Cork music festivals showcase the best of new blood
I previously mentioned the Bualadh Bass festival that’s taking place this weekend but the Midsummer Festival is also under way and there’s a number of gigs and events that will appeal to music fans. New Blood is one of the most exciting events and this weekend it will showcase some of Cork’s best upcoming talent across two venues over two days. The Good Room are the team behind the programming of this showcase, which is focused around Live at St Luke’s and surrounding areas.
There’s a real buzz in that part of town at the moment and the St Luke’s gigs have greatly helped these last few years. Ezra Williams, The Cliffords, I Dreamed I Dream, The Lovebuzz, Pebbledash, Rua Rí, Luke O’Neill, Eternal Youth Eternal Beauty, AbbieLee and Gerron head up a very female-focused line-up of some amazing talent.
I’ve seen pretty much everyone on this list live and they are all fantastic. The St Luke’s show is ticketed but Henchy’s, St Luke’s Wine Tavern and Cork Coffee Roasters have free shows so it’s worth checking out the schedule.
The Cork Midsummer Festival has also got some night-time events in the Triskel, in association with Sample Studios. This all started with a programme last weekend by Cork producer ELLLL and this weekend it’s Emer Yip who put it all together. It kicks off tomorrow with Cindytalk and Howlbux before Mags, Binnie and DJ Milis take it home after dark, while on Saturday Kate NV and Felisha Ledesma do the sunset show earlier on in the Triskel. Vi, Caít, Ikeaboy and Draqhorse do the late session on a programme packed with electronic talent. Again, it’s great to see women dominating this line-up too.
Cork singer Fyahred has got a gig coming up soon that will appeal to fans of dancehall, reggae and dub. The Caribbean Summer Party takes place on the rooftop above Cyprus Avenue, Wavelength, and it will feature Crazy D and Gwada Mike. Jamaica and Guadeloupe are both represented in what should be a great evening.
I recently played at a similar event in Kinsale and the vibes were top notch. Reggae and dancehall has always been popular here and it’s even better in July.
On the afrobeats side of things, we continue with our Taboo night at the end of June in the Liquid Lounge. Nearly 10 years old, Taboo is a long-running party that covers afrobeats, amapiano, soul, dancehall and more.
Other promoters and DJs running more African nights include GodSwill, who recently did a big amapiano show in the Kino.
There are other nights happening around too and both afrobeats and amapiano continue to make big strides commercially worldwide. In the last few years we’ve had global hits by Wizkid, Tems, Master KG, Tyla, Rema and lots more,and I still believe this is the tip of the iceberg for African music. If marketed correctly, it will gain even more fans. I’ve seen it grow and grow here and elsewhere over the past 10 years.
With Virgin Media Park and the Marquee running pretty much concurrently, and the Midsummer too, we’ve had lots on but the August weekend will see one big festival missing this year. Indiependence is taking a year out but I’m sure it will be back stronger than ever in 2025. It’s always a manic weekend anyway and Cork Pride will be in full flight here in the city.
Down the road, our friends at Altogether Now will be running their biggest festival yet and, if last year is anything to go by, half of Cork will be down there once again.
The Electric Picnic moving to an earlier August date is kind of throwing our summer calendar off a little and I’ll have a full preview of that in the coming weeks.
Body And Soul festival also took this year out but it too will surely be back sooner rather than later.
Another Love Story, Longitude and Beyond The Pale are three more festivals that revellers can check out this summer in Ireland but there are many more too.
And the Cork Jazz festival has already announced a lot of its 2024 line-up so there’s exciting times ahead for music fans.
