Lighten up: Rock and rolling in West Cork

Irish Examiner

10-06-2025

I went to an outdoor rock concert over the weekend. The first I had attended since Wacko rocked SuperValu Páirc Uí Chaoimh back in 1988.
This one was held in Bandon town, with local band Déjà Vu belting out the hits. And boy golly they did. No rolling stone was left unturned. They were brilliant.
The rain stayed away, Déjà Vu gave it welly. A great night was had by all. And better again, this time the concert was free!
The good people who run the Bandon Music Festival, and fair play to them, understand completely that local farmers like me have no money to be splashing out on fancy concert tickets.
With the high prices now needed to pay for store bullocks, we have no money for anything that costs more than a pot of jam
The days when hard-working farmers would queue for long hours for tickets to see the likes of Kylie Minogue are in the past.
The only "spinning around" most of us do nowadays is on the tractor with a fertiliser spinner attached to our rear.
With our input costs gone through the roof, Bucks Fizz and their ilk are in "the land of make-believe" if they think farmers like me will flock to their shows. No. In today's farming world, it's a case of the best things in life are free.
Anyhow, as I mentioned earlier, it was free, and so as Déjà Vu belted out one rock anthem after another, I soaked it all in like molasses on silage.
I thought I was 16 again, shaking my head that now has no hair on it, and shaking a leg that now shakes even when there is no music playing.
The hours might be on the clock, but the old throttle can still be opened fully. And better again, while I rocked and rolled in Bandon town, back home on the farm, the rolling also continued.
For unbeknownst to many who might presume that Auld Lehane was taking the night off, the reality was far from it.
My feet may have been in LA, but my mind was definitely back in Tennessee
The farm at home, at that very moment, was being rolled like crazy by my daughter Aisling, who had happily chosen rolling fields over the Rolling Stones.
While I moved like Jagger (literally), she was rolling the fields to perfection in preparation for the upcoming silage season.
And while many might wonder as to the late date to be rolling and indeed preparing for silage, I only have one answer. In the words of Phil Lynott: "Don't believe a word."
Don't believe what the experts tell you. It's never too late to roll or cut silage.
I rarely cut silage before September. For like Rod Stewart himself, I believe "the first cut is the deepest" and I am usually in no hurry to get it out of the ground.
"Let it grow", to quote Eric Clapton, has always been my motto with regards to silage.
For now, rolling is the priority. For me personally speaking, any opportunity to put the feet up — or indeed to shake them in all directions — will be welcomed with open arms. The silage can wait.
Summer in West Cork is unbeatable and you simply "gotta roll with it".
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