Eamonn Doran's, August 2001

Thanks to Ash for this review!

Let me set the scene. It’s the day of Huey's birthday party and I have an invitation to the party in my possession. needless to say I could barely remember my own name I was so exited. The invites were designed to look like a packet of red Rizla skins but instead of "Rizla" the said "Huey". Genius. So in I go to Eamonn Doran's where the entire downstairs was closed off for the party. I walk in and I can’t wait to flash my invite and act like I’m all important in front of all the dudes that weren’t let in.
Once I get downstairs I see Dermot Doran on stage, welcoming people and giving a shout out to the birthday boy. It’s about 11p.m. He tells us Cooley High will be on stage soon but ‘Johnny Pyro’ (who played Witnness the day before), were gonna do a few numbers. Johnny Pyro are a really good Irish band who Huey is apparently a very big fan of. This was the second time I had seen ‘em live in Doran’s and they were really cool, if a tad on the moody side.
When they finish I decide to have a wander round, so I walked towards the far end of the room and nearly died of surprise when I saw Fast (FLC) in the DJ box. I stood there with my mouth open just looking in awe at him cos he was so close I could touch him (I didn’t try cos Winston was standing in front of the booth). As I was standing there gaping I felt someone’s hands on my waist and heard a familiar voice saying, ”’Scuse me darlin’..." and turned around and it was Huey trying to get by to go to the toilet. At that point I was a gibbering mess so I didn’t say anything to him and just stood outta his way.
At this stage Cooley High are setting up and I’m still at the back of the room. I’m wondering if I should try and say something to Fast when Huey comes back in my direction and as he passes gives me a kiss on the cheek and thanks me for the card I had given him earlier on in the day. I was stunned. I was grinning from ear to ear, I couldn’t help it!
So it’s nearly time for Cooley High to come on so I venture towards the stage still grinning like a fool. Mackie passes me by which kinda makes me do a double take like they do in cartoons. I decide against following him and get to the top of the room.

[OK - I was wonderin' bout that encore - they mean 'Just can't get enough'. Obviously band joke. I don't want to know...]
On walks King in all his glory. He introduces the band and they begin playing. Although I had heard of Cooley High before I had never heard any of their music so I was determined to be unbiased. During the first song Huey stood in front of me and heckled Mateo. It was bizarre. King explains to the crowd about his blues influences and explains how he came to be friends with Huey, (King played with Huey in a blues band before FLC took off. He told me later that evening that Huey was like a little brother to him.....awhhhhh. King also told the crowd that his sister had come to Dublin with him and she had gone to the Witnness Festival to see the Crims. He said she just couldn’t understand why the crowd kept shoutin’ "U,A,U,A".....it was only later it was explained that they were shouting "Huey, Huey…".). Mateo switches frequently from bass to decks and back again. He was wearing a huge afro wig and seemed to be really enjoying being onstage. Soon Huey gets onstage and does a few numbers with the band. Women’s underwear is being thrown onstage and Mateo seems a little over-excited. He keeps saying “Panties, panties, I can’t believe they’re throwing panties", [Bollocks, RAY – we should have chucked the Granny pants instead of just lugging them across the UK! And kids, like it are not, I’m going to take full responsibility for this, cos I did mention something about hoying underwear on the site before! - K] whilst picking them from the stage floor. The poor lad nearly died when a bra flew past his head.
Huey plays some bluesy numbers with Cooley High and then a chorus of ‘Happy Birthday’ is sung. Huey gets off stage and Cooley High are on their own again. King introduces the band individually. He calls Mateo 'the potato'. They play another few songs.
I was really impressed cos in the back of my mind I thought they’d be crap. I was super impressed with them. Their music was a mixture of bluesy, rock, hip hop with great lyrics. They played about six songs and left the stage. they then came back for an encore which King claimed had never happened to them before. The crowd, though it was small and probably full of their friends and family, gave a great response to the band. They seemed to go down well. I for one was a happy punter....Cooley High and birthday cake....what an evening....

And other random occurrences:

• Rich vanished into thin air
• Paul got real drunk and was seen staggering round ‘til about 8a.m.
• King danced with some lapdancers.
• When I asked King to sign my poster he wanted to write something really inspirational, or so he said, so we had to find a table that he could lean on. The one we found was covered in beer. I started wiping it away when he got the inside of his jacket (his cool stage jacket) and leaned over to wipe the table down. How nice is that?!

Note to Kat from self: Next time you go to a CH gig : 1. Take camera, 2. Stay sober enough to speak to the band 3. Think of something better to say than ‘I’m Kat’ and ‘I know..’ Damn that bar...
Oh... 'I've met you before...do you remember? I don't cos I was drunk...'

Go...

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