The Jazz Festival Parade

Brass band musicians marching down a Cork street during Jazz Festival parade at dusk, with trumpet player in beanie and puffer jacket in foreground, spectators watching from shop doorways, and someone filming on mobile phone visible in the right foreground, with turquoise evening sky above.
Lamarotte brass band performing on Patrick Street during Cork Jazz Festival parade at dusk, with massive sousaphone bell dominating the frame, drummer visible on left, surrounded by large crowd of spectators outside Guineys and Penneys stores under evening sky.
Brass band musicians performing on Patrick Street in Cork during the Jazz Festival parade at night, with trombonists and saxophonists in casual clothing playing energetically outside Gino's Italian restaurant and Cherish jewellers, with crowd of spectators visible in the background.

I did not know that there would be a small parade of brass bands down Oliver Plunkett Street until my wife was told about it an hour before!

It was just after sunset and dark and getting cold but there was huge excitement as the crowd followed the musicians down the street.


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Punk Legends at Cyprus Avenue

The Undertones performing on stage at Cyprus Avenue with dramatic red and white stage lighting, the lead singer centre stage with arm raised holding a microphone, flanked by a guitarist on the left and bassist on the right, with drummer visible in the background and audience silhouettes in the foreground.

I shared a couple of photos of The Undertones last year but since they’re coming back to Cork next year and tickets just became available I decided to go look through the shots from that night again. They are fantastic, and I’m looking forward to seeing them again when they visit Cork.

The atmosphere in Cyprus Avenue is electric, and the lighting is so atmospheric and dazzling. Great venue for a gig.

The Undertones formed in Derry, Northern Ireland, in 1974 and became one of the most important bands to emerge from the late 1970s punk movement. Their debut single “Teenage Kicks” (1978) was famously championed by legendary BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel, who called it his favourite song of all time and requested it be played at his funeral (it was). What makes The Undertones particularly notable is that they emerged from Derry during the height of the Troubles, yet their music deliberately avoided political themes, instead focusing on universal teenage experiences like romance, frustration, and growing up. This made them hugely influential in showing that Northern Irish bands didn’t have to be defined by the conflict. The band’s current lineup still features four of the five original members, though original lead singer Feargal Sharkey left in 1983. They reformed in 1999 with new vocalist Paul McLoone and have been touring consistently since, proving that great punk rock ages remarkably well!


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