Countdown to Sligo Live Festival is almost over
IT’S one of the most anticipated weekends of the year on Sligo’s music schedule, and the hugely popular Sligo Live Festival takes place this weekend, bringing Sligo to life.
The headline acts for this year’s Sligo Live include Dara Ó Briain at the Knocknarea Arena on Thursday, The Boomtown Rats at the Knocknarea Arena on Saturday, The Bootleg Beatles who perform at Knocknarea Arena on Sunday, Lisa Hannigan begins the three concert celebration of Indie women in the Hawk’s Well Theatre on Friday and the outstanding ensembles Saint Sister and the Niamh Farrell trio will perform a double bill there on Saturday and the Grammy winning folk superstar, Rhiannon Giddens, will round off the Hawk’s Well strand of Sligo Live on Sunday.
One of this year’s highlights is undoubtedly The Festival Village.
The Festival Village will take Sligo Live into the heart of town, transforming the new Andersons into a funky non-stop live music and entertainment venue day and night this October Bank Holiday Weekend. This new initiative is one of several collaborations with Sligo’s renowned music venues and BID Sligo to make the city centre buzz.
Sligo Live Festival Club will take place over two floors from 10:30pm until late this October bank holiday weekend.
Hudson Taylor will headline a series of concerts celebrating Irish artists including Catherine McGrath, Little Hours, Brave Giant, and Síomha (Shee-va) and a host of emerging Arrivals artists over three nights in the Festival Club. Tickets are on sale from www.sligolive.ie and from the Hawk’s Well Theatre, Sligo (071 916 1518) or in person.
Sligo Live organisers have selected some of the hottest new artists on today’s scene to broaden the appeal of the all-new Festival Village.
The Festival Club will feature some of Ireland’s hottest happening acts on the Headline Stage, and continuing the Sligo Live tradition of supporting new acts, a selection of exciting new artists will play on the acoustic Arrivals Stage downstairs.
Friday sees new country-pop sensation, Catherine McGrath and her band paired with Síomha on the Headline Stage.
Catherine McGrath is an Irish singer and songwriter whose music blends freshfaced pop with influences straight from Nashville.
Born in County Down, her style was informed by contemporary pop as well as artists such as Taylor Swift and Kacey Musgraves.
She travelled to Nashville for song-writing and recording sessions. At only 19 she landed a recording contract with Warner Bros. She spent the following year writing and recording her debut album, Talk of This Town, in both Nashville and London, which was released in the summer of 2018. The now 21-year-old has had twelve consecutive tracks featured on Spotify’s New Music Fridays playlist, and she’s already accumulated over 12 million streams.
Joining her on Friday’s Headline Stage, will be Síomha whose music dances the line between folk, jazz and neo-soul effortlessly, truly defying any conventional genres. Her musical background, her travels and musical explorations and the beautiful landscape and rugged nature of her native West Clare are a huge source of inspiration, creating a soulful and unique style of music that enthrals listeners. Her voice transcends musical boundaries, if you haven’t yet heard of Síomha, you soon will.
Rapidly rising Choice Music Prize nominee, Little Hours and his band shares the Headline Stage with Longford’s Brave Giant on Saturday Night.
Little Hours is the musical moniker for Killybegs multi-instrumentalist and songwriter John Doherty. This young artist from Donegal crafts subtle and sublime pop moments blending acoustic guitar, piano and his unique commanding voice. In 2014 he released the debut ‘Little Hours’ EP which featured the Choice Music Prize nominated song of the year ‘It’s Still Love’.
Further singles ‘Water’, ‘How Could I Love You’ and ‘Heavy On You’ all enjoyed prominent airplay on Irish radio and led to sold out shows across Ireland.
Sharing Saturday’s Headline stage with Little Hours will be Brave Giant whose love of Irish music is evident in their sound, a skilfully achieved blend of rock, folk and alternative influences. The last two years have been remarkable for indie band, Brave Giant. The Longford based four-piece cel- ebrated their first official No 1 on iTunes, played Longitude, sold out several headline Irish shows, together with making a trip stateside for the Milwaukee Festival and a headline show in Rockwood Music Hall in New York.
It’s been an exciting year for Sunday night’s headliners. brothers Harry and Alfie Hudson Taylor as Hudson Taylor signed to Rubyworks and released their ‘Feel It Again’ EP, which charted Top 5 in the Irish album charts, giving their fans the first taste of Hudson Taylor’s forthcoming second album, produced by Ryan Hadlock, best known for his work with The Lumineers and Vance Joy, and mixed by Ruadhri Cushnan (Mumford & Sons, Ed Sheeran).
Building on the success of the debut album, which featured three big hits – ‘Chasing Rubies’, ‘ Battles’ and ‘ Weapons’; the multi-talented siblings enjoyed a busy 2017. They played to one of the biggest crowds of the weekend at Electric Picnic, and their lead-off Irish single “Feel It Again” was one of the biggest national airplay hits of 2017. Hudson Taylor wrapped an action-packed Irish tour with a sold out, home town show at The Olympia Theatre in Dublin.
Tickets for Hudson Taylor @ €19.00 + s.c. (€1 on sligolive.ie) are on sale now. Tickets for Friday and Saturday Festival Club nights are each €16.00 + s.c. from www.sligolive.ie and Hawk’s Well Theatre, Sligo (071 916 1518).
SLIGO Live MultiPass Tickets at €129.50 + s.c. facilitate booking at all seated concerts, admission to the unique Festival Club, the Arrivals emerging artists’ strand, and the renowned The Fiddler of Dooney competition.