Something for everyone at Sligo Live
ONE of the last major festivals of the year, Sligo Live, takes place over the coming days with a stellar line-up of artists.
Acts performing this year include The Boomtown Rats, Dara Ó Briain, The Bootleg Beatles, Lisa Hannigan, Saint Sister, Susan O'Neill, Hudson Taylor, Niamh Farrell Trio, Rhiannon Giddens, and many more.
It's all indoors too, so there's no need for wellies at this shindig! In total there will be more than 80 performances from 270 performers over six days, with music and theatre for children this year too.
The Knocknarea Arena headline shows feature Dara Ó Briain tomorrow (Thursday, October 25), The Boomtown Rats on Saturday (October 27) and The Bootleg Beatles on Sunday (October 28).
The Sligo Live Festival Club at Anderson's celebrates five of the hottest news artists on the Irish music scene with Catherine McGrath and Síomha on Friday (October 26), Little Hours and Brave Giant on Saturday (October 27), and Hudson Taylor on Sunday (October 28).
The festival is also celebrating strong independent women artists with a number of gigs at the Hawk's Well Theatre, including Lisa Hannigan with special guest Susan O'Neill on Friday, Saint Sister and Niamh Farrell Trio on Saturday, and Rhiannon Giddens with special guests Liz Carroll and Séan Óg Graham (Beoga) on Sunday.
Family events include Bosco's Garden and Hansel & Gretel at the Sligo Live Festival Village in Anderson's from 1 p.m. on Saturday and Kyle Riley: Sing to Me at the Hawk's Well, taking place at 1 p.m. and again at 3 p.m. on Sunday.
The fantastic festival platform for arrivals/emerging artists is a strand of the festival that Sligo Live is very proud of, with new talent given a chance to perform before a live audience each year.
In addition, the festival will again host the world-renowned Fiddler of Dooney competition in association with the Sligo Town Comhaltas branch. Arguably the most prestigious national traditional fiddling award other than the All-Ireland, it has been won by the who’s who of traditional fiddlers since its inception in 1965. There are two competitions, the Junior Fiddler of Dooney for Under 16s and the Fiddler of Dooney for senior players, and both will be held on Sunday. More details and entry forms are available online at www.sligolive.ie
A festival multipass ticket is available for €129.50. It facilitate booking at all seated concerts, admission to the unique festival club, the arrivals/emerging artists’ strand, and the Fiddler of Dooney competition. Tickets can be purchased online at www.sligolive.ie or www.ticketmaster.ie, or from the Hawk’s Well Theatre - telephone (071) 9161518. For more festival details, see www.sligolive.ie or follow the Twitter and Facebook pages.