Stendhal festival returned spectacularly to Limavady, Co. Derry featuring live performances from ASIWYFA, Jordan Adetunji, David Keenan, Sasha Samara, Duke Special, New Dad, Jealous of the Birds and more. Photos by Darren Hill.
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Having recently successfully completed a Crowdfunder campaign to ensure its release, Peter Wilson AKA Duke Special and Ulaid recorded their collaborative show The Belfast Suite across two nights at Analogue Catalogue Recording Studio in Rathfriland, Co. Down. Eimear Hurley catches up with Wilson to delve deeper into the project, as well as his own speckled, genre-spanning career to date. Over the course of your career to date you’ve been part of many diverse and fruitful collaborations. What is it that sparks your interest in collaborating with a particular artist? And what do you think makes a successful artistic partnership? I guess…
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Having released eighth studio album Look Out Machines! earlier this year Peter Wilson AKA Duke Special has been announced as the new Artist in Residence at Belfast’s Lyric Theatre. Hands down one of Northern Ireland’s most respected and consistently innovative artists, Wilson is no stranger to work in the theatre. In 2009 he appeared stage at the National Theatre in London as part of a new production of Bertolt Brecht’s play Mother Courage and Her Children for which he wrote music for a number of songs, and earlier this year he wrote the music for Youth Music Theatre’s production of Gulliver’s…
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Duke Special live at Vicar Street with support from Lisa O’Neill. Photos by Isabel Thomas.
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Duke Special played a rather lovely intimate gig in Abner Brown’s barber in Dublin last night, performing songs from his fourth studio album set for release in April. Support on the night came from Sinead White. Photos by Mark Earley.
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Bennigan’s Bar in Derry serves as the perfect venue for an intimate gig and that was just what Belfast born balladeer, Duke Special, was set to do on Friday night. Although the crowd was set-up to expect a totally warm and soft intimacy from the very start with a toned down piano and voice rendition of Duke’s ‘Freewheel’, there was a quick shift between atmosphere when his hand slamming on the keys brought the Bertolt Brecht cover of ‘Alabama Song’ forcefully to the ears of the audience. No one seemed to be taken aback as I was. Being one of…
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With the new semester upon us, more and more new shows are sprouting up in the gig calender over the next few months. Focusing on the absolute immediate future, however, here’s our comprehensively genre-spanning pick of must-see gigs taking place throughout the country over the next seven days. Seven Quarters: Twinkranes, Halves – Whelan’s, Dublin; Saturday, September 13 The third installment of Dublin gig night Seven Quarters at Whelan’s on Saturday night will see boundlessly intriguing Dublin trio Halves play their last Irish show of the year alongside critically acclaimed experimentalists TWINKRANES. If you are in any way inclined towards exceptional, forward-driven homegrown music, this is not a show…
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Taking in place in Limavady’s Ballymully Cottage Farm this summer, Stendhal Festival of Art celebrates its third birthday on the weekend of Friday 16th and Saturday 17th of August. Headlined by Duke Special and Neil Hannon of Divine Comedy, the incomparably scenic showcase is all but set up to succeed the departing Glasgowbury as the go-to Northern Irish festival of the summer. With the tagline “experience the syndrome” Stendhal is much more than a festival of homegrown musical talent. Comedy, theatre, visual art and poetry also play a huge role in ensuring a comprehensively enjoyable experience for people of all ages. Speaking of…
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Taking place at the incomparably scenic surroundings of Narrow Water Castle in Warrenpoint, Tanglewood Music and Arts festival returns for its third outing on the weekend of August 3 and 4. Headlined by globetrotting North Coast post-rock quartet And So I Watch You From Afar, the showcase also boasts a line-up including the likes of Thin Lizzy guitarist/singer-songwriter Eric Bell, electronic duo The Japanese Popstars and Belfast singer-songwriter Peter Wilson AKA Duke Special. Several up-and-coming and increasingly established homegrown acts included More Than Conquerors,Pocket Billiards and Hurdles also feature in the line-up, set to take place across four stages. Tickets – available for £35.00 for the weekend – are available to buy here.
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Set to take place on Saturday, August 31st, the inaugural Harvest festival has been unveiled. Already positing itself as Northern Ireland’s ultimate outdoor festival, the first ever line-up – taking place at Grey Abbey House – will feature Hayseed Dixie (pictured), Duke Special, Gareth Dunlop, Farriers, Emerald Armada and Belfast Community Gospel Choir. Tickets for the festival – the centrepiece of Ards 1613 festival – are available to purchase here, priced at £20.00 (children under 12 go free).