Pipers at the Amphitheater

Pipers at the Amphitheater

The Annual Dubuque Irish Hooley is marked on our calendar for August 23rd and the Red Hot Chilli Pipers are making a return appearance.  They were a real hoot last year. I was quite anxious to get to the Dubuque Star Brewery Alliant Amphitheater early as I misunderstood the advertisement to say the Red Hot Chilli Peppers were performing. How that got into my head, I don’t know as I’ve never heard that the Peppers played any Celtic tunes.

Gaelic Storm of Titanic fame also made an appearance at the 2013 Irish Hooley. They have appeared numerous times at various venues throughout the Dubuque area and always deliver a fabulous performance that really gets the audience moving.

The evening was perfect for an open-air concert on the banks of the Mississippi River. The crowd was large and enthusiastic for the bang-up performances which lasted even longer than scheduled. We thought things were winding down and left just a bit too early. Too bad. We missed an ‘audience participation’ event which included good friend Mike, wearing his green bowler and outsized sequined bow tie.

If you are lucky enough to find yourself at this year’s Hooley, don’t hesitate to enjoy the sweet potato fries. It had been ages since I’d had fries but they were delicious, not at all greasy and worth the calories.

Sweet Potato Fries

Sweet Potato Fries

We enjoyed a moonlit stroll on the River Walk above the amphitheater and felt like we had been on a mini vacation.