Kieran’s off to Vicar St again!
HE brought half of Sligo to Dublin last year for what turned out to be a most memorable concert and Kieran Quinn is all set to do it again.
The best and brightest in the Sligo musical industry are set to descend on Dublin again this April.
The now renowned Kieran Quinn theme nights have delighted audiences since being launched in 2011 and the event is set to return to Vicar Street on April 23rd for another night of entertainment.
It will be the 26 th instalment of the theme nights and will see up to 75 artists lined up to put their own slant on this year’s theme, Ireland in Song.
It’s the second year in a row the theme night returns to the capital after the huge achievements of the inaugural show there in 2019.
“We’re heading back after a big success last year,” Ransboro based Kieran told the Sligo Champion.
“It’s theme night number 26, and it’ ll be ‘Ireland in Song’, so everything Irish from Christy Moore to U2 to Dervish.
“It’ ll be a celebration of our rich musical history and culture.”
Former County Sligo GAA player, Kieran’s initial ideas for the project festered initially in 2011, following on from his role as a pianist at Source in Sligo.
“It was 2011 at Christmas,” he reminisces. “There was a piano at Source Wine Bar at the bottom of Harmony Hill and I used to play a Thursday night gig there. There used to be a guest with me every Thursday and Cathy Jordan was one of those.
“She said ‘Wouldn’t it be great if you could get all the guests in with you and sing or play a song? It’d be a great night’ ”.
“So we ran with it,”
The success of the event has been remarkable. 25 theme nights have taken place at various venues, and with number 26 on the way, Kieran says that while there is some organisation needed, the professionalism of the musicians involved makes it a relatively simple process.
“There’s a lot of thought that goes into it, in terms of picking songs and what to do with them,” Kieran says.
“Once the set list is together it’s well away, everyone is really professional so it’s about putting the show together as an entirety. They are all excellent musicians.”
“There’ ll be a lot of thought put in before the show. But then, it’s just a matter of getting together a few days beforehand and running through it as a whole, and then a practice run at Vicar Street on the day.
“It doesn’t make sense in a way. Shows generally succeed when there are less people in them, but we’ve built this up over the years and it works.”
The theme nights help generate a sense of pride in Sligo and rely on the support of Sligo people from far and wide, and especially that of the business community.
“The local businesses really supported us last year and that was essential because it costs a lot of money with so many people involved, so it was great to get their support and we’ ll need it again this year.
“It pretty much sold out last year – there were people bumping into one another in the foyer that knew each other obviously and there was a Dublin crowd there that probably didn’t know what hit them!
“There was a feeling it was probably two-thirds Sligo and one-third newcomers last year. We’re growing the audience bit by bit.”
Tickets for this year’s theme night at Vicar Street on Thursday, April 23rd are available on www.ticketmaster.ie