Where It's Flat

Weighing in at just under the 10 stone mark and dancing around the ring in the baggiest knee-length shorts ever seen, Laydeez an Chennelmen, I give you the Flat Lake Festival. The brain child of Kevin Allen (Lily Allen’s uncle) and described by Pat McCabe as ‘an Exploding Plastic Inevitable Turnip’ in a turn of phrase that must have Warhol spinning in his grave, the Flat Lake Festival willed itself into existence last year. Put together on a shoestring it’s not the Electric Picnic, more of an outing with an eccentric uncle who’ll forget the sandwichs but keep you entertained with some great stories. Don’t think that I’m having a laugh at its expense though.

Any festival boasting a line-up which includes Paul Brady, John Cooper Clarke, Jinx Lennon and Miss Paula Flynn is definitely having the last laugh – that’s not to mention the awesome literary line-up which boasts everyone from Seamus Heaney through the above-mentioned Pat ‘Captain Butty’ McCabe to almost every other significant writer in the country. The extravaganza unfolds in Hilton Park, Clones over the weekend of August 23 and 24. Kevin Allen has an almost messianic zeal about the festival, fighting the odds in an attempt to keep the enterprise afloat. Finding corporate sponsorship for such an anarchic collection of creatives has proven to be challenging and the Arts Council is mentioned only through gritted teeth but ask anyone who was there last year and they’ll tell you it was an unmissable event. Naturally, this year’s promises to be equally crucial.
It’s hard to imagine what the unsuspecting youth of America made of the support on Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova’s West Coast tour. The act in question being Liam O Maonlai and Ronan O Snodaigh who opened for our favourite Oscar winners in California, Seattle and Oregon. Apparently they had a brilliant time. Hopefully they made a few converts. I’d love to see the day when a Hot Press front cover carried the headline ‘Kila Crack America’
In the meantime Kila are up to their usual summer season of intense giging including a ‘Long Hot Summer Night’ in Dublin’s Academy on Thursday July 31, which will feature a full live set from the band, some guest musicians and DJs. If you need your hit a bit sooner than that, Rónán will be performing a solo show on Friday June 20 at the new Passion Fruit Theatre in Athlone, while the fulll band appear at the Millbank Theatre in Rush on Saturday June 28 and play two shows on Thursday July 3 in the Spiegeltent as part of the Cavan Arts Festival.
They’ve also been announced as the opening act for this year’s Electric Picnic, which I’m sure in some way is like been asked to light the Olympic flame to mark the start of the Games.
Billy Bragg has been undergoing a renaissance of sorts recently and with his latest effort Mr. Love And Justice seen as a worthy addition to his canon, he has announced a 13-date solo tour which includes a performance at Dublin’s Vicar St. on December 4.
Like all great musicians who manage the kind of marathon career that Bragg has sustained he has recently been ‘discovered’ by a new generation of musicians. Hard-Fi, for instance, invited Billy to support them for six nights at London’s Brixton Academy in May last year and later covered Bragg’s ‘Levi Stubbs’ Tears’ for a BBC Radio One session. He made a special guest appearance with Kate Nash at London’s Union Chapel in November of last year as part of the Little Noises Sessions curated by BBC Radio One’s Jo Whiley in aid of the Mencap charity, spurring Nash on to duet with him on his classic ‘A New England’ at February’s NME Awards.
After that appearance she was effusive in her praise for him, telling journalists: "When I watched him at the Electric Ballroom it was the best thing ever, to see him, one guy, one guitar and for him to have such an effect on such a huge amount of people. Everyone was smiling and singing along. It’s about connecting with people."
Clive Barnes and Australian guitar virtuoso Jeff Lang combine forces this July for a tilt around Ireland. Clive’s appearances at home have become pretty rare as his talents are increasingly in demand elsewhere. He can be heard on Eric Bibb’s latest offering Get On Board, playing alongside nine-time Grammy Award-winning blues singer-songwriter, Bonnie Raitt. He has also worked with some of the most respected musicians working today, from Grammy-winning songwriter Jim Lauderdale to Nashville bluegrass flat picking legend Steve Kaufman.
Less familiar to Irish audiences Jeff Lang has built a reputation as a virtuoso guitarist and a great live performer and is a hugely respected figure on the Australian music scene – John Butler (of the John Butler Trio) has even described him as a ‘national treasure’.
The tour kicks off in Cork’s Cyprus Avenue on July 9 and moves on to The Bailey, Enniscorthy the following evening. July 11 sees them in Cleere’s, Kilkenny. On July 13 they’ll be in Dolan’s, Limerick, they’ll play Mick Murphy’s, Ballymore Eustace on July 14 if you fancy soaking up a little Independence Day Americana and they move up to Barry’s of Grange on July 15. Their Galway show is in the Crane on July 16 and the tour rounds off with an appearance in Dublin’s Cherrytree on July 17.
Not to be missed is a rare Irish show by Iris Dement, one of the most celebrated country-folk performers of her day, who slips in for a date in Dublin’s Button Factory on July 22.
Further on the horizon a Vicar St. appearance has been announced for Stephen Stills who’ll play there on October 22.