One of the activities people want to do most when in Ireland is go to a pub and listen to some live Irish music. Kenmare has several pubs, and we were fortunate to be there on a Thursday night, when three of the pubs were offering live music.
We began at the Wander Inn listening to Torc, a male and female duo who played classic Irish music (and some American music like the Tennessee Waltz – which he called the Texas waltz). They played the guitar, fiddle and accordion. The crowd was mostly 20-40 years old. The place was pretty crowded and we asked to share another couple’s table. There was one inebriated fellow at the bar who clapped and air guitared along to the music.
We next went to Ryan’s Bar. We listed to one song by a male duo and watched a young girl do a little Irish dancing. The song was more contemporary Irish (despite the guitar/accordion combo) and went on forever and the singer screeched. It was awful. We left before the end of the song. For real “Irish dancing”, see the following video, which we took at a pub in Clifden.
We ended at Foley’s Guest House, whose bar was packed with an older crowd (many senior citizens, some younger). The lone male singer with guitar, Dan O’Sullivan, was quite good and the crowd sang along with him. He crooned “Danny Boy”, “Veronica”, and “Fields of Athenry”, among others. People would make requests by writing them on a post-it 
note, attaching it to money, and placing them by his feet on the podium. We managed to snag the lone chair at the bar next to a Welsh couple and stayed until his set was over.
Wander Woman 