Summer Festivals Part II - July

Is it that time of the year already? Well yes it is, silage being cut, longest day of the year has just past, turf being footed and now festival season in full swing. If that turf reference passed you by, trust me, you are better off!

Riverside Jump
Where: Enniscorthy Co. Wexford
When: 6th-8th July
Cost: €20 day ticket €40 weekend ticket
Camping: NO
Website: Riverside Jump Festival
Why should I Go: Cause you can jive like an eejit for two solid days

Something a bit different here. This is a rockabilly festival happening in Enniscorthy of all places in the first weekend of July. Why a rockabilly festival on an americana blog page. Well the genres have related roots, don't they and let’s be honest, there are no alternative festivals where you can see yourself dancing like this...and I know you want to dance like this. There isn’t much information on the site, the Facebook page might help.

Athy Bluegrass Festival
Where: Athy, Co. Kildare
When: 13th -15th July
Cost: Weekend €35 Individual days €15
Camping: No
Website: Athy Bluegrass Festival
Why should I Go: Cause you want to pick up on banjo skills

Similar to the Westport festival I mentioned last month, the Athy Bluegrass festival is a straight-up bluegrass festival. The line-up might be limited but it would be worth going along to see Clem O'Brien (who recently departed the Niall Toner Band) tribute to the recently departed Doc Watson. The video below might give you an idea of what to expect.

Glasgowbury
Where: Moneyneany,Co. Derry
When: 21st July
Cost: Festival Only – £35 / € 42 Festival & Camping – £45 / €54
Camping: Yes
Website: GlasowBury
Why should I Go: A rock festival in the wilds of Derry. Why not?

The north is a strange place. When you think about it, musically wise, you have on one hand a massive amount of Irish-country artists that come from there and the border area and secondly I have always associated the place with a lot of metal music though that just might be the influence of Therapy. This looks like mad craic though. The good news is as well as the hard rock music (including Therapy), there are some nice americana and folk bands appearing as well. The 1930's whom I featured on the blog recently will be there. Also making an appearance are Farriers, a solid americana outfit, Katie and the Carnival (with music as sweet as the cupcakes in her video) and others. Could be worth the gander.

Knockanstockan
Where: Blessington, Co. Wicklow
When: 27th - 29th July
Cost: 3 day Ticket €75
1 Day Pass €36
Camping: Yes
Website: Knockstockan
Why should I Go: Cause I'm going and it's the place to find the best collection of irish-americana bands this summer.

Hopefully the highlight of my summer festival experience. As I am only going to two festivals, I hope so! Knockanstockan is building a reputation for hosting a solid festival experience with importantly the music to boot. Mainly showcasing Irish independent bands, there is a lot to check out here over the weekend. Some of the bands I have featured on the blog before including The Eskies, The Hot Sprockets, Raglans and John Blek & The Rats will be there. Others worth seeing are Cry Monster Cry. I'm also looking forward to seeing some stuff from outside my favourite genre like New Secret Weapon and Louis Barabbas & The Bedlam Six.

Other Festivals (if you have the time)

Other ones worth checking out are briefly the Ballyshannon Folk & Traditional Festival with Eddie Redder, Paul Brady, The Lost Brothers. Then there is Ceol At The O in Navan headlined by The Bambir, for a worthy cause with loads of local bands, you never know who you might discover there. And lastly The Volvo Ocean Race comes to Galway. There is a lot going on here, fireworks, sailing and the free gigs on every night of the week which include performances from the Hot Sprockets and John Blek and The Rats and even The Stunning and The Saw Doctors. Epic might be the appropriate word.