Promising to be a very special occasion, we welcome Burning Wheel home just as they release their debut album Remembrance Songs, recorded with renowned producer Gerry Diver.
Band Members Eoin Quiery (vocals/guitar), Nessan Quiery (banjo) and Liam Crosby (fiddle) were born and raised in the Liverpool Irish community and have frequently played at the festival since it began. The band’s musical and lyrical themes explore the unique links between Liverpool and Ireland in a thrilling, high-octane blend of Irish folk, Mersey-melodica and psychedelic post-rock noise.
Their intense live shows move from plaintive Dylan-folk to hypnotic and danceable country-soul, accompanied by Flaming Lips style pyro-technics.
Burning Wheel are delighted to confirm that the support act will be local Irish singer songwriter Karen Turley. Use the link to find out more!
5 years in the making, Coming Home is a documentary that charts the dreams and histories of 5 Irish immigrants, from their locations on 4 continents.
This début documentary comes from Cathal Kenna (Dublin), who directed, edited, shot and sound recorded the production. With some Liverpool connections, too, this film echoes multiple diaspora stories, combining family stories, economic histories and the sort of nostalgic romanticism only the homesick can create. @ComingHomeDoc
Running Mon-Sat throughout the festival we are partnering with our friends at Everyman to provide a materials liabrary and social space for festival visitors to drop-in, hold small discussion groups and impromptu seisiúns (sessions).
Liverpool Irish Festival visitors are encouraged to enjoy the fully accessible space; free Wi-Fi; drinks and food menus and get talking to one another over Irish newspapers, texts, maps and children’s books all of which have a focus on Liverpool or Ireland. Straddling Hope Street, between the Catholic and Protestant cathedrals, Everyman is the ideal cultural hot spot to find a festival brochure, pick up a bite to eat or encounter some of the city’s performance artists.
Begins by 12pm on 19 Oct 2017 and runs during opening hours throughout the festival (closed on Sun).
This local history walk features Irish journalists, Italian craftsmen, Lancashire slavers, Polish Impressionists and Liverpool pirates in an exploration of arts and politics, taking in Bluecoat and the surrounding district.
For strong walkers also see the Scotland Road walk taking place later the same day.
Bookers should gather at Door F in the Bluecoat courtyard.
Soulful psych-folk meets Americana. Festival favourite Dave O’Grady (Dublin) returns to the Liverpool Irish Festival with his band Seafoam Green in this impressive, yet underused city venue.
O’Grady has honed his craft over years of solo tours on either side of the Atlantic. Now his latest ensemble, Seafoam Green present their debut LP, Topanga Mansion, available on Mellowtone Records.
This event will also shine a spotlight on one lucky artist, selected to feature in the poster campaign for this event. This competition has been organised by the Liverpool Irish Festival in partnership with Mellowtone, details of which will be available in October on the Liverpool Irish Festival website. For their latest releases and stories, also visit mellowtonerecords.com
The only social space to carry on the party, the Music Room’s stage will be taken over by various artists, both local to the city and those playing in the festival.
Ranging from amateur strummers to professional recording artists, this is a chance to see musicians and artists playing together, testing ideas, mingling with the audience and letting their hair down. Informal, chatty and with a full bar open, this is wind down space for festival goers, staff, volunteers and late-nighters! These events will be cúpla focal friendly and Pop Up Gaeltachts may yet be scheduled.
The only social space to carry on the party, the Music Room’s stage will be taken over by various artists, both local to the city and those playing in the festival.
Ranging from amateur strummers to professional recording artists, this is a chance to see musicians and artists playing together, testing ideas, mingling with the audience and letting their hair down. Informal, chatty and with a full bar open, this is a wind-down space for festival goers, staff, volunteers and late-nighters! These events will be cúpla focal friendly and Pop Up Gaeltachts may yet be scheduled.
The only social space to carry on the party, the Music Room’s stage will be taken over by various artists, both local to the city and those playing in the festival.
Ranging from amateur strummers to professional recording artists, this is a chance to see musicians and artists playing together, testing ideas, mingling with the audience and letting their hair down. Informal, chatty and with a full bar open, this is a wind-down space for festival goers, staff, volunteers and late-nighters! These events will be cúpla focal friendly and Pop Up Gaeltachts may yet be scheduled.
Anti-commercial, irrepressible punk poet, hip-hop influenced, folk-singer Jinx Lennon (Dundalk, Co. Louth) returns to the Liverpool Irish Festival 3 years after his gig with Rarely Seen Above Ground (RSAG), 2 albums down and a slew of accolades later.
As Bernard O’Rourke (headstuff.org) states: “At heart, his music is a raw unpolished yell against the small-scale mundanity of day-to-day working class life in a largish Irish town. Far from attempting to elevate the intimacy of his subject matter to a kind of poetic universality, Lennon positively wallows in the unimpressive nature of the reality he depicts in his songs”.
Limited tickets mean this will be a high demand event, so get your tickets quickly.
Booking for this is via Eventbrite.
15 years after it first began, the Liverpool Irish Festival reflects on its beginnings, its accomplishments and issues that continue to make it vibrant and resonant today.
With illustrated contributions from long-standing Chair of the Liverpool Irish Festival, John Chandler and others, this is an evening for friends and family to spot themselves, hear their stories and raise a toast to what is yet to come.
Places at this event will be limited to the space size, so be sure to arrive early to ensure you get a place. After this event, people will be encouraged to have drinks in the adjoining bar, but will have to vacate the space while we prepare for Jinx Lennon (a ticketed event).
