, with dates in Newcastle, Sheffield, Bradford, Southampton, Wrexham, Canterbury, London and more.