Rock Rising -- a Limerick return with an international reputation

 

Rock Rising

A Limerick return with an international reputation

On Friday, November 6, University Concert Hall will welcome back a show that has travelled considerably further than its Limerick connections might suggest. Rock Rising – The Supreme Classic Rock Show returns to UCH at 8pm, bringing with it a repertoire of songs that have crossed generations, continents and musical fashions. What began with strong roots in the Irish rock scene has developed into an internationally touring production, with Germany in particular becoming an important part of its story.

Limerick has never been short of musicians capable of making a great sound. What is remarkable is seeing a rock show with strong Limerick connections build an audience far beyond Ireland, including a substantial following in Germany, and then return to the city from which part of its story began. This is no attempt to prove anything to Limerick. Rock Rising has already earned its credentials. November’s concert is about bringing that experience home.

A show that travels

The show has built a reputation for sold-out performances in Ireland, Britain and Germany. Germany, especially, has become an important territory. Before streaming services and playlists reduced music to something we carry around in our pockets, rock bands crossed borders by playing theatres, concert halls and civic centres night after night. Rock Rising is doing something of that again. Its audience may come for the familiar songs, but the fact that people are prepared to buy tickets repeatedly and travel to see the show says something about the appetite for live rock music when it is played with conviction.

The songs are the starting point

The repertoire reaches across several decades of rock history. Queen, Bon Jovi, AC/DC, Journey, Toto, Pink Floyd, the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac are among the artists whose music provides the material. Other familiar names and songs have been added to the repertoire over time, with the November show promising new material as well. But the real challenge with music of this kind is not remembering the notes. Everybody knows the notes. The challenge is to make songs that have been heard hundreds of times sound alive again. That requires musicians who understand that a classic rock song is not a museum piece. It needs to breathe. It needs dynamics, tension and release. Most importantly, it needs to be played by people who believe in what they are doing. That is where Rock Rising has found its identity.

Frosty in the engine room

Among the musicians who help give the show its drive is Limerick man Paul ‘Frosty’ Cantillon, on bass and vocals. The bass player in a large rock production occupies an interesting position. He is rarely the musician standing at the front of the stage demanding attention, but without him the entire architecture of the performance begins to wobble. Frosty provides much of that essential foundation. His role is particularly important in a show that moves so quickly between different musical worlds. The muscular demands of AC/DC are not the same as the precision required for Toto; Journey demands something different again, while the spaciousness of Pink Floyd requires restraint as much as power. The bass has to move with all of them. Cantillon is also part of the vocal dimension of the show, adding another layer to a production that relies on several voices and instrumental combinations rather than a single frontman carrying everything. For Limerick audiences, his presence adds another local thread to a show that has increasingly become international in scale.

Limerick musicians, international stages

David Hockedy is truly a star of the show, playing many/most of the great solos with precision and passion. He is an important part of that Limerick connection, but Rock Rising is bigger than any one musician. There can sometimes be a tendency to regard local musicians primarily through the prism of where they come from. The more interesting question is where their music takes them. In Rock Rising’s case, the answer includes extensive touring in Germany.  That gives the November concert a different significance from simply another night of familiar rock songs. It is, in its own way, a homecoming. And having seen Rock Rising perform previously I am reminded of one of the great advantages of live music: the songs may be familiar, but the circumstances in which we hear them are never quite the same. A record can preserve a performance. A concert creates a moment.

Why classic rock refuses to disappear

There is also a larger question behind the continuing popularity of shows such as Rock Rising. Why are audiences still drawn to music recorded 30, 40 or 50 years ago? Part of the answer is nostalgia, certainly. But nostalgia alone does not explain it. Much of this music was built for communal listening. These were songs designed to be heard loudly, shared with other people and remembered afterwards. Their choruses were made for audiences rather than headphones. That is why a room full of people can suddenly become a choir when the opening bars of a familiar song are played. For some, the music brings back a particular year, a particular relationship, a first car, a night out or a concert long ago. For others, it is music inherited from parents and discovered for themselves. And for younger listeners, some of these songs are simply great rock songs. The dates on the original recordings become almost irrelevant.

A night for Limerick

There is another reason why this particular Rock Rising performance deserves attention. It is easy for a local audience to assume that something which originates here will always be available here. A band can spend months on the road, playing in other countries and building audiences elsewhere, before returning to its home territory. By then, the people who helped shape the musical culture from which it emerged can sometimes be the least likely to turn up. That would be a pity. Rock Rising has demonstrated that its appeal is not confined to Limerick or even Ireland. Its German following and international touring schedule have given it a life well beyond the city. Now it is coming back.

November 6 at UCH

The Limerick performance takes place at University Concert Hall on Friday, November 6, at 8pm. Tickets are €32.50, plus booking fees, and are available through the UCH Box Office. The box office can also be contacted on 061-331549. The significance of the evening is not that Rock Rising is attempting to recreate a vanished era. It is doing something more useful. It is reminding us that great rock songs do not belong exclusively to the people who recorded them. Once they enter the collective memory, they become part of the audience too Go to this gig, you will not regret it. It is a fabulous show and I am immensely proud of its Limerick connections.