Our Docs will rock the docks

IT might not be the first time some of The Saw Doctors have appeared late at night around Galway docks, but this time there will be a crowd of thousands surrounding them. The lads will play their first Galway show in two years on one of the biggest days of the Volvo Ocean Race festival in Galway, Tuesday, July 3, when the six boats will be welcomed to Galway after their six grueling months of racing. There's no better band in the world to give a warm West of Ireland welcome than the boys from Tuam and, even better, the open-air concert is free to the public. It's been a busy few weeks for The Saw Doctors, who just finished pre-recording performances and interviews with Gay Byrne for his TV show For One Night Only. The one-hour special on The Saw Doctors features plenty of chat between the veteran musicians and broadcaster as well as some of the band's most memorable and loved songs over the past two decades. Davy and Leo tells Gay about life growing up in Tuam, how the band came to be and the history behind the songs such as the touching I Hope We Meet Again. The show will be shown on RTÉ 1 in August, with the exact Friday night to be confirmed. TV viewers will also get a further fix of the music of the Docs, which has been selected for the much talked-about new comedy series by Hollywood's and Roscommon's Chris O'Dowd. The series Moone Boy has been filmed over recent months in Boyle and will premiere on Sky One in September. A lot of the music comes from the 1980s and N17 by The Saw Doctors has been confirmed as one of the songs that will feature on the series. The band had one of their most successful and longest tours of America this year, which finished up in Los Angeles after six weeks on the road. The lads are really looking forward to playing the free concert in Galway and taking part in the celebrations around the Volvo Ocean Race finale next week. After that, the band gets ready for a lot of concerts around Ireland this summer. They will also headline the Cropredy Festival in England and play two special London shows during the Olympics at the Irish Village, which promoter Vince Power is staging at the Chelsea football grounds at Stamford Bridge. Don't miss out on one of the West's biggest outdoor sing-alongs of the summer and get to the Galway docks on Tuesday, July 3 when the lads will be on stage at 8.30 pm.