*PICTURED: The Lough Graney Group in their hayday
The Lough Graney Group are back for one night only after an over 30-year hiatus. The band will perform in Canny’s Bar, Killanena on Saturday the 9th of May. The group was founded in 1978 by Pake Brady and for the near twenty years that followed the band dominated the music scene in County Clare.
The group formed by “playing in a session in a pub, the usual thing, and people getting together, and then from there, the band was formed.”
From being booked out a year in advance for pub gigs and wedding performances, the band’s popularity grew. The three group members, Pake Brady, on accordion, Joe Noonan on drums, and Pat O’Neil on vocals and guitar, want to give their audience a night to remember. “We’re just looking forward to having a good weekend at the one-night stand and playing music. That’s what it is all about.”
The band speaks fondly of their supporters and relish over being remembered all these years later, “a lot of people that we played weddings for, they still remember us and that is fantastic”.
The band’s tight-knit friendship remains all these years later, confessing “we’re all still friends and we have never had an argument”.
They revealed “we never practiced, we were performing while practicing and getting paid”, they laughed.
Reiterated consistently was the fun that they had performing “back in the 80s, everybody had a great time, it was a free world”.
“We had a very busy time, but it was a fun time. We enjoyed it,” they told The Clare Echo.
The group hope to relive these memories through the music on Saturday night, although, “the fingers are getting a bit stiff from old age.”
