Showdown on the streets marks end of festival

Waterford may have been involved in nothing short of a pitched battle in Croke Park yesterday, but the streets of the Deise, earlier awash with blue and white, turned red last night.

Thousands of spectators turned out to watch a battle involving some 200 people along the quay in Waterford yesterday evening. And, as a series of explosions lit up the sky, dogs ran for cover and children on adults' shoulders stared in awe. Then thousands ran for cover in the saloons lining the quay and dotting the streets beyond.

However, this river of red was not due to revenge from Corkonions following Waterford's victory in the replay of the Cork-Waterford All-Ireland quarter-final at Croke Park. This battle was personal. It was a showdown between cowboys and Indians - the climax of the Spraoi 2007 Street Festival.

On Friday evening at the William Vincent Wallace Plaza, as bands such as the Lullabees and the Saviours of Space entertained the masses, French street-theatre company Cie Colbook wowed a line of young men - with camera phones at-the-ready - who lined up to meet the XXL girls. These queens of the "surreal and grotesque", who claim to have a "rocambolesque" style of comedy, proved to many that fat-bottomed girls do indeed "make the rocking world go 'round".

Meanwhile, Icarus unleashed three bronzed Australian gods - well, lifeguards with over-inflated pectoral muscles - on to the streets. They came to the rescue of many a damsel under duress on the quay; the girls neither wanting nor seemingly needing rescuing.

Later, jazz singer Kate McCarthy, a New Yorker and honorary Waterfordian, along with Around Midnight band members John Coker and Brian O'Sullivan, stirred up the emotions of some erstwhile cowboys and Indians as they relaxed after rehearsals in Jordan's Bar.

The three-day festival, now in its 15th year, had been marred by bad weather for most of Saturday, resulting in many events being moved indoors. However, the driving rain could do little to quell the spirits.

On Saturday evening, this correspondent, having enjoyed an hour or so of blues band Gentleman Tim and the Contenders at the Bowery, stumbled upon a marquee in Cathedral Square.

The Barrack Street Concert Band was between numbers and a couple of gents in jovial mood were captivating, with their words, two gardaí.

"How do you catch a unique rabbit?" one asked the garda in his best baby voice.

"You 'neek up on him," he replied before the garda could.

Turning to the other garda, he added: "How do you catch a tame rabbit?"

A quick pause: "The tame way."

And on it went; the good-natured banter characterised the atmosphere of the weekend.

The highlights of this year's festival included the Irish premiere of Stormbringer- a large-scale, theatrical event fusing fire and water with a tempestuous finale - at Lombard Street on both Friday and Saturday nights. Based on Shakespeare's The Tempest, it enticed young and old alike with its wonderful performances and minimal dialogue, extraordinary set, lighting and musical score.

Other highlights included an exciting set, in conjunction with Artbyte, from Murphy's Live 2007 competition winners Ilya K on the roof of Phil Grimes Pub, while the Pale played a close to flawless set in Geoff's Bar on Saturday afternoon.

The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain attracted about 1,000 people, who braved the elements at John Roberts Square on Saturday night to hear unusual versions of Should I Stay or Should I Goand Teenage Dirtbag.

Last night, the Yee-Haw!!! Spraoi Parade 2007 - a convoy of wagons, stagecoaches and full-scale western-style train - rolled into town at 10pm.

The parade, which featured a showdown between some 200 "good, bad and very, very ugly" cowboys and Indians, was put back from 9.30pm to allow traffic returning from Croke Park to clear the bridge into the city.

A fireworks display lit up the August night sky, ending Spraoi 2007, before a party began at the festival club in the Forum.

Gardaí said yesterday that there were only a few sporadic public-order incidents over the weekend, the majority of these arising from "young people drinking" on the street.

Spraoi director TV Honan said: "We feel that the people of Waterford have a strong sense of ownership of the festival. And there's no doubt that Spraoi has a strong family profile; it's a cliche but there really is something for everyone."