June brought the first tour of the summer, with five concerts in the north of Italy. Once again, given the opportunity to play with new musicians, Abe Doran & Cathal Dolan were invited to join the boys along with regulars, Patrick Martin on pipes & Paul (when was this?)  McCann on bass. Apart from increasing the average height of the band (Cathal is over 7′ tall) these musicians added some great textures to the music. Now on our fourth year travelling to Italy, it has become an annual opportunity to meet up with old friends and fans.

The unpredictable weather meant some of the outdoor gigs were moved indoors, in one case, to a giant sports hall fulfilling one our life long ambitions to play a stadium gig!!!  On our last night the gig was cancelled due to rain, despite this we managed to fulfill our second life long ambition, to play Irish music in a English pub namely the ‘Cockney London Pub’!!!!

As per usual the trip was full of self inflicted mishaps. Backing up the notion from Paul McCann that the willingfools are not a band but a ‘Drama Group’. The misadventures included Conor losing his passport, Cathal losing his passport, Abe Doran having his flight delayed and diverted to another airport, Cathal landing in an airport eight hours away, the entire group missing their planes home and to top it all, Barry treating mister Hertzs petrol car to some Diesel when heard that petrol prices had increased!!!!

Despite all this, we honestly found this tour a great adventure, thanks to the great atmosphere within the band.