PARIS – You would not have known that it was mid-August last night at the Galway Pub off the Place St. Michel. Unlike a couple of other open mic venues in the Latin Quarter that usually run on Monday nights, this bold and brave institution decided that the client comes first: They did not close down the open mic for August holidays. The result was a very well populated bar and open mic, with some different sounds and faces.
It is a wonderful place to play also in terms of the open front window that makes it so that your audience is not just in the long pub ahead of you, but behind your back, in the street, and also comprises passersby who you can try to imagine attracting into the pub as you croon. (Or scaring them off, whatever the case may be.)
I had not been to the Galway for a longtime, for one reason or another, but never for anything to do with the Galway itself. So it was nice to be back and to hear the latest performers, some old ones returning, and especially the MC, All the Roads, and his velvety voice and inventive songs and guitar playing.
I think that the open mic was also all the better as it focused musicians to come to one spot, rather than spread out to three potential ones in the same area…. So August in Paris can be not so bad after all….
A Mid-August Night at the Galway, Keeping the Open Mic Awake Through Holiday Dry Out
August 13, 2013