Paul Brady

Belfast, Northern Ireland

Inside, the church bears more resemblance to a cathedral, with its high vaulted roof and lines of pillars.

Great musicians often have a great back catalogue, a profusion of songs. And this is the case with Paul Brady. As he told the Vicar Street audience, the Sunday performance would include songs not sung in years. We were in for a treat.

The ovation was thunderous and sustained. If this is how our heroes are received for the mere act of coming onstage, then how rapturous will the acclaim be when they’ve well and truly blown the dust off the seminal album we are here to commemorate?

Earlier in the evening, we were treated to Kimmie Rhodes, Gareth Dunlop and Brian Houston; talented singer songwriters who have a broadly similar style and whose performance complimented each other.

A Swiss ballad first made famous throughout Europe by French chanteuse Edith Piaf, "The Three Bells" is the homely sketch of country boy Jimmy Brown, told via snapshot verses of his small-town congregation in prayer at birth, marriage and death.

There were glimpses of genius when he played an impromptu Rocky Road To Dublin and an increasingly apt Hard Times At The Stations, on which he was joined by Glen Hansard (The Frames).