What in the Jaysus is Stendhal Syndrome? We’ve been here before. As syndromes go it’s pretty good, actually. It’s getting better, too.
Now The Coronas are exposed to it, as is/are Get Cape, Wear Cape, Fly and Andy Irvine. Add Hybrasil, Gavin Glass, Thomas Kitt and Armoured Bear to the cocktail and things begin to sound… psychosomatic.
And then there the other patients to worry about: Kent Duchaine, Delorentos, Fiona Pears, Charlie Winston, Yakuza, The Spook Of The Thirteenth Lock, And So I Watch You From Afar, Furlo, Hovercraft, Pirates Mantic, Can’t Cite Scripture, Skruff, Citizen Snips, Paddy Nash, Tom McShane, Jungle VIP’s, Escape Act, Tommy Shots, Tin Pot Operation, Two Door Cinema Club, Cara Robinson and Eskimos Fall.
Tickets are now onsale in Belfast (Matchetts Music, Wellington Place), Derry (Cool Discs, 6/7 Lesley House, Foyle Street) and Limavady (Limavady Rugby Club). Online tickets are promised this week.
All this takes place in Limavady, Co. Derry, August 15-17.
Well the weekend is upon us once again so what is a guy/girl to do? Apart from the Analog festival featured in yesterday’s post, there’s a trio of other great events you may want to pencil into your diary.
New Ross, Co.Wexford is offering a wealth of musical talent (much of it free, might I add) this weekend. The JFK Dunbrody festival gets underway tonight with a free open-air gig in the Town Park.
Tonight’s line-up includes The Fureys and Dave Arthur Breeze Junkie; lets just hope the rain keeps away! If you’re not tired after Friday night, the concert on Saturday features Sharon Shannon’s Big Band and Mundy (pictured above) as well as Saving J – no doubt a lively night is in store!
Dickie Rock, Dominic Kirwan and Alvin Kenny provide the entertainment with the last of the free concerts on Sunday night. What better way to round up the festival, than with a few golden oldies!
For those who would prefer the sheltered surroundings of St. Michaels Theatre, the talent of Luan Parle, Eleanor McEvoy, and Carmel Conway are all there to delight for €15. Click here for full festival details.
The one to watch this Friday 18 is the Analog festival, happening on Grand Canal Square in Dublin’s Docklands.
Fans of Hal Willner – or pirates for that matter – need to get themselves down to the Rogue’s Gallery Friday at 8.30pm to catch the premier performance of his sea chantey project, a collection of sea ballads and pirate songs.
Artists involved in the show include: Lou Reed (pictured), Oscar-winning actor Tim Robbins, Shane MacGowan of the Pogues, Three Punched Men aka Gavin Friday, Guggi and Dave Id Busaras, Neil Hannon of Divine Comedy fame, Waterson: Carthy, Teddy Thomson, Davis Thomas, Julie Fowlis, Baby Gramps, Ed Harcourt and Sandy Dillon. Read the rest of this entry »
Attention all Northsiders, musical entertainment is coming your way!
If you’re sick of heading into town to avail of the summer’s entertainment, the Northside Music Festival is the one for you.
Taking place from July 29 to August 28, the outdoor and indoor event takes place across various locations on Dublin’s Northside. From shopping centres to churches, you can find this festival everywhere!
Music fans can expect a mix of international and Irish talent, including Opera Gala, Havana Son (pictured), Gráda, Veda, Paprika Balkanicus, O’Mambo, Kevin Glackin and friends, Yurodny, Brendan Walsh and friends, Prey, No Crows, Robbie Harris and Emer Mayock.
The festival runs as part of Dublin’s extended arts service to city communities and aimed to entertain all the family. Check out the full program here.
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… Read the rest of this entry »
As Electric Picnic and Castle Palooza continue to flourish it seems the era of boutique festivals is officially upon us.
It seems we want our festivals smaller, cleaner and greener and getting in on this trend is Northern Ireland’s newest boutique festival, Stendhal.
Oddly this festival is named after a syndrome. Stendhal Syndrome is “a psychosomatic illness that causes rapid heartbeat, dizziness, confusion and even hallucinations when an individual is exposed to art, usually when the art is particularly ‘beautiful’ or a large amount of art is in a single place,” according to organisers, this is what you might be in for if you attend.
So if music that makes you dizzy is what you’re into, Stendhal takes place on August 15 to 17 at Ballymully Cottage Farm in Limavady, Co Derry.
The line up so far looks a little like this; Kent Duchaine, Delorentos, Fiona Pears, Charlie Winston, Yakuza, The Spook Of The Thirteenth Lock, And So I Watch You From Afar, Furlo, Hovercraft, Pirates Mantic, Can’t Cite Scripture, Skruff, Citizen Snips, Paddy Nash, Tom McShane, Jungle VIP’s, Escape Act, Tommy Shots, Tin Pot Operation, Two Door Cinema Club, Cara Robinson and Eskimos Fall.
And with the license just confirmed that list is only set to grow, so watch this space for all the details.
Three days of mud-splattered music appreciation; too much moshing and not enough washing; surviving festival season can be a struggle for even the most youthful and virile of us. So how did two doting grandmothers manage it?
Tonight RTÉ introduces us to the two Eileens, a pair of fun-loving pensioners with 34 grandchildren between them who braved the elements at last year’s Electric Picnic.
As part of the six-part series One Thing to do Before You Die, Liberty Films followed Kerry natives Eileen Murphy and Eileen McGillycuddy as they got down and dirty with Ireland’s youth.
From marriage proposals to a burlesque ball to the silent disco, tune into RTÉ 1 tonight at 7pm to see the Electric Eileens party like it’s 1969.
It may be still a month away but what better way to get ready for the festival season than by reliving the highlights from last year’s Electric Picnic?
As part of the electricpicnic.tv online television series, a short film by the Western Plumbers collective – has just gone online.
Western Plumbers are Gary Bermingham, Tim Hood, Andrew Keogh, Ger Staunton and Andrew Travers, a bunch of enthusiastic documentary makers with a comedic edge.
The World Map Drawing Contest is based around an interactive drawing game whereby contestants have to replicate the map of the world, using their heads and a small globe… It may sound crazy, but it certainly brings back good festival memories! Watch it here.
Last year Electricpicnic.tv harnessed lots of talented young producers, writers and directors from Ireland and Europe to produce a series of short films, comedy sketches, live performances and interviews based around the Laois festival.
Alongside Smile, a short film set at the picnic, a profile of electricpicnic.tv’s painter-in-residence Guillermo Carrion and a quirky ‘electric postcards’ section, there are some amazing performances from Fionn Regan, Paul Hartnol, Yoav, Scott Matthews and Stephen Fretwell.
Filmed over 3 days at the festival in Stradbally last year, Electricpicnic.tv was conceived, directed and produced by Grasp’s Jimmy Costello and Donal Scannell from Scanarama.
“Music has suffered at the hands of mainstream television,” Scannell says, “forced into sound-bites during daytime or late night obscurity, the type of music television made before now was dictated by what broadcasters wanted rather than what music fans wanted.”
He adds: “Electricpicnic.tv is a suite of made-for-digital content that’s available on demand for the viewer to decide what and when they consume.”
Phantom 105.2will be catching the worms at Oxegen this weekend as they are the first to broadcast on site at Punchestown.
The early birds will kick off their Oxegen coverage at 12 noon on Thursday and keep rolling out the tunes, interviews, acoustic sessions and updates all weekend.
“Our hardened festival team are ready to roll! We will be bringing the buzz of the festival to those who aren’t lucky enough to go,” says Peter Vamos, Phantom’s Programme Director, “For those going to the festival, we play more Oxegen bands than anyone else, Phantom is the station to tune to when you are on the road to Oxegen.”
So there you have it, Phantom FM are on hand to help you soak up some festival atmosphere, whether you’re going to Oxegen or not.
There are 101 films showing in Galway over the next six days – trust us, we’ve counted! – as the 20th annual Galway Film Fleadh kicks off today.
The festival starts tonight with the Canadian/Greek drama Fugitive Pieces, showing in the Town Hall Theatre at 7.30pm. After that, there’s another 100 films on the menu from July 8-13 (see the full list here), along with masterclasses, industry events, directors Q&As and even a film fair.
And for the musically minded among you, here’s our pick of the festival’s top rock ‘n’ roll (and metal and trad…) movies:
Anvil! The Story of Anvil, Wednesday July 9. A rockumentary following would-be metal heroes Anvil (below), as they make one last effort to fight obscurity.
Dambé - The Mali Project, Saturday, July 12. Derbhla Glynn’s fascinating documentary follows musicians Liam O’Maonlaí (Hothouse Flowers) and Paddy Keenan (The Bothy Band) as they travel West Africa, to discover the music of the region.
Elvis: That’s The Way It Is, Wednesday, July 9. Elvis fans get a chance to see the King in action on the big screen with this classic ’70s Vegas show.
Heima, Sunday, July 13. The Sigur Ros concert film released last year, which captures the group’s epic live shows in their homeland of Iceland.
Kíla ‘Once Upon A Time’, Friday, July 11. The Kíla concert film makes its World Premiere at the Galway Film Fleadh, capturing the true essence of Ireland’s most passionate trad band.
Rattle And Hum, Saturday, July 10. U2’s 1987 tour of North America is caught on film for this brilliant tour docu, which also shows the band at work in the studio.
Stop Making Sense, Thursday, July 10. This 1984 feature-length documentary is a must-see not just for fans of Talking Heads, but for anyone who appreciates music and film. A truly great movie.
The Last Waltz, Wednesday, July 9. Generally acknowledged as one of the best concert films of all time, this 1978 piece gives a film account of The Band’s final live performance, with musical guests on the night including Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and Van Morrison.
