THE MARY WALLOPERS + THE CORAL – BRIGHTON CENTRE 17.10.26
The Mary Wallopers materialise in Brighton in support of their second album ‘Paddywhackery’, which has been released recently. It appears that the promoters may have overestimated the Wallopers’ pulling power as the three balconies of the Brighton Centre are resolutely screened off. Indeed, before support band The Coral take to the stage the venue is looking disturbingly empty.
I’ve said this before, but it is a source of constant puzzlement to me how The Coral aren’t utterly huge! Their songs are tuneful and catchy with intelligent lyrics. Why aren’t they living in mansions? Why aren’t they playing massive sell-out headlining tours? Well, I really don’t know. The set they play tonight is not dissimilar to the one that they played at the Victorious Festival, in that it is largely a ‘best of’ set. Opener ‘Bill McCai’ from their ‘Magic And Medicine’ album is a spectacularly moving song about a commuter who becomes all but invisible to his family, with catastrophic results.
‘Pass It On’ and ‘Simon Diamond’ are further examples of songwriting greatness. ‘Simon Diamond’ is particularly wonderful having an Indian sounding guitar intro, slide guitar and a cool guitar solo all courtesy of Paul Molloy. The harmonies, as always, are exquisite. Nick Power’s keyboards on ‘Lover Undiscovered’ have more than a hint of ? And The Mysterians about them. A very psychedelic intro leads into ‘Holy Revelation’. This is an extended version with an ace keyboard solo from Nick Power. The song’s coda is based upon ‘Mars’ from Gustav Holst’s ‘The Planets Suite’, with both Paul Molloy and James Skelly turning in superb guitar solos.
‘Goodbye’ is another extended psychedelic freakout. James Skelly and Paul Molloy both solo simultaneously before things take a very Krautrock direction. Bassist Paul Duffy quotes musically from Pink Floyd’s ‘Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun’, before James Skelly counts down from ten in a very reverberated echoey voice to take the band back into the chorus. Quite frankly, it’s brilliant.
They close with ‘Dreaming Of You’, from their debut album. It’s probably one of their best and most accessible songs. I must confess that if I was in a headlining band I’d think twice before asking The Coral to support. They’re pretty formidable.
The Coral:
James Skelly – lead vocals and guitar
Paul Duffy – bass and backing vocals
Nick Power – keyboards
Ian Skelly – drums
Paul Molloy – guitar
Zak McDonnell – percussion
The Coral setlist:
‘Bill McCai’ (from 2003 ‘Magic And Medicine’ album)
‘Pass It On’ (from 2003 ‘Magic And Medicine’ album)
‘Simon Diamond’ (from 2002 ‘The Coral’ album)
“Unknown”
‘Lover Undiscovered’ (from 2021 ‘Coral Island’ album)
“Unknown”
‘Jacqueline’ (from 2007 ‘Roots & Echoes’ album)
‘In The Morning’ (from 2005 ‘The Invisible Invasion’ album)
‘Holy Revelation’ (from 2016 ‘Distance Inbetween’ album)
‘Goodbye’ (from 2002 ‘The Coral’ album)
‘Dreaming Of You’ (from 2002 ‘The Coral’ album)
The Mary Wallopers are no slouches as a live band themselves. It’s over a year since I last saw them, at their infamous appearance at the Victorious Festival when they had the plug pulled on them for displaying a Palestinian flag at the back of the stage, and because vocalist Charles Hendy yelled “free Palestine!” The plug was pulled before they’d had the opportunity to play a solitary note. Well, the Palestinian flag is defiantly in situ tonight without a word of complaint being uttered. Quite the opposite in fact. Bassist Roisin Barrett also has a Palestinian flag on her amp. During the interval there is plenty of traditional Irish music being played, together with The Sultans of Ping FC, and everybody is well up for the craic.
They kick off with ‘Castlecoe Hill’ which is a fast instrumental from the new album and immediately galvanises the audience. We stay with the new album for ‘Crowns Of England’ which touches on the sometimes difficult relationship between England and Ireland. ‘Landlord’s Demise’ is dedicated to all landlords, and it isn’t complimentary. It garners a raucous cheer. It features Andrew Hendy accompanying himself on a bodhran whilst Finnian O’Connor solos on tin whistle. A lot of The Mary Wallopers’ material is quite dark, but most of it has at least a dash of humour. Charles calls for moshers. There’s a fair few. There’s a few girls on people’s shoulders too. I’m surprised by how young much of the audience is. This is essentially souped up traditional Irish music. I imagine that the political slant probably appeals, as does the emphasis on drinking and dancing. The band aren’t especially young, but no-one’s got their finger in their ear, put it that way.
Traditional song ‘Smuggling The Tin’ is dedicated by Andrew to “anyone who’s smuggling drink or drugs tonight”. I don’t think anyone in the venue is, but there might be a few outside. Andrew accompanies himself on banjo, whilst Finnian adds a drone from his uilleann pipes, Mention of “the Free State” gets an almighty roar of approval. ‘The Worker’s Song’ is about what happens to rich people when they die. It’s enough to make you give all of your money away, just in case. The lyrics are very witty. ‘The Big Mixer’ is based upon Robert McAlpine’s last words on his death bed. He was asked how he’d like to be remembered. He said words to the effect of: “keep the big mixer turning and Paddy behind on the shovel”. It’s a fast jig and gets the crowd bouncing, not for the first or last time tonight.
Many songs are about the Irish diaspora. ‘The Mickey Dam’ is about Irish workers building a dam in Scotland, whilst the Christy Moore cover ‘Building Up And Tearing England Down’ is about Irish immigrants working in England. Charles accompanies himself on guitar on this. We get three traditional songs before ‘Cod Liver Oil And The Orange Juice’, which itself is a Hamish Imlach cover. The main set closes with ‘The Juice’ from the new album. I wonder whether the band will return, but return they do.
They return for a couple more traditional covers and a shout of “free Palestine!”, which they sensibly save till the very end, just in case. This has been a terrific gig on a few different levels. The musicianship and the band’s sheer enthusiasm has been superb. There’s a lot of young people here who will possibly have heard loud raucous Irish music played live for the first time. Personally I would have been more than happy if The Mary Wallopers had carried on playing for another hour, or indeed all night. To demonstrate the fervour that the band had inspired in the audience, when the house lights came up and The Pogues’ version of Ewan McColl’s ‘Dirty Old Town’ played over the PA, most of the audience dance to it!!! What a gig! What a band!
The Mary Wallopers:
Charles Hendy – vocals, guitar, banjo and bodhrán
Andrew Hendy – vocals, guitar, banjo and bodhran
Roisin Barrett – bass
Ken Mooney – drums
Finnian O’Connor – tin whistle and uilleann pipes
Catriona Gribben – accordion / multi-instrumentalist
The Mary Wallopers setlist:
‘Castlecoe Hill’ (from 2026 ‘Paddywhackery’ album)
‘Crowns Of England’ (from 2026 ‘Paddywhackery’ album)
‘Landlord’s Demise’ (from 2026 ‘Paddywhackery’ album)
“Unknown”
‘Smuggling The Tin’ (from 2026 ‘Paddywhackery’ album)
‘The Worker’s Song’ (from 2026 ‘Paddywhackery’ album)
‘The Big Mixer’ (from 2026 ‘Paddywhackery’ album)
‘Kit Kat Club’ (from 2026 ‘Paddywhackery’ album)
‘Mickey Dam’ (from 2026 ‘Paddywhackery’ album)
‘Building Up And Tearing England Down’ (Christy Moore cover)
‘The Holy Ground’ (traditional from 2023 ‘Irish Rock ‘n’ Roll’ album)
‘The Blarney Stone’ (traditional from 2023 ‘Irish Rock ‘n’ Roll’ album)
‘Eileen Og’ (traditional from 2022 ‘The Mary Wallopers’ album)
‘Cod Liver Oil And The Orange Juice’ (from 2022 ‘The Mary Wallopers’ album)
‘The Juice’ (from 2026 ‘Paddywhackery’ album)
(encore)
‘The Banks Of Red Roses’ (traditional)
‘Frost Is All Over’ (from 2022 ‘The Mary Wallopers’ album)
