As this year’s St. Patrick’s Day festivities take place around New Jersey, we’re taking a look back at 2012, when Irish fiddler Frankie Gavin and his group De Dannan played at the Mayo Performing Arts Center in Morristown. The hall was originally built as a movie theatre in 1937, but was restored in the 1990s to serve as the beautiful arts center we know today.

De Dannan performed for a packed house, with a set that ranged from traditional Irish music to a rousing cover of “Here Comes the Sun.”

Fiddler Frankie Gavin and singer Michelle Lally perform in 2012

Fiddler Frankie Gavin and singer Michelle Lally perform in 2012

“The spirit of the music that we play, and the feeling and emotion that’s in it,” Frankie Gavin tells us, “either very sad or very happy or halfway, seems to connect with almost every culture across the world.”

We hope you enjoy this memory from the State of the Arts archive, and happy St. Patrick’s Day!