Trip to Weston
In April (actually, Easter weekend), I joined Jiggernaut on the road for a weekend at the famous O'Malley's 1842 Irish Pub, part of the Weston Brewing Company, in Weston, Missouri, just to the northwest of Kansas City.
The pub is "famous" because it is located inside a CAVE!!! On the outside, it just looks like a regular pub front, with windows, the name across the top and all that. But as you enter, you see a hallway/ramp that goes....DOWN. (If you want to see a Photo Tour of this - visit this page.) Then you turn a corner to go FURTHER DOWN, then you go down a few steps into what looks like a nice pub room, with tables and benches, low beam ceiling and a small bar area...but that's not it!! At the far end is yet another doorway, and that goes DOWN yet again, and puts you right onto a landing inside A FRICKIN' CAVE!! It's a long room, very tall ceilings, about 30 feet or so, with a stage (sort of inset into the walls) on the right side, and stairs up to a sort of balcony area on the left, with seating both upstairs and downstairs. On the far side, about 60 feet in, is the bar (and upstairs above the bar is a larger seating area.)
From the stage, the audience is quite close, and the rear of the stage is inset into what used to be the elevator shaft! From the drums, you can look up into (seemingly) oblivion, as it's just...dark.
This venue is a popular one: it serves as one of the stages for the Weston Irish Festival, and is a great, intimate stage for touring bands such as Jiggernaut. They have music Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights every week, and given its location and unique ambience, is a popular night spot for the more local patronage.
Jiggernaut will be heading back to Weston in October for the 2014 Weston Irish Festival, so if you were thinking about checking out the place, plan to come for the Festival!! Historically, the cave was discovered by Lewis & Clark, and was used for cold storage for decades. We are very glad it was converted into such a great music venue - one of my favorite places now, after having such a great introduction to it with Jiggernaut!!
#deannascotland #jiggernaut #gigs #weston #omalleys #caves #missouri