Big-hitters and small wonders
The year 2020 is shaping up to be a memorable one for gigs and our guide will help you fill your calendar
You can see it in on Tuesday night if you are in Dublin for the New Year’s Festival at Custom House Quay with Lisa
McHugh, Aimee, Ash and Walking On Cars leading the count down during their headline set. You could sit in instead and watch Jools Holland’s Hootenanny on BBC2 but frankly it was as dodgy as leftover turkey on Stephen’s Day last year. Una Healy and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra will be welcoming in the new year on RTE 1 along with The Waterboys, David Gray, Wallis Bird and Brian Kennedy which looks more than decent in fairness but I think Pillow Queens in the Workman’s Club in Dublin or Lankum in the Roisin Dubh, Galway are better ways to transition from 19 to 20.
Big hitters have us in their sights
AS IS becoming the norm, some bighitters have already signalled their intention to touch down on our shores in 2020.
Guns N’ Roses make a swift return after their mega-show at Slane in 2018 to play Marlay Park in Dublin on Saturday June 20. The Rathfarnam venue, unless the venue’s geometry changes, is less than half the capacity of Slane, so that may sell out really quickly.
And keeping it on the heavy side, Sunstroke Festival makes a very welcome return to schedules after an absence of a quarter of a century. Faith No More headlined the first one in 1993 and they are back for the 2020 version. Also on the bill are The Jesus & Mary Chain, Sepultura, The Distillers and a very healthy helping of Irish acts such as Irish punk powerhouses
Paranoid Visions and newer acts of great promise such as Vulypynes and Slyrydes. Saturday, June 13 and Sunday, June 14 are the dates for the wig-out at Punchestown Racecourse.
Iggy pops by and a Green Day in June
ALL Together Now on the August Bank Holiday Weekend 2020 has announced the incomparable Iggy
Pop as its first headliner for the third festival at the Curraghmore Estate in Waterford. The mighty Ig is good enough reason for you, me and everybody to head for the Deise. However, the organisers really need
to have the road access and other problems that bedevilled 2019’s festival sorted by August Bank Holiday Weekend (July 31 - August 3). it was just about tolerated once; don’t let it happen again.
Green Day are also jetting in for open-air japes. They play the RDS Stadium with Fall Out Boy and the wonderful Weezer in support on Monday, June 29. ‘Real’ punks have been sniffy about Green Day for years but albums such as Dookie, American
Idiot and Nimrod pulse with energy and melody.
Retro gigs good, great and meh...
AHEAD of a Sunday Legends spot at Glastonbury, soul legend and disco diva Diana Ross plays Cork and Dublin in June. She can delve into almost 60 years of hits for her Live at The Marquee and Royal Hospital Kilmainham shows on Thursday, June 25 and Friday, June 26 respectively. One of Miss Ross’s most memorable duets was with Lionel
Ritchie on Endless Love and the former Commodore headlines St Anne’s Park, Raheny in north Dublin. If it’s him you’re looking for, say hello on Saturday, June 6.
Duran Duran are there the following day. Those nostalgic for Westlife’s schtick and there are still many who are, can indulge themselves at Parc Uí Chaoimh on Friday, August 28 and Saturday, August 29. That’s less than a week after they headline Wembley Stadium, surely the pinnacle of their long, storied career.
Celine Dion brings her Courage World Tour to the 3Arena, Dublin on the 14th and 15th of September and if you want a whole lot of retro in one place then look no further than the Retro Festival at Fairyhouse Racecourse on August 8. Barring ABC, fare such as Billy Ocean, Spandau Ballet’s Tony Hadley and Howard Jones as mainstays didn’t really make the blood bump until. But, God be praised, they have only gone and added Adam Ant as the headliner. That’s more like it, lads and ladies.
Antmusic, Kings Of The Wild Frontier and Stand And Deliver stand the test of time because they stood apart back then. I’ll be catching Tenpole Tudor and Captain Sensible in the under growth as well, until the mighty Mr Ant starts being dandy on the Main Stage. Elton John who seems to have said farewell to us a number of times already really means it this time, November 30 and December 4 nd 5 in the 3Arena.
The boutique, the compact and the bijou
FESTIVALS that bring an often much-needed commercial boost to smaller towns the length and breadth of the country definitely deserve a shout-out.
The Rory Gallagher International Tribute Festival in B ally shannon has been celebrating the music of the legendary guitarist in the town of his birth since 2002. This year Horslips and original Thin Lizzy guitarist Eric Bell are among those bound for the Donegal town between May 28 and 30.
In the same county a few weeks later, Sigrid, Gavin James and Versatile will be getting the sand between their toes at the Sea Sessions Festival in Bundoran. Surf ’s up there between June 19 and 21.
Sigrid is also the first headliner announced for the truly delightful Indiependence Festival in Mitchelstown in Cork. Now styling itself INDIE 2020, it takes place July 31, August 1 and 2.
Kaleidoscope was the festival newbie last year and has already announced The Divine Comedy and a DJ set by Basement Jaxx in the lineup for Russborough House in beautiful Blessington, Co. Wicklow. That’s happening on June 28, 29 and 30.
On hallowed ground and under canvas
MALAHIDE Castle will play host to The Killers Tuesday, June 16 and Wednesday 17; Lewis Capaldi, Saturday, June 20 (Musgrave Park, Cork June 18); Gerry Cinnamon, Sunday June 21; Dermot Kennedy, Friday, June 26 (St. Anne’s Park,
Dublin Friday. June 5) and Picture
This, Saturday, June 27.
Live at the Marquee as usual presents an eclectic bunch. We’ve already nodded to the divine Diana but the first talent in their tent is Sinéad O’Connor on June 5 then The National, June 8; Dido, June 10; Orbital, June 20; Yusuf formerly known as Cat Stevens, June 24; Jenny Greene & RTE Concert Orchestra, June 26; Christy Moore, June 27 and Crowded House, June 29 with more to be announced.
The promoters of Live at the Iveagh Gardens have so far confirmed the mighty Fontaines D.C. for July 4; Damien Dempsey, July 10; Caribou, July 11; James Blunt, July 12 and Pixies for July 18.
Is Springsteen really for Slane this year?
Will Taylor Swift pay us a visit? The Tennessean will take her bow at Glastonbury on the Sunday which of course has got po-faced musos tutting about the essence of the festival being ruined. She would be a great fit for Croker, Slane or any small Irish county that we could fence off. Speaking of Slane, speculation about Bruce Springsteen headlining there seems wide of the mark. Lord Mountcharles has been in partnership with promoters MCD for many years and as Springsteen’s concerts have been staged by Aiken Promotions since he first played at Slane Castle in 1985, but never played there since, the idea of MCD being pushed aside by our ’Enry seems fanciful. AC/DC is the band Mount charles has long since declared as his preferred choice and they may be an option now that singer Brian Johnson appears to have rejoined the band who are set to record an album in tribute to Malcolm Young Given that Guns N’ Roses were announced 10 months in advance of their 2018 show, it looks like being a fallow year in the Meath venue but hope springs eternal.
And finally... go and see these... 2020 vision in hindsight when they make it
Well actually, it’s not a matter of making it big commercially but some acts caught my eye and ear and definitely worth a look in 2020. Turnstiles are from Galway and released two cracking singles in 2019. Their friends and fellow Galwegians, The Clockworks cheekily described themselves as sounding like a punk version of The Streets, Turnstiles actually really do! I may head to the Cellar in Galway on January 11 and so should you. See you in the rock and roll trenches sometime in 2020.