Last night marked the ten year anniversary of the death of Mic Christopher, a beloved member of the Irish music community. He started busking (performing music for money) on Grafton Street (the main shopping street in Dublin, like Chicago’s Michigan Avenue) and around Dublin when he was 15 years old and was adopted into the music scene, playing with a number of Irish musicians and bands including the Frames and later founding the Mary Janes. After a performance in Grongingen, the Netherlands, a decade ago, he fell down a flight of stairs, hit his head, and was comatose for 11 days before he died on November 29, 2001.
It was a huge loss for the Irish music scene, so ten years later, his friends and some of his music idols got together to play a charity tribute concert. Glen Hansard, Mic’s best friend and one-time flatmate (some of you may know him from the movie Once - he's also in this photo playing a song with Mic Scott), seemed to organize the event and it was incredibly moving to see the way so many people who had looked up to Mic, called him a friend, and also those who Mic had looked up to, gathered together to sing – including at various times his daughter and father on stage as well. To give you a taste, here's a video of Mic and Glen busking on Grafton Street singing Mic's hit song "Heyday."
Not being a huge music aficionado myself, here or in the States, I’m glad my Nashville music-loving friend Christen told me about the show. We got up to the 2nd row (so I could see!), had a very Irish night, and saw one heck of a great value show!
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