Then, as the ten players and four singers launched into the chorus of that shanty favourite, Yaller Girls, my mate muttered that it was about time they'd got stuck into the maritime stuff.

Those who packed the Philharmonic Hall for this truly trail-blazing gig will preen for years to come that they were at the first of the "Sessions", which will surely become a regular feature of the Liverpool Irish Festival, and maybe elsewhere.

The collaboration was the vision of the Phil's Simon Glinn, the mainstay of Liverpool's celebration of the city's Irish heritage, now in its eighth year. In truth, it is not a new concept with Glasgow's Celtic Connections featuring such line-ups; and the ceilidh mood could have been lifted from raucous nights in Dublin's Brazen Head pub or Liverpool's once equally anarchic Atlantic on the Dock Road.

But it was still a stonker of an idea. It was, I mused, rather opportune that the Liverpool Confidential editor had come upon this gig at the last minute, as the publicity for the festival itself was like a leprechaun - fanciful and mostly hidden.

In a concert hall setting - perhaps a risky option for such a riotous assembly - we had the emotional delivery of balladeers like Liverpool's Lizzie Nunnery - an award-winning playwright who can also pen songs of raw energy such as England Loves A Poor Boy With A Gun – and Ian Prowse, front man for Amsterdam, whose Does This Train Stop on Merseyside? kicked off this grand tribute to Liverpool Irish bonds.

The link between the singers and solo instrumentalists, who individually can set the seat of your pants on fire, was the bassist Bernard O'Neill whose musical pedigree includes a role as musical director for Rolf Harris.

Singer Damien Dempsey's compositions are incandescent with social polemic as befits a man from Dublin's Northside, while Alan Burke has a repertoire of Gaelic and contemporary songs that almost ranks alongside those of Niamh Parsons, rightly hailed as one of the inspirational singers of Irish music.

Later - and while clutches of bewitched punters were still howling for more inside - we spied her bowling along to an after show party at the Hope Street Hotel and exchanged a few pleasantries in the street, ending in a sycophantic senior moment with me revealing that I had several of her records. With a cheery wave and a hearty chuckle, she said that she didn't mind; I could keep them, she had plenty.

The show was a melange of similar banter, rattling roaring jigs and reels and songs such as Bootle born Stan Kelly's I Wish I Was Back in Liverpool - which, years back, used to lift the ceilings in the back room of Ye Cracke - along with the tongue tripping Rocky Road to Dublin.

There were quieter moments that embraced sheer pleasure as Northern Ireland flautist Eimear McGeown hushed the furies and then lifted our spirits once again by dueting with Liverpool's very own 'pied piper', Terry Coyne, who, as a former member of Garva and along with his family, is the essence of the city's Irish traditional music scene.

And even the bodhran playing of Gino Lupari had a soothing effect, although he can shift up four or five gears like the rest of them when required.

They were complemented by four other musicians in whose wake comets might trail: the astonishing Uilleann piper Becky Taylor - one of a handful of women exponents of the Irish pipes that historically lulled sheep to slumber - fired the blood to fever pitch as she joined with pianist and button accordion genius David Munnelly, forging a remarkable alliance with the fiery accordion of Kerry's Collette O'Leary, while Carlene Anglim's fiddle danced fine skittering tunes with them all.

Frankly, the pace and power was exhausting for the audience, never mind the performers and the penultimate number was a relentless instrumental that drove the audience to its feet on a journey that picked up a speed and frenzy that was literally breathtaking.

It was just as well - for those with weak tickers - that the evening calmed down and ended with the traditional sailors' lament, The Leaving of Liverpool, although some folk were again awash with tears. It was actually a session and a half. Fair play to ye all.

15/10 (honest).

* The Liverpool Irish Festival continues until Sunday October 31st.