30 FANTASTIC SHOWS IN THE SPIEGELTENT
WITH just over a month to go, tickets are selling fast for this year’s Spiegeltent Festival.
The 2017 event has arguably the best line-up yet and, with a a diverse programme of acts ranging from Imelda May to the Wexford Male Voice Choir, there’s surely something for everyone.
The festival in the Paradiso Spiegeltent on Wexford Quayfront runs for an expanded 19 days this year, from Friday, October 13 to Tuesday, October 31, with
30 shows shoehorned into the programme. For almost two weeks, it overlaps the
Opera Festival, which runs from October 19 to November 5, so the town will be a prime destination for music fans of all tastes through October.
Four dates are already sold out, Smokie on opening night, Paul Heaton & Jacqui Abbott on October 28, and Imelda May’s double-header (October 23 and 31), and a number of other shows are expected to sell out soon.
There’s a strong local offering this year with a special line-up of Wexford artists on the 16th (see this week’s Art & Culture on pages 28 & 29), WOLFF on the 17th, Corner Boy on the 19th, Cry Before Dawn on the 22nd, and the Wexford Male Voice Choir on the penultimate night, October 30.
This will be Cry Before Dawn’s first hometown gig in some time, and the first with original guitarist Tony Hall back in the fold, completing the line-up that scaled some heady heights back in the eighties. Cry Before Dawn’s original four haven’t played Wexford town together in almost three decades, so it’s a special night for local fans.
Aside from the sellout acts, some of Irish music’s heavy-hitters are Spiegeltent-bound this year, including the always-popular Aslan, Hothouse Flowers, Sharon Shannon, Hudson Taylor, The Strypes and The Riptide Movement who closed the festival with a bang last year.
There’s exceptional value for €24 on Saturday, October 14, with no fewer than four of Ireland’s top indie bands on the same bill: Hermitage Green, Delorentos, Ham Sandwich and Raglans. Two nights later, €15 gets you access to a Wexford special with performances from Luke Jackson (AKA JaXson), Niall Cash, Fit For Kings, and Megan-Kate Doolan.
The Spiegeltent festival is also good for a laugh, or plenty of them, with the likes of Al Porter, Foil Arms and Hog, PJ Gallagher, and Dermot & Dave, all coming to town.
Add puppet legend Bosco, the popular Prohibition Party, and the ‘spooktacular’ Freak Fantastique into the mix and it’s easy to see why over 60 per cent of the audience at last year’s Spiegeltent festival attended more than one event.
For all the ticket prices and availability, and to book, visit wexfordspiegeltent.com, drop in to the Lantern Events ticket office at 1 North Main Street, or call 053 9199199.