Las Vegas Citylife Article August 22, 2002

By Aaron Archer

Darby O'Gill & the Little People

When: Friday and Saturday nights

Where: Fado (inside Green Valley Ranch)

Admission: free

Info: 871-3298

Getting shitfaced affects people differently.

Some people, after pounding pounds of Pabst, beat up the nearest person, then cry into their mullet. Others prefer to guzzle a bottle (or two) of fine wine, put on some Streisand, get misty about the past and wonder how the hell they ended up as yuppies. As for myself, I prefer dark European beer, laughing my ass off, falling down repeatedly and acting like a general goofball. I have a lot of fun when I get drunk, which seems to me to be the whole point of drinking. Hence, I enjoy spending time in the company of one of the best goddamn bands in Las Vegas: Darby O'Gill & the Little People.

Playing every Friday and Saturday nights at Fado (inside Green Valley Ranch), this band takes the pub experience on a Hunter Thompson-esque twist while still remaining faithful to the Irish tradition of getting really fucked up and having a night that won't be remembered.

"The whole purpose of the band is to have a good time and to make some money," singer/guitarist Darby O'Gill says with a laugh. "When we first started, I went around to all the other Irish pubs and wondered what we could do to up the stakes. So we decided to put a creative spin on it."

Said spin means infusing modern songs with Irish style, with results that beg a double take from the punters. After all, can you envision Outkast's "The Whole World" recast as an Irish reel unless you heard the damn thing for yourself? "I didn't think it was going to work out, and now it's one of our big showstoppers," admits O'Gill.

The band is rounded out by the stellar talent of Nancy Whiskey on vocals and fiddle, Paddy O'Furniture on drums, Haggis McCray on bass and Ringo Malarkey on "anarchistic" accordion. "We get people who'll start off with a martini, but by the end of the night they're drunk on Guinness and swearing as bad as us," explains Whiskey with a smirk. "They were probably on their way to Whiskey Sky and never thought they would have liked us. And they would probably never admit it the next day at the gym."

The band has just as good a time as the always-packed pub. "Where else can you go to work and get piss drunk and not have to pay for it?" says drummer O'Furniture. "There are some nights, by the third set, I don't even know where the fucking kick drum is!"

As they fire through their repertoire of classics like "Finnegan's Wake" and modern jigs such as "Creep," "With or without You" and "Waterfall," you get the sense you're having more fun than anyone is at any other bar. The diverse patronage is surprisingly jolly, the band is on fire, and everyone just gets progressively more intoxicated. "People usually aren't interested at first, but when you consider that we use profanity and get drunk, then you can see what we're all about," Whiskey elaborates.

The audience is expected to participate in the alcoholic melee. The capper is the opportunity to swear at the top of your lungs during grand finale of "Bugger Off." An ode to last call and either tipping the band or pissing off, this song is the cherry on a sundae of Guinness. "You'll feel much better when you go home after screaming 'fuck you' at the band," says Whiskey.

Sure, you could go to some club, grind people all night trying to get a cosmopolitan, take some bad E and fall in line with the other sheep, or you could tell the band to piss off and have some real fun. Your liver won't thank you, but your co-workers will.