One of the big local stories of Electric Picnic was the standout success of the Timahoe Male Choir, who performed to two bumper crowds on Sunday afternoon.
Such were the numbers that showed up in Hazelwood for their first performance that the gates had to be actually closed. If you weren’t in, you didn’t get to see them.
Luckily, they had a second slot straight away afterwards in Trailer Park where it was again thronged.
It was some going for a group who’ve been formed for less than a year – and many of them were never on stage until this got going.
The Timahoe Male Choir, also known as The High Stool Choir, were formed out of a pub sing-sing, making their first public appearance at a Christmas Carol service last winter.
Organised by wedding singer Damien Bowe, himself now a long time member of the Timahoe community, they had a really catchy play-list, belting out classics like Rock n Roll Kids, N17, We’ve got the World and The Way I Am.
They also waved a Laois flag and a Timahoe one, with the crowd even giving it the ‘Laois, Laois, Laois’ chant at one stage.
It’s a choir that includes the local parish priest, a former county councillor, a publican, farmers, construction workers, guards and prison officers. If you’d been told a year ago that they’d be singing at Electric Picnic, you’d have sent for the men in white coats.
Speaking on the LaoisToday Love Laois Podcast, Damien Bowe said that it was a collective feeling of euphoria after their performances on Sunday. And they celebrated on the Monday like a team after winning a county final, with visits to pubs in Stradbally and Timahoe.
“We put the set together with singalongs, trying to picture how it would be at the last 20 minutes of a wedding when all the bangers are played,” he says.
“We also tried to keep it to an Irish theme as well.
“It’s all about entertainment value, I wanted to perform songs that people would know, nearly every word of them, and then there’s a connection straight away with the audience.
“There’s about 50 people in the choir so if everybody brought about 10 people with them that would be what the Hazelwood area would hold.
“But the manager said to me before, ‘do you reckon everyone’s family is in because we have to close the gate. It’s too full’.”
Bowe explained how the whole thing came about. “Last July I was talking to Billy Ramsbottom in Timahoe, who was about 90 years of age.
“He told me back in Timahoe in the 50s that there was a men’s choir in the church. I had sung at mass for years and I had an idea then and I was like look, every Sunday we meet in the pub in Timahoe and it always ends up in a sing-song.
“So then I just said I’ll plead with the conscience of some of the lads and see if they would sing in the choir at mass. So we decided we would sing in Carol service for Christmas, 10 or 12 agreed to it.
“So we would meet between two pubs in Timahoe and we had good craic so that was the start of it. I had them all in waistcoats and dickie-bows and the whole lot and everyone started to laugh as we got up on the stage.
“But as we started singing I think they realised that these aren’t actually too bad. The buzz after the Carol Service in Timahoe was similar to the buzz after Sunday.
“I couldn’t even believe that lads wanted to do it again in January. There were also people on the periphery who were sort of half interested in doing it and when they all came along that’s sort of where the momentum came.
“Then RTE contacted us earlier in the year and did a little piece on the choir and then that got loads of traction.
“We got messages from all over the country from people mentioning people who wanted to join so it just organically grew and started to snowball.
“Roghan Headen is the man who can take credit for (getting us into Electric Picnic).
“He was the man who had made contact with EP. We committed to Hazelwood first and then we said we’d do a half hour slot in the Trailer Park. When you do something though you don’t really see the uniqueness of it, it becomes quite ordinary to you.”
“It really was so special. When I was on stage I was just trying to get the sound set up and trying to get the people in place and all that they weren’t rigid and they were loving the crowd and everything.
“I turned around and went, ‘Oh my God’. I couldn’t believe the crowd was right back to the back of the tent.
“And then over in the Trailer Park, like everybody came across … it was just mind blowing stuff.
“I said to the lads, go with this, go with the moment, go with the crowd. I know they were nervous and they wanted to get their cues right and their lyrics right but they just went for it.
“It’s all about energy. Those lads have never experienced energy like that from a crowd before. I was talking to Brendan Quigley and Padraig Clancy, they have played in Croke Park in front of thousands but when they’re right in front of you it is very different.
“They’re there encouraging you and clapping and sending their best wishes and you really feed off that energy.”
Bowe says that their next gig as at the Spink Threshing Festival while they will also be recording again in the next couple of months.
He adds that they’ll stay going as long as it continues to be fun.
And with days like Sunday fresh in the memory, it’s hard to see that changing.
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