Billy Connolly plays a session in Cobblestone

[Clarice007]

Neat little shot of the Kaliber there....

[eirbiz]

Steve Martin played there...if I'm not mistaken.

[countorlock100]

nice editing, Billy goes from old time frailing to using picks and back again without missing a beat haha 1 Top player

[heero7yui]

I just hero-worship this man.

[Howdymynameisname]

Awesome, I recognize that tune anywhere the ole John Hardy, my great great gramps shared name with the song . :P

[MacliamOg]

I was at the Cobblestone last week - great craic and a great pint of Guinness - an oasis of sanity in the midst of dereliction and redevelopment. Nollaig Mac Carthaigh on the uillean pipes and a real seisiún in Dublin 7 - great stuff.

[briainod]

@MacliamOg Nollaig Mac Carthaigh taught me in fifth and sixth classes!

[chachaandpowpow]

Oh mah, that gave me huge smiles! Thanks for posting!

[uilleannmarseille]

nice big pipes!! on his bike !! uilleann pipes??

enjoy life!!

[bingodreamband]

i like the sign in the booth that reads "reserved for the musician". god bless the good pubs.

[punke1]

You are a legend Billy !!!!

[sergeantfan]

Scotland and Ireland...the two greatest nations on earth!

[maddermofo]

Billy is an excellent banjo player

[jamieclark420]

This man pisses excellence

[GenericAnonymous]

Thanks for posting Mark

[LeFeff]

You play a wicked mean banjo. Kudos.

[guitarboi2k3]

look at all that Guinness!

[AndrewJimScott]

celtic

[LewisYoung]

is that Billy on the KAILBARS i wonder... lol!

[bollix13]

@LewisYoung "Ye kin drink as much as ye like!!"

[honzabaseman]

Very nice video.

[arisuta2]

Wish I could have been there! Love you Billy. More music in your stage act would be bloody great.

[relimes]

It appears there is no rap in Ireland, this is real music! Thank God.

[ResoDan]

@relimes Search for Des Bishop - léimigí thart and you'll see it's not quite the truth

[relimes]

1:17 you know how a fate mcgae, WTF does that mean?

[fodencios]

"You know how to frighten a guy..."

[pathazelwood8]

i think he said "you know how to frighten a guy"

[Shanx1975]

Personally, I love Billys erratic style. If I had a paycheque, I'd spend it at The Cobblestone, Smithfield, Dublin 7. By far The Best Pub in Dublin! If you can't get here, next best wud be The Royal Oak in Edinburgh, Scotland. The 2 best urban pubs for country music I've ever seen....Get into Good Pubs!

[gdsvalentine]

Just love his aggresive clawhammer style, I reckon he goes through tons of strings. Brilliant!

[MrCrisDay]

@relimes clearly you know nothing about music, huh?

banjo features heavily in many styles of music including the scottish and irish traditional music as WELL as american "hillbilly" music

[DJFozter]

Not five string banjos, genius

[relimes]

@MrCrisDay Thanks I have researched it over the last week and and you are right about the banjo being an integral part of traditional music around the world.

[joelthefrog1]

Nice Trike Billy

[helmuthoorn]

Yehaaw !

[DMEB]

cant beat the cobblestone!!

[pngaia]

Loved Billy in Canada..a man sorta, with a banjo.. Yo Billy, well done, waych ya claim,..ye never know..Kiwi in Aus,,

[ceridawn]

ah bless him, hes a nice man!!

[saanzacs]

Love the trike too!!!!!

[nichmars]

nice clawhammer style Billy, great voice, reminds me of Woody Guthrie. They'd skin most of us alive for playing Appalachian music in a Dublin session. Good on ya!

[soulcornflake1]

Really cool human interconnetion moment there. Billy in Ireland playing American Bluegrass, when Bluegrass was created from the music brought from the Celtic countries. Only music connects us in just that special way.

[BobHaulk]

i've just bought a banjo and i love it. When you get your banjo out everybody smiles and you can't fail to have a good time.

Billy connolly is the First King of Scotland

[TheScottsman13]

and when ya pull out a mandolin they just laugh and say yer disproportional lol....and when ya pull out tha pipes it just drowns every other instrament out

[themanbearpig]

@BobHaulk nah mate kenneth macalpine was/is

[eddybaby58]

@BobHaulk I don't know about everyone loving the banjo...I've had threats from people who want to bat my bagpipes into the bog using a banjo...something about one sound canceling out the other...

[orangejonny]

is it just me or is he playing scrugs style at the beginning, then claw hammer, then at the end playing scrugs with claw hammer dubbed over the top.

[nichmars]

Wow, that's true, weird.

[Jashagrid]

Bloody fantastic...... Good fun, good company and a great Bloke. On ya Billy....!

Regards Jas

[tolchock1984]

haha, I love the expression on the guys face at about 1:24

[BanjoBoog]

Mighty mighty nice :-)

[martcarey]

Great picking by BC but hate to be picky.The 5 string would not go down well in circles in the west where it is strictly 4 string tenor with a totally different tuning and picking with a plectrum.

[KarloR27]

You can play a five string with a plectrum to. It's not to bad sounds nice with a plectrum but it's not used for that style of playing but who cares there are no rules in music. I like playing it with a plectrum.

[AlexanderTheFace2]

not the best singer..but by gum the best banjo player ever!

[nichmars]

I don't think the idea is to sound like a pop or opera star. Listen to the Carter family or Woody Guthrie, Billy's voice is better than Dylan's. It's about the energy.

[munkee73]

anyone else notice that one second he is picking with three fingers, the all of a sudden he's frailing and it goes back and forth like that, hmmm nice editing

[archontic]

It's intentionally showy strumming. For that matter, it isn't Billy's style to bullshit like that. If anyone of any fame were ever honest and real, it's Billy.

[thebawzbrigade]

Naw, bud, the dude's right- this is deff' fancy editing. Billy wouldnae have been able to slip that thumb pick on-and-off like that without pissing everybody off. Anyway, he needn't have bothered either, he's easily proficient enough in both clawhammer and pincer style to carry the banjo part using either syle without any problems.

I agree that he's the realest feller in the biz tho'-I expect it wasn't his choice to edit like that... Anyway, I want more footage of Billy playing the 'Jo, Now! :)

[tonymasons]

Best thing is that the can still play so well even after 5 pints.

[Countrybanburybill]

Billy Connolly is tea total.....

[tonymasons]

I'm tee total as well...Saturdays to Thursdays. :p

[aliwhitwell]

Anyone out there got a recording of Billy playing "Oh No"? Cheers.

[fuckerfromfermanagh]

I drink in that pub nearly all the fuckin time and I missed billy playin there, where's the fuckin justice in that.

[liverkarl]

GOT him in Dundalk,you missed a great night,sorry.

[fuckerfromfermanagh]

you lucky bastard lol, not that he's a spectacular player but his soul is in it 100% and to hear him playing live must have been fantastic

[pyromanic78]

good post. cheers mark!

[madfortrad5958]

very interesting didnt know he played the banjo

[yongCE08]

yeah.. talented and very cool guy...

[BoBman909]

he's not touring in ireland anymore anybody know why?

[Midxcore]

Same reason everyone quits touring in Ireland. Kidding.

[TamHickey67]

What a night that must have been for the locals!