Madness in Cork

We went to see Madness play in Virgin Media Park last night. They were supported by Cork band, The Frank and Walters, and Ocean Colour Scene.

We arrived early because we wanted to see The Frank and Walters, and it was great to get in before the place filled up. The support bands were great and we really enjoyed their music.

Madness? Maybe I was expecting too much, or built it up in my head because they have some cracking tunes? I thought they could have been better. We danced to their hits, but they had a lot of deep cuts that had the crowd wondering what was going on. There was a lot of banter which didn’t always hit home with the crowd.

I did appreciate them mentioning Queen. I thought we’d get a short cover of one of their songs, but it wasn’t to be!

I paid for my ticket. Apparently, they had to give away a good bunch of them. 🙁


Apertureƒ/4.9
CameraGalaxy S23 Ultra
Focal length27.2mm
ISO64
Shutter speed1/50s

Brian May in the Spotlight

Queen + Adam Lambert played in the O2 in London as part of their 2022 Rhapsody Tour, and I was there in the middle of June.

I love Queen’s music. I wanted to go see them for a long time but left it late to book tickets for one of their London shows. The only seats left were away up in the rafters, to the side of the stage. (and then they announced a Belfast show a few weeks later, but we had paid for concert tickets, plane tickets and a family hotel room. Ah, well.)

One of the highlights of the gigs was when the late Freddie Mercury was shown on the big screen singing Love of My Life with Brian May. Guess who didn’t see any of it because of where he was sitting? A beautiful moment, and I knew what was happening when the crowd cheered. And I missed it all. I was crushed.

Earlier in the day, on the way to the concert, in the taxi, I took my phone out of my pocket to check Google Maps. To my horror, my phone screen remained blank. I figured the phone was still on because I heard a WhatsApp notification, but the screen remained stubbornly black. Disaster! The tickets were on my phone! Luckily, we had installed the O2 app on my family’s phones, so I consoled myself that one of those phones would work. I couldn’t be more wrong. They were logged out and because the password manager was on my phone, we had no way to log in. I remember wishing I had my laptop, which was back in the hotel. However, we weren’t the only ones in that situation, but customer support at the O2 are used to it and got us physical replacement tickets. The following morning, my phone worked fine again.

So, It wasn’t an ideal experience. Yes, you can say it was my own fault for not booking earlier, but they still offered those sections of the arena for sale, and every seat was taken. I didn’t post this or any other photo from the concert as I was so disappointed by everything that happened, but time has dulled my feelings about it. I still love Queen music, and I even love their 80s and 90s output. Despite my experience, it was spectacular to see Brian May and Roger Taylor perform.


Apertureƒ/2.8
CameraDSC-RX100M4
Focal length25.7mm
ISO12800
Shutter speed1/500s

Cobh Peoples Regatta – Flash Harry

Flash Harry, a Queen tribute band played to the crowd at the Cobh Peoples Regatta last weekend after the fireworks. They were great, driving the crowd wild!
*phew* This post took ages to do, had to get up early to work on this one. Hope you enjoy the photos!

You can find out more about Flash Harry on their website.
Sorry if you’re on dialup, this may take a while to download!

Cobh Peoples Regatta - Flash Harry
Cobh Peoples Regatta - Flash Harry
Cobh Peoples Regatta - Flash Harry
Cobh Peoples Regatta - Flash Harry
Cobh Peoples Regatta - Flash Harry
Cobh Peoples Regatta - Flash Harry
Cobh Peoples Regatta - Flash Harry
Cobh Peoples Regatta - Flash Harry

Aperture ƒ/5.6
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 125mm
ISO 400
Shutter speed 1/60s

Fred The Band in the Spiegeltent

Fred played in the Spiegeltent on Tuesday night and as usual put on a great show! Their show is energetic and wild and brilliant!

More photos tomorrow!

Edit: Donal has great photos of the night. Go look!

Aperture ƒ/3.5
Camera Canon EOS 20D
Focal length 18mm
ISO 1600
Shutter speed 1/40s