Sligo was heaving with live music, as a 30,000-strong crowd took to the streets over the October Bank Holiday for what was the biggest Sligo Live festival to date.
The weekend featured over 100 events, in the process giving a platform to more than 200 artists. Café Culture events, Trad sessions, a fabulous French market and lashings of family fun activities were all on the agenda alongside the headline gigs. The buzz throughout was brilliant.
Friday night saw the legendary Stranglers take to the stage at The Radisson Hotel. Highlights included ‘Peaches’, ‘Something Better Change’ and the ageless hit ‘Golden Brown’. Supporting the veteran new wavers were Ireland’s summer success story Heathers. Twin sisters Ellie and Louise Macnamara, burst onto our airwaves earlier this year when their single ‘Remember When’ was featured in the Discover Ireland ad campaign and went on to become a substantial hit. They charmed the room with choice picks from their debut album Here, Not There, amongst them the super-catchy ‘Fire Ants’, the aforementioned ‘Remember When’ and the somewhat more chilled ‘Waiter’.
Grammy winner Mary Chapin Carpenter had crowds swarming back to the same venue on Saturday night where she was joined by singer/songstress Tift Merritt. Stepping easily between uptempo country rock songs and slow, introverted ballads, she mesmerised the crowd, especially with her beautiful rendering of ‘Stones In The Road’.
Celebrating their 21st birthday local heroes Dervish were understandably the toast of the festival: they have done so much for music in the North West. With special guest Eddi Reader in tow, they turned in a barnstorming performance, including breathless readings of jigs like ‘Banks Of Lough Gowna’ and the epic ‘The Cocks Are Crowing’.
Among the other highlights of a fantastic weekend were Our Little Secrets, a Dublin outfit who have the tunes, chutzpah and brass to be an Irish Mumford & Sons. All told the festival was a great success – no wonder Sligo is fast becoming a worthy host to live music of all genres.