Jim and Betty O’Brien of Ambler dancing to the music of the John Byrne Band.
It was serendipity. Ed Weideman, vice president of the Philadelphia Irish Center board, was talking to musician John Byrne about booking Byrne’s band for the Donegal Ball at the end of November when he got a call.
When he finished on the phone, he must have looked seriously concerned because Byrne asked him what it was about. To pass a board of health inspection, Weideman told him, the Center needed to replace a new sink and ice bin in the bar, install a prep sink in the kitchen, and replace a range hood which alone could cost five figures.
“Then John said, ‘I’ll do a benefit concert for you,’” recalls Weideman.
And that’s what he did last Friday night. Stormy weather may have kept back some potential concert-goers, but what the crowd lacked in quantity it made up for in enthusiasm. There was food available and the ballroom was set with tables to create a pub atmosphere while Byrne and his band—Andy Keenan, Rob Shaffer, and Maura Dwyer—recreated their Pogues’ tribute show from World Café Live, interspersed with Byrne’s own songs and some familiar favorites that got people up and dancing.
Both the band and the Irish Center won new fans. “They’re really good,” said Denise Hilpl, also a Center board member, who said she was hearing the band, which has a wide following, for the first time.
Weideman estimated that about a third of the people who came to the show were either at the Irish Center for the first time or had only been there once or twice. “There were some people who’d never been there before who became members that night. A lot of those people are asking if we’re going to do it again, and we are.”
Over the next few months, Weideman is planning a series of “pub nights” featuring local Irish contemporary bands, along with The John Byrne Band, to introduce the bands—and the Center—to a wider audience. “I’m really excited about this—it’s something different, something new,” he says. “The concert was a good start—a successful start, with more to come.”
Check out our photos from the evening.
