Athy bar host music awards night
Gosia winner of Best Female and Best Singer Songwriter presented by Brendan Kelly of The Duke
A TOTAL of 15 artists were honoured in the Duke Achievement in Music and Entertainment (DAME) Awards at the Duke Bar in Athy recently in an event that has been held for the last three years.
“We’re nine years in business here, and we have a customer appreciation night on the anniversary.
“We had 15 winners this year, and we started off with 10,” said bar owner Brendan Kelly.
“It was a great night, with each of the winners getting up and playing two or three songs.
“The lad who won Best Young Artist Fionn O’Rourke who pipped his best friend James Staunton got up and did a few numbers.
“They’re 18 and 19, only playing a few months, but looked like lads who’ve been doing this for 20 or 30 years,” he said.
Last weekend for the anniversary gig the Best Band from the DAME Awards 20/20 will be headlining, and the catering will be handled by Eddie Nolan’s local firm Delish.
“We like to do a bit of food for those attending, because it’s great night,” said Brendan.
“It has become a date in the calendar, and some of the acts will cancel other gigs to make it, as it’s become a highlight and lots of them look forward to it over the last couple of weeks.
Brendan himself was honoured with the Tommy Dalton Prestige Award, named after one of his locals who used to play every Monday night, but who passed away three years ago.
“Last year we set up the Tommy Dalton Award, and had his two daughters Amanda and Marie unveil a portrait of Tommy at the venue,” revealed Brendan.
“That really caught me with that one, to be honest.
“His brother Ray was the recipient last year, and I was on stage expecting to give it to one of the other musicians they announced me as winner.
“It’s only starting to sink in,” he added modestly.
Brendan thanked all the customers who took the time to vote and to all who attended.
“To our artists, thank you so much for sharing your talent with us week in week out,” he said. “This event gets bigger and better every single year, the talent on show was absolutely phenomenal and nothing short of breathtaking.
“The atmosphere was electric from start to finish and the DAME Awards can now be considered a highlight of the calendar year."
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