Northern Exposure

An exciting new live music TV show featuring the best bands and solo artists from around Ireland hits the small screens later this month. Live At The Limelight, produced by UTV in Belfast, consists of four one-hour programmes showcasing 16 of the best unsigned bands on the island. The series was recorded at the Limelight – Belfast’s best-known live music venue, which has seen acts such as Oasis, James Blunt and Snow Patrol gracing the stage over the years. The new show is aimed at filling a much-needed gap in UTV’s local live music output, and the final line-up for the show was chosen from more than 200 bands who submitted demos to a competition which was staged by the station last year.

The series goes out on Wednesday nights at 10.35pm and the first show to be broadcast features an all-NI line up, including West Belfast outfit The Vals, country artist Jackson Cage (also from Belfast), Castledawson’s Joe Echo and Soundstone from Banbridge. Subsequent shows will include Dublin bands The Coronas and Dirty Epics, A Plastic Rose from Sligo and Jennifer Clarke from Cork.
In keeping with the all-Ireland flavour of the series, the shows will be hosted by a cross-border team including Mark Noble of Dublin’s FM104, Belfast model Katie Larmour and local actress Alana Kerr. According to Larmour, who also works for Cool FM in Belfast (and has been romantically linked with Jonathan Rhys Myers), the goal of the series is to showcase the variety of new young talent out there.
“Most of the bands are alternative types but we’ve tried to create as much of a mixture of styles and genres as possible,” she explains. “We have metal, hip-hop, singer-songwriters, indie, punk – virtually every kind of music imaginable. And the bands are all currently active, out there gigging away while all of the songs performed are original. It’s really all about the bands and not about us.”
The Limelight was chosen, she says, because of its long music history and its importance to the local scene. “It was the obvious place to do it – everyone in Belfast knows the Limelight and it’s such a big part of the music culture up here. We all went there at the weekend when we were younger and it’s still a hugely popular venue.”
Live At The Limelight is Katie’s first music presenting gig and one she says she thoroughly enjoyed doing. “We didn’t have any rehearsals. We just got stuck in and tried to be as natural as possible. But it was a bit daunting. I had to work not only in front of the cameras but there was an audience there as well. But I loved every minute of it and I definitely see it as something I’d like to do more of in the future. But it all depends on whether people think I have talent (laughs).”
The show will also feature behind the scenes interviews with each of the bands as well as the views and opinions of a top executive from London label Upper 11 Records. It’s already made a difference to some of the acts, Katie reveals. “Since the show was recorded late last year some of the bands have either scored deals or are in the process of getting signed.”
According to Katie if the series proves a success there’s every possibility it’ll be repeated. “It’s all down to UTV of course, but it seemed to go down well with the producers – hopefully the viewers will like it too.”

Katie Larmour presents Live At The Limelight, which airs Wednesday nights at 10.30pm on UTV, starting February 18.