A Portrait in Sun Laoghaire

By Richard Deering

The Foot Squeaker guerilla gig trained rolled on again this weekend, taking us up to the glorious East pier of Dún Laoghaire for some fun in the sun.

As this is our third guerilla gig, we're starting to get the hang of it, packing up the little red Berlingo and cramming the three of us into the front (Michael being the smallest was in the middle and he has excellent middle seat etiquette although I think he was enjoying me changing into second gear a bit too much)

We had also introduced a little beach trolly to cart gear to the location and by God it's a life saver.

We chose our spot on the usual merits, good footfall, a nice view, not too close to any place that might complain and of course a little nugget of dog poo nearby for good measure.

We started to play in the sunshine and almost instantly the vibes were incredibly good. People stopped and listened, talked to us, looked us up and had a good time all round. At one stage, a small boy who was fascinated by Mike's drums stopped by and had a go jamming the blues with Diarmuid. A beautiful moment.

The crowd will always move through our music during these gigs as is the nature of setting up where people go for walks, we had all noticed a lady take a seat on the high steps behind us at the start of the gig and take out a piece of paper. She sat through the set and near the end came down to the front where she handed us one of the coolest gifts ever, a portrait of us playing.

This was by far the easiest set up and gig we've done to date, and getting that portrait really, really made it a certainty that these gigs are worthwhile, that people are inherently good and that breaking away from the social media conveyor belt and getting out in the real world to meet people is by far the best and most important thing we've done as a band.

To the lady that gave us the portrait without signing it, we hope you enjoyed our music as much as we enjoyed your portrait and thank you for drawing the band in one of it's happiest and most freeing moments. You are an extremely talented and good person and if you ever feel like drawing us again, Michael has assured me he doesn't mind posing nude for a small fee.

Up Dun Laoghaire

Up Foot Squeaker

Up being happy

Grá mor