Spring time is in full bloom and the days are slowly getting longer – it won’t be long until summer’s here and we’re dusting off our wellies, cleaning out our tents and looking forward to another great season of festivals. Despite the cancellation of Ireland’s largest music festival Oxegen this year, there are plenty of new and exciting festivals just waiting to be discovered.
Forbidden Fruit Festival returns to the Royal Hospital Kilmainham grounds this year with a stellar line-up of acts including heavy hitters New Order, Leftfield and Wilco. Following the success of its 2011 initiation, the 2012 version has been extended to three days – Saturday, Sunday and Monday of the June bank holiday weekend – and will have five stages, including a newly added comedy tent. Just like last year, the cream of Irish talent will also be given the chance to show they can mix it with the best. Irish acts we’re looking forward to include Le Galaxie, windings and R.S.A.G.
For more information on the Forbidden Fruit festival visit their website.
Elevate attended the launch of what a lot of people consider to be Ireland’s greatest festival last week. Just like previous years, Electric Picnic 2012 promises to be an unmissable event on the Irish festival calendar. With acts such as Hot Chip, The Cure, Orbital and The XX already announced, the beautiful setting of Stradbally, Co Laois will once again be the place to be this autumn. The Salty Dog stage, Trenchtown and Body & Soul will all return, but it’s not all about the music, Electric Picnic offers something for everyone and we are delighted to hear that the spoken word area and comedy tent will once again be present this year. We cannot wait.
To find out more about Electric Picnic 2012 visit their website.
Last Saturday night, we went along to the first instalment of the Delorentos ‘Little Sparks’ tour which kicked off with a sold out gig in The Button Factory, Temple Bar. The well-known Dublin foursome launched their third album ‘Little Sparks’ online last month to substantial acclaim and the excitement about their newest offering was easily seen through the crowd on the night, before and after the gig. It was the first time that the band played half of the songs to a live audience and various instruments and track set-ups were also being trialled for the first time.
They opened the set with album title-track ‘Little Sparks’ and introduced the crowd in The Button Factory to a variety of new material from the most recent album. Throughout the set they played old, well known and loved numbers such as ‘S.E.C.R.E.T’ and an energetic take on ‘Eustace Street’. Two of the Little Sparks tracks, ‘Bullet in a Gun’ and the ‘The Stream’ closed out the set to rapturous applause. Check out their performance of ‘Bullet in a Gun’ here.
The Delorentos will be touring the country between now and 31st March in the following locations:
2nd March – Limerick Dolans Pub
3rd March – Cork Cyprus Avenue
8th March – Mullingar John Daly’s Pub
9th March – Galway Roisin Dubh
10th March – Castlebar The Clubhouse
17th March – Dublin, Jameson Global Party
29th March – Wexford The Sky & the Ground
30th March – Kilkenny Set Theatre
30th March – Waterford Forum
Last night, we attended the IMTV Awards in The Academy, where our client Nokia sponsored the Best Director Award which was won by Miles O’ Reilly.
With 11 award categories and performances from The Rubberbandits, Valerie Waters and The Minutes, it was a fun filled night of great music. The event kicked off in style with emerging band Talulah Does The Hula, whose song ‘Those Girls’ is the theme tune from Fade Street. The band, made up of ex-members of The Chalets and Neosupervital, harmonised and shared vocal duties, channelling a mish-mash of pop through the years with a modern twist.
Our band of the night was, The Minutes and we highly recommend them as one of Dublin’s must-see acts. The band (the lead singer of which was sporting an impressive MO) walked away with the award for Best Group Video for their song Fleetwood, directed by Philip Kelly and later wowed the audience with a fantastic performance of the same song. The night was an exciting and inspiring reminder of the raw talent that Irish musicians have to offer.
For a full list of award winners click here.
