HE once famously took a dip in the nip at Torc Waterfall with award-winning Killarney photographer Valerie O’Sullivan there to capture the moment for posterity – and for the front page of the newspapers.
And although Valerie and Hothouse Flowers frontman Liam Ó Maonlaí met up again at the weekend, he remained fully clothed on this visit to town when he performed in the INEC’s Acoustic Club on Saturday night.
He linked up with Fiachna Ó Braonáin and Peter O’Toole to deliver a memorable performance that had their legion of local fans reaching for the superlatives.
Combining rock with trad, soul and gospel music, the Hothouse Flowers have certainly stood the test of time and they are still delivering the goods over 21 years after they first took to the stage.
Ó Maonlaí and Ó Braonáin knew each other at school and later began busking on the streets of Dublin – calling themselves the Incredible Benzini Brothers – when they came to public attention. They were joined by O’Toole, rebranded as the Hothouse Flowers and went on to record the most successful debut album in Irish history.
As for that famous Torc Waterfall episode in the 1990s, Ó Maonlaí later recalled that he was in Killarney for a mindfulness festival and visited the local landmark for a photo-shoot with Valerie.
“She was a local girl, a real character who was really into her Kerry humour,” he later reflected in an interview with Hot Press magazine, adding that he told her that he was going for a swim and didn’t mind if she photographed him.
The end result ended up on the front page of The Kingdom newspaper, the national papers followed that lead and it’s safe to assume that copies of the said image still adorn the pages of scrapbooks in many parts of the country – purely for its artistic values of course.
Acoustic Club concert pictures: Valerie O’Sullivan. Click on individual images for details
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