This is a very fine venue, located at the marina in the beautiful setting of Greystones harbour. It is the perfect place to host live music with an intimate setting and the only drawback is that it must rely mainly on local residents for support, which is crucial to its survival.
The journey from the centre of Dublin is a long one and I am sure that many people have concerns over the return leg after the show has ended. However, it is well worth the trip as I discovered on Saturday last when Buddy Mondlock and Mike Lindauer performed a set that had the small crowd waxing lyrical about the talent on show.
At the end of an Irish tour, both musicians play with an easy style that comes from many years of playing together and Mike makes reference to the fact that they first met in the principal’s office at school when they were ten years old.
Playing a selection of songs that includes many fan favourites like The Kid, The Ugly One, Coming Down In The Rain, Mud, New Jersey Sunset, The Cats At The Colosseum and the regular encore No Choice, Buddy proves himself the consummate songwriter with his keen observations on life, love and everything in between. He has a gentle approach to both his guitar style and his vocal phrasing. Indeed, it can be quite hypnotic in a venue like the Hot Spot where the atmosphere is one of quiet listening and attentiveness. Mike plays beautifully on his custom-made bass guitar and compliments the soft vocal delivery with understated harmony vocals and subtle melody runs.
A few new songs are tried and well received, Come Back First, The Witness and Filament will no doubt appear on an upcoming release. Buddy co-writes a lot of songs and tells stories of his time spent in younger days writing with Garth Brooks. As their respective careers took different paths, Buddy waited for one of their co-writes to appear and this finally happened on The Chase (1992) when Every Now And Then was included. The royalties kept Buddy in comfort for some little time and also gave him the joyous experience of purchasing a brand-new car for cash … !
A word for support artist Martyn Travis who entertained with his quick wit and easy conversation. A natural storyteller, Martin comes from a fishing background and has known Buddy & Mike for many years, having originally met in New York. He is a fine guitarist with a clear voice and sings of Salt On My Skin, The Harbour Bar, A Father And A Son, A Place In My Heart and As This Night Becomes Day in a short set that impresses and makes a positive statement of intent for future outings.
Review and photo by Paul McGee