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Courtney Austin and Carol Roche Austin enjoying themselves at the Eric Roche Acoustic Sessions in the Brandon Hotel Conference Centre on Saturday night. Photo by Fergus Dennehy.
THE Eric Roche Acoustic Sessions, which were held in the Brandon Hotel Conference Centre last Saturday night will be remembered in a lot of different ways by the people that were there.
Some may choose the amazing technical skill of the six performing guitarists as their abiding memory, while others may choose to focus solely on some of the beautiful acoustic pieces that were so perfectly played on the night.
Side-note: An honorable hat-tip must go to Jacques Stotzem’s excellent acoustic version of Jimi Hendrix’s Purple Haze.
The night was all about remembering the life, music and the tenth anniversary of the passing of one of the most influential guitarists and musicians of his unique style, Tralee’s very own Eric Roche.
All proceeds from the event going toward the ‘Inspired Group’ and the Kerry Hospice Foundation.
The night started off with all six guitarists, Matt Buchanan, Gary Lutton, Jacques Stotzem, Thomas Leeb, Newton Faulkner and Robert Castellani all on stage together, as they recalled Eric’s influence on their lives.
Some, like Gary Lutton and Robert Castellani only knew him through his writings in magazines and through seeing him play, but it was clear that he had a profound influence on all of their musical careers so far.
Others such as the Belgian born Stotzem and Austrian born Thomas Leeb shared intimate and humorous stories of their time with Eric, including his failed meeting with legendary musician Stevie Wonder, his apparent terrible driving skills and his less than clever idea of what to do during the birth of his child.
There was a very relaxed and intimate feel to the concert as a whole, with every member of the gathered audience caught up in the dulcet tones of the music.
Each artist then came back on stage separately after the interval to perform songs, with Newton Faulkner rounding off the seperate performances with two renditions of his songs ‘Teardrop’ and ‘Dream Catch Me’ before he got everyone back on stage for a performance of ‘She Drives Me Crazy’ to finish off the night.
Organisers, artists and finally Eric’s parents, Cora and Raymond thanked everyone for coming out and talked about how their strongest memory of Eric will always be how easy it was to make him happy.
Check out some photos from the event below…
Chris and Syra Larkin with Gabby Stotzem enjoying themselves at the Eric Roche Acoustic Sessions in the Brandon Hotel Conference Centre on Saturday night. Photo by Fergus Dennehy.
From left: Ann Lacey, Mary O’Callaghan, Ann Glazier, Patricia Byrne, Lillian Barry, Joan McDonnell and Marian Delaney enjoying themselves at the Eric Roche Acoustic Sessions in the Brandon Hotel Conference Centre on Saturday night. Photo by Fergus Dennehy.
From left: Eoin Murphy, Glenn Dunleavy, Laoise Phelan, Gary O’Carroll, David Ryall and Rachel Templeman enjoying themselves at the Eric Roche Acoustic Sessions in the Brandon Hotel Conference Centre on Saturday night. Photo by Fergus Dennehy.
Ian Absey, Bec Fahey and Ray Fahey enjoying themselves at the Eric Roche Acoustic Sessions in the Brandon Hotel Conference Centre on Saturday night. Photo by Fergus Dennehy.
