Limerick, get up and rock - Rock Rising brings the classics home

Limerick, Get Up and Rock

Rock Rising brings the classics home — and wants you singing every chorus

Some songs deserve more than a turn on the radio. They need a big stage, powerful voices and a roomful of people singing. Rock Rising brings that invitation to University Concert Hall, Limerick, on Friday, November 6, following the band’s recent German tour.

Expect classic rock with its pulse racing: familiar anthems delivered by experienced musicians who understand that a great gig depends on what happens between the stage and the audience.

Two of Limerick’s own

Limerick musicians Paul ‘Frosty’ Cantillon and David Hockedy give this homecoming particular local appeal.

Cantillon supplies bass guitar and vocals, anchoring the songs while bringing plenty of personality to the microphone. His rendition of Billy Idol’s ‘Rebel Yell’ attracted particular praise during the German tour.

Hockedy contributes lead guitar combining the precision these celebrated songs demand with the feeling that makes a solo lift the hairs on your neck. For local audiences, this is an opportunity to cheer two of their own within a formidable musical team.

Meet the band

Liam Martin handles lead vocals, guitar and keyboards, while Eric Campbell contributes lead vocals and guitar. Their contrasting voices help the band tackle a repertoire that stretches across several generations of rock.

Italian multi-instrumentalist Eugenio Collinassi adds guitar, keyboards and saxophone, giving the arrangements breadth and colour. James Kelly plays drums, driving the performance alongside Cantillon’s bass, while Michael McCarron brings the distinctive power of bagpipes.

Together, these musicians have the instrumental range and vocal strength to move between expansive melodies, thunderous riffs and choruses built for communal singing.

The audience joins in

Rock Rising’s repertoire draws on giants including Pink Floyd, AC/DC, Journey, Queen, Toto, Thin Lizzy and Horslips. These are songs whose opening notes can transport you straight back to a teenage bedroom, a first concert or an unforgettable night out.

The pleasure lies in hearing them performed with conviction: guitars that bite, rhythms that push and voices that give the choruses everything.

Audience participation is central to the experience. Expect encouragement to clap, chant, sing and get to your feet as the atmosphere builds. UCH is a seated venue, but acknowledges that performers may encourage standing, dancing and clapping.

Bring friends who know every lyric and friends who only discover they know them when the chorus arrives. There is room for both. The band specialises in getting people involved, turning a concert into a shared celebration.

Make a night of it

For anyone craving an evening of exhilarating live music, this promises a generous helping of classic rock played with skill, swagger and warmth. Gather your company, arrange the journey and give yourselves a Friday night worth looking forward to.


Rock Rising performs at University Concert Hall, University of Limerick, on Friday, November 6, at 8pm. Tickets cost €32.50 plus booking fees, available at www.uch.ie or through the UCH Box Office on 061 331549. Book your seats and bring your best singing voice along

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Joe Malone’s - A Lost Pub, A Living Legacy

Image
  Joe Malone’s A Lost Pub, a Living Legacy Portrait of Joe Malone by Kieran Beville I remember the first night I went to Joe Malone’s pub on Denmark Street. It was an October evening, 1975. I had returned from living in Belfast where I bought an embroidered Afghan coat in Shaftsbury Square. Long hair was worn as a declaration of rebellion against social norms. I laugh now to think that at the time I thought I was the bee’s knees. One might think my appearance was conspicuous but nothing could be further from the truth. I blended in like a chameleon, camouflaged with other hippies in similar attire. There are places that never made a record but still shaped the sound of a generation. Joe Malone’s pub was one of those places. No stage lights, no booking agent. Just a door that opened, a counter worn smooth by elbows, and a room that understood that music does not have to be something you present to people; it is something you let happen. In 1970s Limerick, that distinction ma...
Read more

Homecoming for Johnny Duhan in Limerick (Press Release)

Image
The Limerick Musical History Group will mark Culture Night with a free public tribute to the late Limerick songwriter Johnny Duhan on Friday, September 18, beginning at 7 pm at his childhood home on Wolfe Tone Street.   The late Limerick songwriter Johnny Duhan, best known for writing ‘The Voyage’, will be honoured on Culture Night, Friday, September 18, with the unveiling of a commemorative plaque at his childhood home on Wolfe Tone Street, Limerick, at 7 pm. The free event is open to all and will bring together musicians, artists and members of the community to celebrate his life, songs and Limerick roots.   Duhan began his career as frontman of Granny’s Intentions before becoming one of Ireland’s most respected songwriters. His songs were recorded by Christy Moore, Mary Black, Dolores Keane, The Dubliners, and Mary Coughlan.   Johnny died suddenly in November 2024, aged 74. The Culture Night gathering will bring his music home to the Limerick street where his rem...
Read more

Fean family raffles a treasured Les Paul to support Johnny Óg

Image
Fean family raffles a treasured Les Paul to support Johnny Óg Maggie & Johnny Fean One of Johnny Fean’s guitars is about to find a new owner. Whoever takes it home will acquire something considerably more interesting than an instrument with a famous name attached. This Gibson Les Paul has been played by the Horslips guitarist himself. Now it is being put to work for a different kind of partnership: a boy and a Labrador called Johnny Óg. The Fean family’s decision to donate the guitar for a fundraising raffle gives this October’s musical celebrations a purpose beyond remembrance. There will be amplifiers, old friends and plenty of music. There is also a practical ambition: helping to support the work that brings trained dogs into people’s lives. A different kind of lead In a Facebook announcement, Ray Fean introduced Johnny Óg, a fully trained Labrador from Irish Guide Dogs for the Blind, and explained the family’s fundraising plans. Maggie Fean is donating one of Johnny’s G...
Read more