Galway Arts Festival gets underway
For those not tired out by the Galway Film Fleadh last week, a whole new shipment of entertainment had landed.
The Galway Arts Festival got underway yesterday with a performance by Alabama 3 (pictured), fresh from their appearance – en masse! – in the Hot Press Signing Tent at Oxegen.
The Galway festival, now in its 30th year, runs until July 27, with a number of great attractions in the coming weeks. From Blondie to Damien Dempsey, there are acts to suit all tastes!
In the first of two very exciting double bills Tom Baxter and KT Tunstell perform live at the festival Big Top on Wednesday July 23.
Baxter is no stranger to the Galway Arts Festival, and should be a big hit with the audience considering his album Skybound spent three weeks at number one earlier this year.
The following day, Thursday 24 Blondie take to the Big Top stage. Fronted by the iconic Debbie Harry and over 40 million record sales this festival appearance will coincide with the re-release of their breakthrough album Parallel Lines.
And the festival’s second double bill boasts The Dandy Warhols and Ash live at the festival Big Top on Friday July 25.
Other musical highlights include Cathy Davey, Lisa Hannigan, Omara Portunondo, The Blue Nile, Philip Glass Ensemble, The Whip and many more…
For those comedians among us David O’Doherty, a comedian who comes equiped with two keyboards and a low stool, is not to be missed on Wednesday 23.
Des Bishop’s Thursday 17 show at the Radisson has already sold out, but fans of Ed Byrne can still catch him on Sunday 27.
And to finish things off, the Bard of Salford, John Cooper Clarke, sees out the festival with a performance at The Rosin Dubh on Sunday 27.
Clarke stormed into popular cultural consciousness in the late 1970s with the albums Disguise in Love, Snap Crackle & Bop, and Zip Style Method, a volatile mixture of rock, punk and poetry.
He’s also chatted to Hot Press in our new issue (out this Thursday), talking about of his love of the Arctic Monkeys, hanging out with Mark E Smith and why an early Irish tour ended in a visit to a convent(!)