Sister Sledge live at the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival in Belfast with support from Winnie Ama. Photos by Aislinn McGinn
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Kudos to Malojian (below) for amassing such a considerable array of achievements in a relatively short period of time: touring all over the shop, winning over a legion of fans and recording four albums of hushed reverie – most notably, with big kahuna producer Steve Albini, whose sparse recoding style is fitting for Malojian’s meticulously thought out arrangements. Then, as we are told, there is the forthcoming record with Jason Lytle on which he has been working this past week. The omens and the muses are both very good, it seems. It is easy to see why. Malojian writes clever, engaging…
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Kicking off on Thursday, the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival will bring a dizzying array of talent to Belfast’s city centre for its 20th outing, including Rufus Wainwright, Echo and the Bunnymen, Anna Calvi, Teenage Fanclub, Spiritualized, Marian Keyes, Yola, UNLOVED (feat, David Holmes), Nina Conti, Horslips, Chris Difford, Roy Walker, Bill Drummond, Patty Griffin, Kevin McAleer, Lisa O’Neill, Lowkey, Bernard MacLaverty and Horslips. The 11-day festival will feature over 10 events in over 20 venues across the city centre, as it celebrates its 20th anniversary with a programme of live music, comedy, literature, theatre, film, visual art and more. Festival Director Sean Kelly said, “There are…
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It defies logic how Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival consistently deliver on world-class, exceptionally diverse programmes, year after year after year. And yet, it’s something that the festival has managed, once again, for this year. Returning to the city across May 2-12, it will welcome everyone from Teenage Fanclub, Anna Calvi and Spiritualized to Jason Lytle, Lisa O’Neill and Echo & The Bunnymen. And that’s only scratching the surface (go here to delve deep into this year’s line-up, which, as ever, spans music, words & ideas, theatre, comedy, sound & vision, visual arts, and various special events.) It gives us no…
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This year’s Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival in Belfast is already shaping up to be one of its strongest line-ups to date. With the likes of Echo & The Bunnymen already announced, today the festival has revealed three stellar bookings. On Saturday, May 4, Jason Pierce’s Spiritualized will play the Marquee. On May 7, Anna Calvi will play Custom House Square. And on Thursday, May 2, Scottish alternative rock heroes Teenage Fanclub will also play the Marquee. Go here to buy tickets. Take a bow, CQAF. Take a bow.
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Consistently stellar programming across the board aside, if there’s one thing you can rely on Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival for it’s delivering on a solid headliner. This year is no exception. Doubling up as the Ian McCullough-fronted band’s first show in the city since 2015, the Festival Marquee will play host to legendary Liverpool band Echo and the Bunnymen on Friday, May 3. Tickets are priced £25 and are on sale now.
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This evening sees Brighton based musical magpies The Go! Team bring their kaleidoscopic, crate digging pop to Custom House Square as part of the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival. With a stellar archive of hits at their disposal, a crack nine piece band and high energy support from dance pop chameleons The Correspondents, tonight’s performance promises to kick the weekend off with an amphetamine rush of sound and colour. Purveyors of the much-maligned dance subgenre ‘electro swing’, The Correspondents are prone to mixing campy cabaret stylings and big band samples with pummelling drum and bass work outs which could well make…
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This Is The Kit with support from Joshua Burnside at Rosemary St Church in Belfast as part of this year’s Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival. Photos by Joe Laverty.
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Several new names have been announced for Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival and its sister festival Out To Lunch. Set to make its 13th outing across January 5-28, Moon Duo (pictured) with support from Belfast drone-pop masters Documenta is strong addition to the Out To Lunch bill, while Ben Folds, Bridget Christie, Kate Rusby, and I’m With Her Collective are the new CQAF additions, slotting alongside the likes of Lau, An Evening with Jonathan Meades, Cosey Fanni Tutti in conversation, Shirley Collins and more next year’s schedule, which runs from May 3-13. Go here to check out the current line-ups and…
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It’s a while since Neil Hannon has toured with a full band version of The Divine Comedy, having toured last album Bang Goes The Knighthood solo back in 2010 (including a date in this same faux-starlit CQAF marquee) and having made most appearances since – such as his Mandela Hall performance upon winning 2015’s Oh Yeah Legend Award – with a stripped back trio of acoustic guitar, piano and accordion. The days of endless major label money having long since dried up, a return to the era of bringing along a full orchestra seems unlikely, but the promise of a…