“It’s like our Live Aid”, says one of the students at BCFE while his classmates are getting ready for a five hours showcase that Hot Press, in partnership with Lyons Tea and Pieta House, organises in Ballyfermot. The conversation is mental health and the language is music in different shapes: pop, rock, trad, electronic, beatbox, psychedelic, folk, hip-hop… The powerful message is not only in the lyrics, as some of the performers decide to go instrumental like Troy O’Brien or sing in a foreign language like Jördis Tielsch.

This college is like a family and, while tea is poured in mugs, students support and cheer each other as performers come and go. The show starts with the beautiful melancholia of Lucy Blue, with brand new love songs from Troy Cullen and emphatic words of brilliant Alan Roe taking us through the end of a day that left people with a smile and the feeling of a work well done.

Check our photo gallery for the snaps of all the performers of the day.