Results evening was magic, says veteran Ger

GER BUSHER has been performing at the Guinness Singing & Swinging pubs for 50 years and he says there is no better festival in the country for giving the hopeful singer a platform upon which to shine.

Ger (64) first performed when he was 12 in the early days of the competition, which started 65 years ago. ‘ The first time I performed was in Broader’s pub with my father Paddy and my late brother Paddy. I played drums and he played accordian. I had played in the school band and I remember it was an absolutely fantastic night at Broaders and the place was humming. The crowd were fantastic and Broaders were on a winning streak at the time and were considered favourites for a few years.’

Ger recalled how excitement during the competition was at fever pitch in the 1960s when other kinds of entertainment were hard to find in Wexford.

‘ The excitement with the fireworks was the main attraction, along with all of the music in the pubs.’

Ger returned to performing in his midteens. ‘I played in so many different pubs with my sisters, the late Celine and Nuala and Josephine.

‘I sang for Browne’s in Bishopswater and played guitar. Around 25 years ago they started doing it in the Shambles on Common Quay Street. We played there on a regular basis and I sang in the Tower bar from 1982 until 1997 when Tony O’Neill sold the place. We won the overall Swinging Pubs prize five years on the trot.

‘My late brother Paddy played bass, I played guitar, John Kenny from Arklow played guitar, as did JJ Murphy - and Des Whelan, Mary Roche, Dave Lynch and Mick McKeown sang. JJ left the team after a couple of years, as did Des and John went back to Arklow. It was magic in The Shambles. We were enjoying fantastic popularity and there was an expectation; the highest expectation every year.’

The Shambles pub had great rivals in the performers from The Goal bar on Main Street and Dixies on the quay.

‘ The Phoenix, Jack Baileys and the Gaelic Bar all had fantastic shows as well. We had an opening choir, a middle choir and a closing choir so we came in on a high and went out on a high.

‘We had three individuals in the first section and three in the second. We would do The Beatles, Elvis, Neil Diamond and country music.’

Ger said the crowd in The Shambles was the seventh member of the team. ‘People were literally hanging from the rafters. It was an old malt stores. The window were very small, but they were double decker so we had people sitting on the top window and they’d have large bottles handed up to them. It was health and safety gone awry.’

He recalled the magic of results night at Macken’s. ‘ The results were posted at midnight just as the final shows finished. The opera went on for two more nights until Sunday, but all we were interested in was the results.

‘We would go to The Bullring and the craic was magic. It was electric, especially when you noticed one of your own had won an individual prize. They wouldn’t just be from The Shambles. If you won for the overall best swinger’s show you wouldn’t be considered for an individual prize for say best male or best female.

‘We only ever chased the top award. We did eventually win the best male and best female. Mary Roche won best female and I won best male two years in quick succession.’

Ger said the competition was a highlight of the autumn and early winter in the town. ‘It got people back into the pubs. People chased the individual awards year after year from the best MC to the best male. Each year they would return with a renewed hunger to win as it was a great feather in the cap. The Singing Pubs would be the talk of the town leading up to it and during it and for weeks after.

‘For me and Paddy who were in the music business it was great, but moreso for regular guys and gals as it was a platform to show their talent and go on to compete for best male or best female.

‘Now there are more categories which is great. People who won the big individual awards would be brought back for the Diageo launch night.’

Ger will not be performing this year but plans to return in the future to a competition which is very close to his heart. ‘I can’t get away from it at this stage,’ he said.

Having lost his brother Paddy in 1993, it took Ger many years to get over the tragic death. ‘It took a long tim after Paddy died. There wasn’t a day when he didn’t crash into my mind. It’s a bit dimmer than it was years ago when I thought about him every waking moment. We were called twins growing up and I have fantastic memories of playing with him.’

Ger said the festival is a uniquely special festvial which Wexford can proudly call its own.

‘For a lot of people the Singing & Swinging Pubs is the poor man’s opera festival. It gives people nights out. Opera is fantastic and our opera festival is regarded as one of the top ten in the world. You see how many foreign visitors it attracts and the benefits from a financial point of view.

‘ The festival has everything for everyone, from the arts to antiques, opera and music. For me the Singing Pubs got people off their bums for a fantastic night out and today you have young people entering the competition. Over the last decade the quality, especially in the 18- to 25-yearolds, is absolutely amazing.’

(By David Looby)