Ready, Fret, Go

Drogheda will be a mecca for guitar fans from Wednesday April 7 until Sunday April 11. That’s when the Louth town hosts what promises to be five days of music heaven with its first Irish National Guitar Festival. The event will include concerts, instrument and equipment clinics, masterclasses and performances from some of the world’s most revered guitarist technicians. In addition, 2FM and Rick O’Shea will be broadcasting live from the festival via their Roadcaster from noon on the Friday until 3pm.

The impressive list of performers includes such key local and international figures as Preston Reed, John Cruz, Freddie White, Andy Irvine, Ed Gerhard, Eduardo Niebla, Maria Butterly, Gareth Pearson, Jimmy Smyth, Steve Fairclough, and Pat Mc Manus. As an added bonus, Paul Brady, who is currently on a roll with his chartbusting new album Hooba Dooba, will set the festival on its way on the Wednesday evening with his show at Drogheda’s new state of the art concert hall, The TLT, the main event centre throughout the festival.
The festival’s wide-ranging programme also features exhibitions and demonstrations from leading industry brands, including Aria, Fender, Marshall, Martin, Taylor, Takamine, Godin, Breedlove, Boss, Yamaha, Peavey and others.
And it all represents good value for money too. A complete pass is available at €50 and covers all athe concerts from Thursday to Sunday and allows total daytime access to the exhibitions and other events for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Day passes are a mere €8 for adults and €5 for under 16’s and students. The concerts are priced at a recession-friendly €20.
The Irish National Guitar Festival is a natural outgrowth from the guitar fair which Sound Shop have run for more than a decade. Conor Mulhall, who is the Director of the Festival, explained its genesis to Hot Press.
“With the introduction last year of the new TLT Theatre in Drogheda we realised we had the facilities to run an event like this that could involve the whole town and have both a national and international dimension to it. We’ve had very encouraging support for the festival both locally and nationally, including companies like the Sound Shop in Drogheda, the TLT Theatre, Breedlove guitars, 2FM, The Irish Daily Star and Hot Press.”
He adds: “We’re expecting music fans to come from all over Ireland. We also know of several big groups who are coming over from the UK. We’ve been mental busy putting the whole programme together, and there’s still work to be done, but our hope is to attract about 5,000 people to Drogheda. It looks like we’ll achieve that target, and that’ll definitely make all the late nights and early mornings pay off!”
Mulhall also pointed out other sources from which the festival has received generous support.
“Failte Ireland have been terrific in helping us to secure fantastic accommodation rates with local hotels for the duration of the festival. Most of them are offering really attractive package deals that include accommodation, meals and festival passes. For example, you can get two nights B&B plus one evening meal and a complete festival pass for only €135 per person sharing. There will of course be loads of free stuff like guitar strings and accessories and so on being given away. There will be plenty of competitions run by different companies over the five days, and people will have the chance to talk live on air on the 2FM Roadcaster about their experience at the festival.”
Nor is he surprised that a guitar festival should attract so much interest in Ireland these days.
“The guitar has been the dominant instrument in popular music for as long as I can remember. Even when the electric guitar came under threat from synths, acoustic guitars continued to be popular, and over the past five years the electric guitar has come back into prominence again in rock music.”
Besides the Paul Brady concert, another attraction will be a show on the Saturday night which is planned as a kind of “all-stars” affair hosted by Jimmy Smyth and his band Kirkland. Joining them onstage by Ed Gerhard, Mike Crum, Damon Chivers, Sofia Johnson, John Cruz and other stars of the Irish Guitar Festival for what promises to be a night of rock and roll madness.
Smyth is one of Ireland’s most respected guitar players, and apart from leading the aforementioned all-star show he’s also scheduled to present a masterclass and co-host a brace of clinics with fellow guitarist Conor Brady. Not surprisingly, he’s looking forward to what he reckons should be a thoroughly enjoyable festival.
“It’s great to have something like the Irish National Guitar Festival taking place somewhere outside Dublin. I grew up in Navan and I bought my very first guitar from Tommy Leddy in the Sound Shop, so my connection with the music scene in Drogheda goes back many years. The Saturday night concert will be centred around an ad-hoc band we have that includes Donal Kirk, Jane Duffy and Paul Byrne. We will be the effective house band for the Saturday night show. It’ll be an organized jam, really.”
In fact, Smyth’s going to have a busy Saturday even before the evening concert, kicking off at 11.15 with his masterclass which is expected to attract experienced guitar players. “I met a guy at a gig I did in Clondalkin last week who told me he’d signed up for the masterclass even though he’s quite an experienced blues player himself. But he felt his playing had lost a bit of its spark in recent times and I’m hoping I can help him regain that,” Smyth says.
At 3.45pm Smyth will join Brady for a Martin guitar clinic. “Myself and Conor go back a long way, and we’ve played together several times. I’m particularly interested in vintage Martin guitars myself, and we’ll probably be playing some of their newer models, so it should be really good. There’s also talk about us doing a Line6 clinic. I used Line6 myself, and I’m particularly enthusiastic about their new M13, so all in all I’m really looking forward to Drogheda.”
Another artist heading Droghedwards is singer-songwriter and guitarist Maria Butterly. Using her beloved Garrison guitar, she’ll be conducting three ARIA Guitar clinics, on the Friday at 5.15pm, Saturday at 12.45pm and Sunday at 12.30pm. Maria will have Steve Fairclough as her guest at her clinics. He is the UK clinician for Breedlove guitars, and has his own range of Fairclough Guitars on the market in the UK and throughout Europe. Butterly has shared stages with a breathtaking array of Irish and international acts, including Damien Rice, Michele Shocked, The Proclaimers, The Saw Doctors, and Joni Mitchell. She is currently in the studio recording her new album with well known producer-guitarist Bill Shanley. It’s due for release later this year and she promises to debut a number of news songs from it during the Drogheda festival.
Anybody interested in purchasing a new guitar or some new equipment can avail of the special offers that will be available on top brands throughout the festival. Indeed, festival goers can save as much as 20% off any equipment they purchase. There is a free minibus service running for the entire weekend, ferrying visitors to and from the associated hotels and venues. For full details regarding the festival lineup, travel, accommodation and prices check out the official website at www.irishguitarfest.com