Event type: Comedy

The River Festival is back!

Each year Liverpool plays host to an incredible set of installations, acts, ships and activities to welcome the dawn of summer (we hope!) and Liverpool Irish Festival are stoked to be involved once again. This year, vsitors will see enormous sea urchins, ship wrecks and large scale artworks as well as music and dance, the Bordeaux Wine Festival and street art.

We will present a number of different acts across different stages, involving shanty singers, the George Ferguson Dance School, Irish band The Druids and many more besides. See below for a full Liverpool Irish Festival act list and locations and here for all their biographies.

To find out more about the River Festival itself, click here.

All Liverpool Irish Festival acts will be free to watch at either the Ship’s Stage (located near the International Slavery Museum; look for the tall ship La Malouine), by the big red funnels on Salthouse Quay or outside the Martin Luther King (MLK) Jnr Building, as indicated. Do come and find us!
Sat 1 June 2019
12:45 – 13:00 – Sea shanty – ship stage
• Kimber’s Men

13:15 – 14:00 – acoustic music – outside the funnels on Salthouse Quay
• Jo Pue and John Walsh

14:30 – 15:00 – band – ship stage
• The Folk Doctors

15:30 – 16:00 – dance performance – MLK Building stage
• George Ferguson Dance School

16:30 – 17:00 – dance performance – MLK Building stage
• George Ferguson Dance School

18:00 – 18:30 – band – ship stage
• Only Child

19:00 – 20:00 – band – ship stage
• Celtic Knot Ceilidh Band
Sun 2 June 2019
Please note -if Liverpool Football Club wins the Champions League on Sat 1 June 2019, this running order will change and all our activity will have to end at 4pm to accommodate the Victory Parade. If not, the following running order will remain in place.

12:45 – 13:00 – Sea shanty type – ship stage
• Anti-shanty

13:15 – 14:00 – acoustic music – outside the funnels on Salthouse Quay
• The Druids

14:30 – 15:00 – band – ship stage
• Catherine Cook

15:30 – 16:00 – dance performance – MLK Building stage
• George Ferguson Dance School

16:30 – 17:00 – dance performance – MLK Building stage
• George Ferguson Dance School

18:00 – 18:30 – band – ship stage
• Wee Bag Band

19:00 – 20:00 – band – ship stage
• The Druids

These presentations are commissioned by Culture Liverpool from the Liverpool Irish Festival. We are delighted to be involved in this wonderful event and grateful for the City Council’s continued support.

Playing the Liverpool Irish Festival for the first time, Jack Lukeman (Co.Kildare) is becoming a Liverpool regular, having played the Philharmonic Music Room and Vince Power’s 2018 Liverpool Feis previously.

A loyal and fast-growing audience means booking early is recommended to avoid disappointment. “The most magnificent and enigmatic of performers.” Edinburgh Spotlight Magazine, Scotland
About Jack
Jack Lukeman is an Irish singer-songwriter, performer, raconteur and a whole lot more besides. As a platinum-selling, critically acclaimed artist in Ireland, in recent years Lukeman has devoted more of his time to winning a growing fanbase in the UK and abroad. In this regard, he has toured the UK as a special guest on tours by artists as varied as Imelda May, Jools Holland, The Proclaimers and Neil Sedaka, and is currently promoting “Magic Days” (see video below), his latest album of idiosyncratic original songs.
Stage qualities
Lukeman is a compelling, dazzling stage performer. Incorporating the theatrical and romantic sensibilities of the likes of Jacques Brel, but with genuine melodic appeal and a knack for creating his own ‘magic realist’ world that is peopled by all manner of unusual, picaresque characters – Lukeman is a rare, unusual brand of performer.

What came before
The best music artists know that the world of the recording studio and onstage are two entirely different mediums – Lukeman’s recordings are colourful, absorbing collections, but it’s in the live environment, where his stage craft and desire to inspire really take flight. Despite the many achievements he has notched up in his lengthy career, Lukeman still has the hunger and drive to take his music to new audiences. During 2019 he takes to the road in the UK with his own headlining shows and more special guest appearances with Caro Emerald, The Proclaimers and Jools Holland. Other highlights include opening for Sting in July in Bonn, Germany, offering yet more proof of the outstanding versatility and unique talent of Jack Lukeman. From clubs to concert halls, theatres to festivals, Lukeman has the performing power and compelling presence to win over the most demanding of crowds.
Ticket Quarter and the Liverpool Irish Festival
The Liverpool Irish Festival and Ticket Quarter are working together to ensure you get the very best value for your money. As a festival, we are subsidising all tickets bought through Ticket Quarter to ensure that you do not pay a booking fee. If you receive eTickets or collect your tickets personally, there should be no additional charges. You’re welcome!

In her first outing as Patron for the Liverpool Irish Festival, Eithne hosts an evening of substance; full of Irish story and song in the summer surrounds of the Palm House.

Featuring a number of guests (hand-picked by Eithne*), the evening promises stories about Eithne’s connections between Liverpool and Ireland, personal and collective; lots of laughter and some cabaret along the way. All ticket proceeds go to the Liverpool Irish Festival (charity number 1100126) to support their annual programme.

* Guests include Clare and Margaret Bowles also known as Sister Sister; poet Ciarán Hodgers and Blood Brothers and Brick Up star Davy Edge.

Eithne Browne is a Liverpool actor -the daughter of an Irish man, raised in Huyton- who has graced stage and screen internationally. First featured in Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers at Liverpool Playhouse, Eithne’s credits are far reaching, including stage roles in key female works such as Take Three Girls, Shirley Valentine, Wuthering Heights and The Vagina Monologues, through to television work in Brookside, Cold Feet and Emmerdale. Always returning to Liverpool, Liverpool Irish Festival are proud to welcome Eithne as Patron.

You can read little more about this event in our news article, here.
Ticket Quarter and the Liverpool Irish Festival
The Liverpool Irish Festival and Ticket Quarter are working together to ensure you get the very best value for your money. As a festival, we are subsidising all tickets bought through Ticket Quarter to ensure that you do not pay a booking fee. If you receive eTickets or collect your tickets personally, there should be no additional charges. You’re welcome!

Focussing on the key theme of this year’s festival, this event welcomes an esteemed panel of experts discuss the cause, effect and lasting influence of Irish migration.

The Liverpool Irish Festival celebrates the connections between Liverpool and Ireland. In so doing, it acknowledges that the one of the dominant strands in the formation of the city was and is Irish immigration. The Office of National Statistics estimates that 50% of the population of Liverpool has Irish heritage; whilst the Liverpool Echo puts the figure higher, at 75%. This ‘Irishness’ of Liverpool is often cited in accounts that try to explain Liverpool’s distinctiveness amongst English cities. The panel will discuss different aspects of the influence of Irish migration on Liverpool and the wider Irish diaspora – there will be plenty of time for discussion with the audience.

The panel consists of:

Dr Johanne Devlin Trew (University of Ulster), speaking about migration from Northern Ireland to Britain
Dr Gillian O’Brien (John Moores University, Liverpool), speaking about Irish in the USA
Greg Quiery (local historian and author), speaking about Irish in Liverpool
Prof. Mary Hickman (Liverpool Irish Festival Board member) and Chair of this panel.

This seminal event speaks to the very heart and theme of #LIF2018 and is a highlight of the programme in terms of thinking about Ireland’s influence on the city and the world. Being in the Global Village Theatre of the Museum of Liverpool is an important statement in embedding Irish culture in the fabric of the city. this is a must see event for anyone with an interest in Liverpool or Irish history, migration or diaspora studies or those with interest in local socio-geography.

Each day, #LIF2018 will bring you talent from the Liverpool Irish musical community in informal, play along sets.

If you have a bodhrán or a fiddle, a flute or a penny whistle and would like to play along, this is the place for you! Sponsored by Irish language television channel TG 4, and held in partnership with the Liverpool Everyman, this will all take place in the Street Cafe and Theatre Bar. It’s free to drop in to play (though not compulsory!) or you can stop in for a coffee, a pint or an afternoon snack, whilst soaking up the sounds of Ireland and skimming through our Materials Library.

This is an incredibly informal affair and times are loose and easy. If people want to come along and play a little in between or after we would welcome it, in the spirit of joyful exploration and pleasantly unwinding afternoons!

Approximate times and sets are:

Times
Mon
Tue
Wed*
Thurs*
Fri

2.15pm- 3pm
Karen Turley
Karen Turley
Simon Herron
Gerry Ffrench
Marc Vormawah

3.30pm-4.15pm
Charlie McKeown
Chris Kelly
Charlie McKeown
Marc Vormawah
Wee Bag Band

* These two events will also feature Jo Pue (fiddle/vocals) and John Walsh (guitar/vocals), a very talented Irish/Folk duo. musicians and audiences alike should makethemselves known to Jo and John!

We are so grateful to TG 4 for their input and support of these events and to the artists for taking part. We do hope you’ll come along for a toe tap and an enjoyable afternoon.

Seán Mac an tSíthigh travels from Glasgow to London to meet with many generations of the Irish community living in the UK.

Separated by only 60 miles of sea and sharing a complicated history the Irish are the single largest immigrant community in the United Kingdom. Seán meets with the many generations of Irish immigrants who now call the UK home, in a country where the immigrant community have assimilated into every aspect of life while also preserving their own very distinctive Irish identity.

Téann Seán Mac an tSíthigh ar chamchuairt ó Ghlaschú go Londain chun léargas a fháil ar shaol na n-imirceach as Éirinn atá ag cur fúthu i bpríomhcheantair na Breataine.

Níl ach beagán le cois 60 míle farraige idir Éirinn agus an Bhreatain rud a fhágann go bhfuil stair chasta eadrainn. Sa tsraith nua cheithre clár, tabharfaidh Seán léargas ar shaol phobal na hÉireann sa mBreatain, ar obair na ndaoine, ar spórt agus ar chaitheamh aimsire an phobail, agus go háirithe an comhluadar atá le brath i measc an phobail chun ceiliúradh a dhéanamh ar an stádas speisialta atá ag na Gaeil sa mBreatain.

This event takes place as part of the Liverpool Irish Festival’s Family Day, in partnership with Museum of Liverpool and is brought to us by TG 4 to whom we are extremely grateful.

Dr Claire Kinsella (Staffordshire University) considers the tensions and contradictions between Irish identity, migration and the high-rise built form.

Often viewed as a rural backwater, Ireland’s connectivity with low- and high-rise regeneration, global corporations and digital futures seems at odds with this potentially outdated reputation. Dr Kinsella posits the idea that urban, high-rise living did not migrate to the imaginations of most Irish politicians -or even the urban fabric- as Ireland currently struggles with urban sprawl. Challenging perceptions about Irish ruralism and shining a light on international examples, this talk reveals where Irish people have actively built such structures.

£5.

Delivered in partnership with RIBA North.

 

Image: Dublin, Redevelopment at Capital Dock (detail only) (c) David Dixon under CCL.

The Liverpool Irish Festival is proud to support a number of seisiúns/sessions running across the city.

Hosted by local pubs and taverns, this is where many of the Festival regulars, founders and Board have cut their teeth and continue to play. You’re welcome to join them at any of these, too!
Regular seisiúns/sessions also occurring during #LIF2018

8pm, Thurs 19 and 25 Oct, The Old Bank seisiún, Aigburth
9pm, Fri 19 Oct, Trad session at PKs (Peter Kavanagh’s)
9pm, Mon 22, Trad at The Eddie (The Edinburgh)
10pm, Fri 26 Oct, Trad session at the Liverpool Irish Centre
7pm, Sun 28 Oct, Trad session at Kelly’s Dispensary.

 

Liverpool author, Carol Maginn (Daniel Taylor, Ruin), turns her sights to the 1830s and Derry woman Kitty Wilkinson.

Please note: The actual performance date is Thurs 25 Oct – not Wed 24 Oct – as outlined in the #LIF2018 brochure and some listings. We are extremely sorry for any confusion.

Commemorating the significant influence Kitty played in Liverpool by helping to turn the tide on an epidemic spreading through the city; cholera. Echoing many of the class and gentrification issues still at large today, Kitty’s indefatigable work to help the poor of Liverpool in the face of terrific adversity continues to show how migrants help their destination cities, sometimes in unimaginable ways.

This play takes place in the same space at Responding to Robert Tressell: A Panel, an intriguing set of short talks that look at the social conditions followings Kitty’s watershed moment. Why not book both?

£5.

Image (c) Andrew AB Photography.

Returning for the second year, the Celtic Animation Film Festival celebrates and encourages new and emerging Celtic and international animators to forge an ongoing global community to share practice, tell stories and reflect on Celtic culture and concerns.

Awards are offered for Best Celtic* Short Film, Best International Short Film and Best Student Short Film, judged by an elite industry panel. Curated by CAFF Directors Kate Corbin and Eleonora Asparuhova this is an incredible event in which to witness diaspora stories, contemporary approaches to animation and the preoccupations of the industry.

*Please note, the category is best Celtic not best Professional Short Film (alongside Best International Short Film and Best Student Short Film). Liverpool Irish Festival apologise for any confusion.

Additionally, times have altered since the publication of the brochure to 1pm-5pm, from 11am-6pm.

£5. Free tickets for students. Student ID will be required on entry.

Image: Still from Myth (detail only).