The Coors Light Open House Festival recently unveiled the full line-up for this year’s event at a special gig at the John Hewitt bar in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter. BBC Radio Ulster marked the occasion with a live broadcast that included performances by English ‘new folk’ band Noah and the Whale, who have enjoyed UK chart success with their single ‘5 Years Time’, Lurgan-based Americana seven-piece Captain Kennedy, and Irish traditional band Cuan.
Highlights of this year’s festival, which takes place from Wednesday September 23 to Sunday September 27, include double Grammy award-winner Steve Earle, award-winning English singer-songwriter Beth Orton, Bangor singer-songwriter Foy Vance and grizzled Canadian four-piece Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir. Of course, it almost isn’t fair to pick out individual acts in a festival which has always packed as big a punch with its unknowns as its headliners.
It isn’t so long ago that the festival was introducing Seasick Steve, then almost unheard of, to audiences on this side of the big pond. The festival has probably the most adventurous booking policy of any I’ve ever come across and routinely draws attention to newcomers who later go on to great things.
This year, the five-day event will see more than 50 acts, including established international artists and local performers take to the stage at various venues in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter. Music genres featured in this year’s line-up include Americana, new-folk, Irish traditional, bluegrass, cajun and punk-blues.
For the duration of the event, Custom House Square will be transformed with marquees, stalls and stages. As well as gigs, workshops and free music sessions, another highlight of the event is the infamous ChilliFest – a ‘heated’ mini-festival of fiery food – including the notorious chilli eating competition, soundtracked by authentic American music and washed down with ice cold beer.
Festival director (and the man whose record collection I covet most on this planet) Kieran Gilmore summarises thus: “The Coors Light Open House Festival is now 11 years old but this is the freshest and most cutting edge line-up to date. We now have two large festival marquees in Custom House Square plus concert venues throughout the Cathedral Quarter. This is an urban roots music festival for people who prefer good hotels, pubs and cafes to muddy fields and wellies.”
Also now indoors after its initial couple of years as an outdoor festival, Sligo Live has almost finalised its line-up. The latest addition to the line up is Josh Ritter, who will play a very special intimate show on Sunday October 25 in Calry Church at 8.30pm. This show is being presented by Sligo Live in association with The Model New Spaces for Music programme. Tickets are limited to four per person.
Inspired by recent performances with the legendary John Prine, this show will see Josh play with a brand new string band featuring upright bass, mandolin and acoustic guitar. Josh will also be reinterpreting some of his older material from his acoustic reissue series (Golden Age Of Radio, Hello Starling & The Animal Years), as well as previewing new material from his forthcoming sixth studio album due early next year.
Also appearing at Sligo Live will be Martha Wainwright, Imelda May, Frankie Gavin and Jinx Lennon with Miss Paula Flynn. The previously announced gig with the Sharon Shannon Big Band will not now be happening as Shane MacGowan has other commitments.
After a busy summer sunning themselves... sorry, I meant working flat out playing festivals in Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Finland, Denmark, the UK and Belgium, our best travelled band, Kíla, make a welcome return to Dublin on August 16 to perform one night only in The Button Factory.
Although they’ll be playing the Puck Fair in Killorglin, this year has seen them take it pretty easy in Ireland and this will be their only Dublin gig of the year. They’re due to release a Best Of collection at the end of the summer, provisionally entitled Rogha – we are informed the actual release date is written on a single strip of rice paper locked in a vault in Kila Towers.
Many’s the Irish musician who has played in a barn. Normally, of course, they aren’t all that keen to go back. Tommy Peoples, however, is delighted to be returning to Littlebourne Barn, a 16th century National Trust listed building in Kent, where he played at the Fiddlers Various event in 2007. He’ll be playing the same festival on September 13 after giving a workshop during the afternoon. He also plays in the London Irish Centre on September 11 and at the Lewes Saturday Folk Club on the Saturday when once again he’ll be leading a workshop on the afternoon.