This double set from his January stint at The Point offers irrefutable evidence that Christy’s collaborative work with Declan Sinnott has rejuvenated the man and his music. It takes a rare talent indeed to reduce a venue as cavernous as The Point to the intimacy of a sitting room, but Christy does it for 35 songs, over two magnificent hours.
Even shorn of studio production sheen, songs like ‘Faithful Departed’, ‘North And South’ and ‘The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll’ lose none of their emotional depth, driven as they are by Moore’s provocative vocals. Underneath its surface humour ‘Casey’ is a searing, almost vicious, attack on the hypocrisy of Irish priests. Several of the less familiar songs come from his last album, (‘Sixteen Fishermen Raving’, 'Butterfly’) but are carefully blended with familiar chestnuts like ‘Ride On’, ‘Viva La Quinta Brigada’ and ‘Smoke And Strong Whiskey’.
You also get vintage samples of his casual asides and trademark banter, especially before ‘Casey’, and his silent silencing of the insensitive clappers at the start of ‘Stitch In Time’ has an extraordinary impact on the disc. Sinnott adds masterful contributions on harmony vocals and electric and acoustic guitars, and delivers a poignant solo vocal reading of Dylan’s ‘Corina Corina’.
The show ends triumphantly with Jimmy MacCarthy’s ‘Bright Blue Rose’ and an unlisted ‘Black Is The Colour’. Even the low spots (his ‘Victor Jara’ lacks the pathos of Arlo Guthrie’s version) are easily outgunned by the moments of sublime emotion and commitment that pepper both CDs. If you didn’t make it to the gig, now you can.