Don’t you hate it when The National show up to play a gig in your sitting room and you haven’t tidied up? That’s exactly what happened to Dolores Begley, her husband Diarmuid and her sons Ryan and Cathal. Over the past few years, Dolores has seen the rooms in her house used as performance spaces by musicians attending the renowned Other Voices festival in Dingle. They’ve played host to bands like The National, The XX and Super Furry Animals. She came on The Ray D’Arcy Show to tell Ray how this happened and some of the highlights from over the years.
Dolores told Ray that her husband is a taxi driver and got to know some of the acts from driving them around when they came to play the festival. They needed a space and thought of the Begleys. Soon, it escalated.
“At the beginning we didn’t think anything of it. We didn’t think it’d be this big…It started off: Cathal’s bedroom, Ryan’s bedroom, the kitchen, the sitting room. For a tiny house it made it look huge, the television.”
Her sons Ryan and Cathal would introduce the bands with Aidan Gillen and Annie Mac as they sat on the couch, all filmed for television.
“We didn't think anything of it in the beginning. We’re privileged now, looking back.”
Dolores thinks that the musicians try new things in Dingle because it’s so different to the other festivals they’ve been playing.
“They come to Dingle and I think they feel relaxed”.
Are there any wild stories of televisions being thrown out windows and the like?
“No. And I wouldn’t say them anyway”.
Listen back to the full conversation with Dolores on The Ray D’Arcy Show here.