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Joshua Burnside

Experimental folk artist Joshua Burnside is something of an anomaly. With a brooding, powerful sound echoing artists of places afar and time long gone, his enthralling craft strives towards an aesthetic as much as visual as it is sonic.

Balanced with a diverse palette of sounds, Burnside deftly blends alt-folk and elements of the Irish folk song tradition with South American rhythms and Eastern European influences, whilst introducing synthetic and found-sounds, synths loops and crunching beats to create a stormy world that shifts and swirls perspective like a lingering lucid dream.

This will be a live streamed performance that you will be able to view online for free, with a capped number of tickets, and the option to make a donation.

Should official public health regulations change prior to the date to allow us to offer a live performance for a limited, socially distanced audience, we will offer a strictly limited number of tickets for sale closer to the time.

Dea Matrona

Dea Matrona are a rock trio from Belfast who formed in 2018, their mutual love of classic rock and bands such as Fleetwood Mac, Led Zeppelin and The Beatles, sparked a musical chemistry between the three that continues to blossom into their own originals.

They recently played a three day stint at The Cavern Club in Liverpool to packed out audiences and have also put on headline shows in Dublin) and in Belfast which both sold out.

They have played the main stage at Dalriada Festival, Harmony Live, Sunflowerfest and Culture Night Belfast.

Footage of the girls performing went viral on Twitter and received praise from figures such as Imelda May, Carl Frampton and Michael Conlan. The girls have reached over half a million views on Facebook videos a number of times.

The band consists of sisters Mollie McGinn and Mamie McGinn as well as life long friend Orláith Forsythe. The youthful energy combined with their technical ability beyond their years is what continues to win over audiences.

This will be a live streamed performance that you will be able to view online for free, with a capped number of tickets, and the option to make a donation.

Should official public health regulations change prior to the date to allow us to offer a live performance for a limited, socially distanced audience, we will offer a strictly limited number of tickets for sale closer to the time.

Jordan Adetunji

Jordan Adetunji is a hugely exciting 21-year-old hip-hop artist and songwriter from Belfast. His dynamic style and stage presence bring a feel-good vibe to each live performance. Jordan and his amazing band have been pushing the boundaries with experimental sounds, digital lighting effects and a large catalogue of original music.

Jordan’s sing-along tracks get everyone involved as he spits bars around rhythmic, bold instrumentation, switching from rap to earthy singsong at any given time.

Recent singles WOKEUP! and Around were trending on major Spotify playlists such Rap UK, New Music Friday, Colours, among International artists such as BurnaBoy and Grammy Award winner Koffee.

Jordan has featured on the BBC Art Show Ones to Watch, BBC’s Stendhal Live, and was recently shortlisted for the  Northern Ireland Music Prize …..

By mixing genres bringing together funk, rap, soul, dancehall, afro-fusion with elements of pop-punk; the Belfast rapper is starting to make national and international waves.

Duke Special’s Gramophone Club (Live Stream)

This will be an event that turns the normal gig format on its head.  Think The Goon Show meets Tom Waits taming lions in a Victorian parlour.

Join Duke Special and Temperance Society Chip Bailey as they perform songs from the extensive Duke Special back catalogue as well as introducing the audience to features such as Chip’s Tintinnabulations, exploring old sheet music, unearthing and dancing along to hidden gems of the 7RPM world and introducing newly written songs.

Expect to laugh, cry, wonder, question the meaning of life and above all, be entertained.

This will be a live streamed performance that you will be able to view online for free, with a capped number of tickets, and the option to make a donation. 

Should official public health regulations change prior to the date to allow us to offer a live performance for a limited, socially distanced audience, we will offer a strictly limited number of tickets for sale closer to the time.

Will Self In Conversation

A sharp-eyed, merciless commentator on modern times and modern mores, from the sublime to the ridiculous – no one writes quite like Will Self. Join us for a conversation with the cult author, broadcaster and critic about his recent memoir Will.

A prolific and celebrated journalist and author of both nonfiction and fiction, his previous books include Umbrella (shortlisted for The Man Booker Prize), Shark, and The Book of Dave.

Hosted by Hugh Odling Smee.

‘Darkly angelic prose… a joy to read, with the final part in particular recalling David Foster Wallace at his best’ Alex Preston, Observer

‘Self’s writing has the same technicolour velocity, malign comedy as his best novels’ Evening Standard

Begins 7.30pm

Our favourite independent bookstore, No Alibis, are offering 10% discount so you can
buy ‘Will’ for £8.99 and support local traders at the same time!

https://noalibis.com/product/will/

Edward Carson’s Last Stand

In his acclaimed one-man show Edward Carson’s Last StandPaddy Scully depicts Carson in the London studio of the Belfast-born painter Sir John Lavery, waiting to sit for his portrait.

The show provides a valuable insight into the life and times of one of the most controversial Irishman before, during and after the turmoil of changing events of 1912.

Edward Carson’s was the first signature on the Ulster Covenant and it would have profound effects on the life of the island of Ireland.

Paddy Scully is a founding member of Belfast Theatre Company and an award-winning actor and director.

‘Edward Carson’s Last Stand is engaging, amusing and moving and puts some real flesh on the bones of this most misunderstood of Irishmen. Paddy Scully brings to bear in some of Carson’s quieter moments here, a sadness at his own lot, an almost unwilling agent of history, driven as much by what he couldn’t stand, Irish Home Rule, as what he could.’
Culture Northern IrelandDoors 12.45pm | Unreserved Seating

History of Illusion – A Faculty Lecture with Caolan McBride – Webinar

Magic has seen a huge resurgence over the past few years. Stars such as David Blaine, Dynamo and Derren Brown have brought Magic to the Masses.

Combined with highly successful T.V. shows such as Penn and Teller: Fool Us and Britain’s Got Talent (in which there were 5 magicians in the final stages in 2020), it could be argued that Magic has never had so much exposure.

The skills and secrets of these modern conjurors go back hundreds of years and even further.  In this engaging lecture Professional Magician Caolan Mc Bride takes you through the exciting and esoteric world of Illusion. With Plenty of Magic thrown in, Caolan talks about where Magic has come from and where it has been to how it fits in with today’s modern world.

Natalie Haynes – Pandora’s Jar: Women in the Greek Myths

 

Online (free)  

In traditional retellings of the Greek myths, the focus is invariably on gods and men, but in Pandora’s Jar: Women in the Greek MythsNatalie Haynes refocuses our gaze on the remarkable women at the centre of these ancient stories.
Stories of gods and monsters are the mainstay of epic poetry and Greek tragedy, from Homer to Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, from Jason and the Argonauts to the wars of Troy. Today, a wealth of novels, plays and films draw their inspiration from stories first told almost three thousand years ago. But modern tellers of Greek myth have usually been men and have rarely shown interest in telling women’s stories. And when they do, those women are often painted as monstrous, vengeful or just plain evil.
Taking Pandora and her jar as the starting point, Haynes puts the women of the Greek myths on equal footing with the menfolk. After millennia of stories telling of gods and men, be they Zeus, Odysseus or Oedipus, the voices that sing from these pages are those of Clytemnestra, Jocasta, Eurydice and Penelope.

Natalie Haynes is the author of five books. A Thousand Ships, was shortlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction 2020. Her earlier books include: The Children of Jocasta (2017), The Amber Fury (2014), and The Ancient Guide to Modern Life (2010). She has written and recorded six series of Natalie Haynes Stands Up for the Classics for BBC Radio 4. Natalie has written for The Times, The Independent, The Guardian and The Observe

Funny, sharp explications of what these sometimes not-very-nice women were up to, and how they sometimes made idiots of… but read on!” – Margaret Atwood.

“The forgotten women are vividly brought to life in this moving, intelligent and witty book” – Martha Kearney, BBC Radio 4.

This will be a live streamed performance that you will be able to view online for free, with a capped number of tickets, and the option to make a donation.

 

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Prophets, Makers and Risk Takers: A Showcase of Writing from Northern Ireland

Curated by Jan Carson, this year’s Writers’ Symposium aims to bring together leading voices in writing from Northern Ireland to discuss how our writers are approaching global issues and themes; how they are revisiting ideas associated with the history and politics of N.I. but finding new ways to tell the stories; what opportunities exist outside N.I. and how best they might promote their work internationally and finally, what makes writing from Northern Ireland so distinctive.

Dr Dawn Miranda Sherratt-Bado will deliver the keynote address and participants throughout the day will include writers Nandi Jola, Mícheál McCann, Susan McKay, Darran Anderson, Michelle Gallen and Paul McVeigh in conversation with Emma Warnock (No Alibis Press), Peggy Hughes (National Centre for Writing), Nora Hickey M’Sichili (Centre Culturel Irlandais), Jim Hinks (British Council), Damian Smyth (Arts Council N.I.) and Cathy Brown (Seamus Heaney HomePlace).

The symposium will show the breadth of talent that Northern Ireland has to offer and will give representatives from UK and international literary organisations and festivals an opportunity to sit at the table and take note. Presented by EastSide Arts with support from Arts Council of Northern Ireland.

Spud

SPUD is a topical 2 woman punk circus from Belfast, performed by award winning performers Angelique Reckless Ross and Mish Mash Thoburn.

The show includes partner acrobatics, acro-dance, tumbling, juggling, bottle walking, mini bikes, comedy, movement and household appliances.

Stop being hijacked by the consumer culture, SPUD is a circus car crash into your white picket fence, challenging complacency and activating audiences. Spoken word, text and voice-overs are mixed with the physical work to tell stories.

This will be a live streamed performance that you will be able to view online for free, with a capped number of tickets, and the option to make a donation.

Should official public health regulations change prior to the date to allow us to offer a live performance for a limited, socially distanced audience, we will offer a strictly limited number of tickets for sale closer to the time.

Alison Spittle

Alison Spittle is an award-winning writer and comedian who can regularly be heard on The Guilty Feminist and BBC Radio 4’s Grownup Land. She is the creator and star of the television series Nowhere Fast, which aired on RTÉ2 to great critical acclaim. She can currently be seen on screen in the film Extra Ordinary, in cinemas now. She also featured in RTÉ’s Celebrity Globetrotters.

Alison was a regular contributor to the RTÉ series Republic of Telly where she wrote and performed her own segment, A Guide to Mullingar. She was team captain on the panel show Choose or Lose for RTÉ 2 and also presented their coverage of Electric Picnic. She wrote and starred in Alison Spittle in Ireland, a short film produced by Baby Cow Productions for Sky Arts.

Alison’s chat show style podcast, The Alison Spittle Show has amassed a huge following with guests such as Sharon Horgan, Adam Hills and Kevin McGahern. She performs at podcast festivals across Ireland and the UK.

Alison’s stand up shows have enjoyed several sold out runs at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Dublin Fringe Festival and First Fortnight, among others. Her first play Starlet premiered to great acclaim, garnering five stars from The Sunday Times.

She has performed at numerous festivals including the Vodafone Comedy Festival at the Iveagh Gardens, Body & Soul, Electric Picnic and Kilkenny Cat Laughs as well as headlining her own show at Vicar Street.

“Whether character or citizen, Spittle comes across as a kind of genius” **** IRISH TIMES

“A real alchemist turning the mundane and absurd alike into comedy gold with her phrasing” **** ONE4REVIEW

“Spectacular in a beautifully surreal way” IRISH INDEPENDENT

Doors 7.30pm | Seated, socially distanced show

Malojian

Over the last few years Malojian has released four critically acclaimed albums (the last three of which have been nominated for the Northern Ireland Music Prize) and has collaborated with the likes of Steve Albini (Shellac, Nirvana, Low, Pixies), Joey Waronker (R.E.M., Beck, Roger Waters, Thom Yorke/Atoms for Peace) and Gerry Love (Teenage Fanclub, Lightships).

Having recently released album No. 5 Humm, a collaboration with Jason Lytle of Californian-indie- heroes Grandaddy, the world is finally waking up to one of Ireland’s most prolific and interesting artists.

“evokes such rich emotions”8/10 MOJO Magazine

“Absolutely love that…a masterpiece with a strong element of Beatles ’67…that kind of slightly woozy psychedelia…beautiful…” Ralph McLean, BBC Radio Ulster

“I love your music” Bob Harris, BBC Radio 2

“I’m completely obsessed” Gary Lightbody (Snow Patrol)

“achingly beautiful” Q Magazine“beautiful stuff” Stuart Bailie, NME, BBC Radio Ulster

“the North’s best songwriter over the last half decade” Hot Press Magazine

“beautiful” Cerys Matthews, BBC 6 Music, The Guardian

“I really and truly believe we’ve unearthed a star here and I can’t urge you strongly enough to seek out this wonderful album.” Maverick Magazine

This will be a live streamed performance that you will be able to view online for free, with a capped number of tickets, and the option to make a donation.

Should official public health regulations change prior to the date to allow us to offer a live peformance for a limited, socially distanced audience, we will offer a strictly limited number of tickets for sale closer to the time.

When I Get to Heaven – A John Prine Afternoon

When John Prine lost his fight against COVID-19 in April this year, music fans around the world were bereft at the passing of a truly great song-writing genius.

The musical legacy of the former postman from Illinois will endure for generations however in the beautiful simplicity of songs like Sam StoneLake Marie and Paradise.

Today we celebrate that legacy in the company of Illegal Smile, Ireland’s foremost interpreters of Prine’s work featuring Barry Johnston, Davy Neill, Michael ConwaySam Davidsonand Ali Mooney.

Pour yourself a Handsome Johnny – John’s favourite (Vodka, Ginger Ale, lime) and settle down for an afternoon of great music.

This will be a live streamed performance that you will be able to view online for free, with a capped number of tickets, and the option to make a donation. 

Should official public health regulations change prior to the date to allow us to offer a live performance for a limited, socially distanced audience, we will offer a limited number of tickets for sale closer to the time.

Amanda St John & Band (Live Stream)

“If Dusty Springfield were alive she’d say ‘that’s my girl’” – Grammy winning US producer Jon Tiven)

Amanda St John is a powerhouse singer and songwriter who is heavily inspired by soul, R&B and gospel music. Following in the footsteps of her idols Aretha Franklin and Etta James, Amanda (along with co-writer/guitarist Paul Tierney and co-writer/drummer/producer Michael Mormecha) travelled to the USA in May 2018 and made history by becoming the first independent Irish artist to record in the legendary FAME Studios, Muscle Shoals.

Gaining substantial interest in Ireland and the UK including extensive airplay on the BBC and RTE Radio 1 as well as reviews in Hot Press and The Irish Times, Amanda is known for her passionate and powerful live performances and is fast establishing herself as one of Ireland’s leading vocalists.

This gig is to celebrate the full digital and vinyl launch of the album The Muscle Shoals Sessions which has been receiving excellent press reviews:

‘What a voice! Powerful!’RTE RADIO 1

‘Amanda’s the real deal….a hugely engaging performer’ –  DAILY MIRROR

‘Feisty and fresh soul infused vocals…a must listen!’ – Hot Press

‘On the verge of stardom….(her) outstanding voice stretches across octaves…it’s glorious!’ – FOLK AND TUMBLE

This will be a live streamed performance that you will be able to view online for free, with a capped number of tickets, and the option to make a donation. 

Brìghde Chaimbeul

Brìghde Chaimbeul (Solo)

Winner of the 2016 BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award, and 2017 Scots Trad Music Awards ‘Up and Coming’ nominee, Skye musician and piper Brìghde Chaimbeul is one of Scotland’s fastest rising stars.

A native Gaelic speaker, her style is rooted in her indigenous language and culture, but draws inspiration from a variety of piping traditions such as from Cape Breton, Eastern Europe and Ireland.

Brìghde launched her debut album The Reeling on River Lea Records at a special concert at Celtic Connections 2019. The record is inspired by old tunes from the gaelic song traditions, as well as global piping traditions that have been of significant influence to Brìghde’s music.

It is performed entirely on smallpipes in C, and features acclaimed fiddler Aidan O Rourke (Lau), the legendary Rona MacDonald Lightfoot of South Uist, and the amazing Radie Peat (Lankum) on concertina.

Working closely with Aidan O’Rourke, Brìghde has devised a completely new way of arranging for pipe music that emphasises the rich textural drones of the smallpipes; the constancy of sound that creates a trance-like quality in the tunes. This will be very special.

“Simultaneously ancient and modern, profound and direct.”
Folk Album of the Month – The Guardian

“A unique, exciting and forward-looking album that sets the bar for 2019 very high indeed.”
– The Quietus

“Exciting, unusual and gorgeous.”
– Songlines

“Pure, vital energy… exceptional playing.”
– Folk Radio

Ciaran Lavery

Ciaran Lavery’s Plz Stay, bb was born out of a period of personal and professional turmoil. Ciaran was nearing the end of delivering his last album, 2018’s Sweet Decay, and it had been a difficult process. It was then that he started to write again, and the beguiling single October, with its dreamy electronica and soft vocals, was the song to kick start his new album.

“I came out the other side feeling quite raw and a little bit empty,” he says. “I really lost my way.”

The title itself, Plz Stay, bb, was a note that Ciaran had written to himself, as a message of self care. But this is not the maudlin album of a sensitive singer-songwriter. Among autobiographical themes, he bravely tackles the competitiveness of the music industry, laying bare his jealousy of other seemingly more successful artists with witty honesty in Oh Fuck, and in the desperation of the urgent Bella Union, on which the vocal groove and funky bassline add a trip-hop vibe to repeated lyrics “Now I’m hungry again, I’ve got to get it together”. It shimmers with subtle electronica, warm vocals and driving rhythms – and lyrics that tell it just how it is, with plenty of self-motivation thrown in.

Having grown up in Aghagallon in County Antrim, Ciaran wanted to break free from the preconceptions surrounding Irish singer-songwriters. With Plz Stay, bb he pushed himself, while retaining the distinctive warm vocals and finger-picked guitar of his previous releases that have been nominated for and won the Northern Ireland Music Prize (2016’s Let Bad In).

Ciaran listened to Thom Yorke’s The Eraser, Mitski’s Be The Cowboy, Bjork’s Debut, and that 90s-defining hip-hop album by the Beastie Boys, Ill Communication – and his music sees a heightened energy, as percussion is brought to the forefront.

Ciaran counts Zane Lowe as a fan, and in 2016 he was one of 30 artists hand-selected by Willie Nelson to play at his Luck ranch in Texas. With well over 120,000,000 plays on Spotify and 30,000 followers, the plaudits keep coming Ciaran’s way.

A Taste of Belfast and Brussels

Since 2012, the Office of the Northern Ireland Executive in Brussels has worked with the Arts Council of Northern Ireland to present a Culture Night showcase of the best of Northern Irish arts and culture, bringing a host of musicians, writers and performers to Brussels and introducing their work to an appreciative international audience.

Over the years the programme has featured acclaimed NI talent including Joshua Burnside and Grainne Holland and the event has now become a highlight of the Brussels cultural calendar.

For obvious reasons, the 2020 edition has had to be reimagined for the post-COVID world and, as a result, we are delighted to present this online version of the event featuring some of the artists who have taken part in previous years.

An enticing taster, this programme features a selection of established artists and up-and-coming talent, all specially recorded performing in the historic Rosemary Street Church.

The Artists:

Singer-songwriter Anthony Toner is a gifted guitarist and one of Northern Ireland’s most popular live acts, with a wonderfully warm and lyrical style.

Songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and comedienne Ursula Burns has been smashing the stereo-typical image of the harp for 25 years by performing and touring the world with her music through Song writing, Theatre, Circus and Comedy. Having played everywhere from the Albert Hall to the boot of her Tardis Imaginarium,

Stephen Connolly is a writer and publisher who runs The Lifeboat Press. He edited New Poets from the North of Ireland with Sinéad Morrissey for Blackstaff Press and his poems have appeared in Poetry (Chicago) and Poetry Ireland Review. He is currently writing a book about running.

Northern Irish singer songwriter Ciara O’Neill has received international attention and acclaim over the last 6 years working with some of the greats in Nashville

This year Ciara has already recorded a socially distanced performance for a short film created with Tourism Ireland and Distant Sky. She will release a new EP early 2021 and is working on her third album.

The event is presented with the support of the Office of the Northern Ireland Executive in Brussels and Arts Council NI.

Wild Winter Food – A Faculty Lecture with Clare McQuillan – Webinar

When we cosy up in our homes during the winter months it might look like everything in nature has gone to sleep but there are short lived, ephemeral and evergreen wild edible plants to find if you wrap up, head out and discover them.

Join foraging guide Clare McQuillan of Feasting on Weeds for a guide to a wild winter forage from the comfort of your own home. This video will run alongside a webinar Q&A session with Clare.

Frederick Douglass, Belfast, Ireland and Anti-slavery

Frederick Douglass was one of the most famous people of the 19th century. An escaped slave he became one of the most powerful anti-slavery advocates in the world. In 1845, partly to elude slave-catchers who wished to return him into bondage, he travelled to Ireland and Britain where he was hosted by the vibrant anti-slavery movement in these islands, which included figures such as Daniel O’Connell, and Belfast’s Issac Nelson and Mary Anne McCracken.

This talk will explore Frederick Douglass’ life and times and the continuing relevance of his lessons. It will pay particular attention to his time in Belfast and Ireland, and the role of the Irish anti-slavery movement when “Catholic, Protestant and Dissenter” were united in one of history’s great human rights struggles.

Dr Aidan McQuade is an independent consultant on human rights and humanitarian response. He was CEO of Anti-Slavery International from 2006 to 2017, and prior to that worked extensively in development and humanitarian operations for 13 years.

He is an experienced researcher on business and human rights, with a PhD on the subject of ethical choice-making in professional practice. He is also an acknowledged expert on slavery and forced labour, having work that has exposed caste and gender aspects of modern slavery, and, particularly in Myanmar and Bangladesh, on slavery as a development and humanitarian issue. He is the author of The Undiscovered Country, described by Claire Hanna, MP for South Belfast, as, “A cracker read about morality and ethics in a time of conflict . . . A really accessible way of getting into complex stuff on nation-building and justice.”

This will be a live streamed performance that you will be able to view online for free, with a capped number of tickets, and the option to make a donation.

Brian Moore @ 100 – Roundtable Event (Online)

A novelist and screenwriter of huge International distinction, Brian Moore was born in Belfast in 1921 and in a long literary career produced classics such as The Lonely Passion of Judith HearneThe Feast of Lupercal and Black Robe.

Join us for a roundtable discussion of Brian Moore’s work with some of his most enthusiastic readers:

Scott Bradfield, novelist, short story writer and critic. Author of (most recently) Dazzle Resplendent: Adventures of a Misanthropic Dog (2017) and former student of Brian Moore’s at UCLA.

Jan Carson, writer and community arts facilitator. Author of (most recently) The Fire Starters (2019).

Patricia Craig, writer, anthologist and literary critic. Author of Brian Moore: A Biography (2002).

Eamonn Hughes, writer and literary critic. Co-editor (most recently), with Van Morrison, of Keep ‘Er Lit: Selected Lyrics of Van Morrison (2020).

––––

This event will take place online via Zoom. To register https://www.eventbrite.com/e/launch-event-for-brian-moore-at-100-roundtable-discussion-tickets-126070607581

 

Brian Moore at 100 is a project run by Prof. Sinead Moynihan (University of Exeter and Dr. Alison Garden (Queen’s University Belfast), with the generous support of the British Academy and Leverhulme Trust

https://blogs.exeter.ac.uk/bm2021/

Twitter: @brianmoore100

This will be a live streamed discussion that you will be able to view online for free, with a capped number of tickets.

Laura Bates – Men Who Hate Women

In her new urgent and ground-breaking book, Laura Bates, bestselling author and founder of The Everyday Sexism Project, goes undercover to expose vast misogynist networks and communities. It’s a deep dive into the worldwide extremism nobody talks about.

Interviews with former members of these groups and the people fighting against them give unique insights on how this movement operates. Ideas are spread from the darkest corners of the internet – via trolls, media and celebrities – to schools, workplaces and the corridors of power, becoming a part of our collective consciousness.

Uncensored, and sometimes both shocking and terrifying – this is the uncomfortable truth about the world we live in. And what we must do to change it.

Laura Bates studied English at Cambridge University and went on to be a freelance journalist. She has written for the Guardian, the Independent, the New Statesman, Red Magazine and Grazia among others. She is also contributor at Women Under Siege, a New-York based organisation working to combat the use of sexual violence as a tool of war in conflict zones worldwide.

“Laura Bates has done it again. From bantz to outright brutality, she exposes the landscape of misogyny. Passionate and forensic, Bates produces a powerful feminist clarion call. The world needs to take notice. Things must change” – Anita Anand.

The Ulster Quartet

“Amazing”, “Mind Blowing”, “Fabulous” – Just some of the words used to describe The Ulster String Quartet – who have been wowing audiences across Northern Ireland and beyond for the last 10 years since they formed in 2010.

Currently members of the Ulster Orchestra – Danny, Sian, Thomas and Nicholas forged their friendship through their love of music long before having all studied together at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.

Well known for their wide-ranging repertoire, when USQ perform you can be sure there will be something for everyone to enjoy – from Mozart, Debussy & Mascagni to The Beach Boys, Elbow and Billy Joel!

Also known for their collection of quartet arrangements of iconic film music scores, USQ have made numerous appearances at film festivals across NI – most notably presenting their specially created Film Music journey at both the Belfast and Foyle Film Festivals.

This will be a pre-recorded performance that you will be able to view online for free, with a capped number of tickets, and the option to make a donation. 

Should official public health regulations change prior to the date to allow us to offer a live performance for a limited, socially distanced audience, we will offer a strictly limited number of tickets for sale closer to the time.

New Pagans, Cherym & Mel Bradley

Belfast band New Pagans latest single Yellow Room was released August 2020 and went on to become Steve Lamacq’s ‘Record Of The Week’ on his BBC 6 Music show. The track takes inspiration from the novel The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, which is celebrated as an important piece of early American feminist literature.

The band use their creative influence to challenge past and present issues surrounding relationships, equality, history, and gender, all wrapped up in their alternative, post-punk, indie rock style.

New Pagans are one of the most exciting and interesting rising acts, both sonically and visually. The band’s name is a reference to the Latin paganus, originally meaning villager or outsider, reflecting their mission to stay removed from the city rules and the orthodox.

One of the band’s first releases – in September 2016 – was Lily Yeats, a tribute to the sister of poet William Butler Yeats and the artist Jack Butler Yeats, influenced by singer Lyndsey’s study of Women’s History in Ireland.

Skip to pre-pandemic 2020, the band toured the UK in support of  Glacial Erratic – a 6-track EP, which featured the singles it’s Darker, NI Music Prize 2020 ‘Best Single’ nominee ‘Charlie Has The Face Of A Saint’ and Admire.  The EP has saw a wave of support for the band from BBC Radio 6 Music and Radio 1 by the likes of Chris Hawkins, Daniel P Carter, Phil Taggart, Huw Stephens and Jack Saunders as well as  BBC Introducing, Kerrang Radio, Amazing Radio and more. They went on to win ‘Best Live Act’ at the 2020 Northern Ireland Music Prize.

The New Pagans voice is a loud and important one, with much more still to come for 2020 and beyond. We’re delighted to welcome them to Out to Lunch.

Cherym

Serving up their own unique recipe of pop-rock, Cherym are a three-piece from Derry. The trio’s identity was born of a joint love of Garage Rock, Pop Punk and a desire to be the biggest band in the world.

Their self-released debut EP Mouthbreatherz racked up over 20,000 organic streams and garnered them fans all over Ireland, earning them slots at a number of prominent festivals and support roles for notable bands such as local legends And So I Watch You From Afar and Fangclub. Cherym won the ‘Oh Yeah Contender’ award at the NI Music prize in 2019, which was sponsored by BBC Introducing.

The band released their latest singles ‘Abigail // Weird Ones  in May 2020, which has been their most successful release yet, with support from both DSP editorial play-listing and National radio. Abigail has received support from BBC Introducing, where it debuted on Huw Stephens’ show. In February 2020, the band embarked on a series of dates with Yonaka, including sold-out shows in Dublin and Belfast. In August 2020, Abigail was nominated for best single at the NI Music Prize.

Mel Bradley

Mel Bradley is a spoken word artist, writer, theatre-maker, multimedia artist and actor. She is an ACNI and DCSDC supported outspoken queer feminist performer with an unhealthy obsession with the Virgin Mary.

Mel has performed at various festivals and venues from the Royal Albert Hall to Body & Soul and Edinburgh Fringe. She is the writer of Proud To Be – Beyond the Labels of Me commissioned by the Playhouse Theatre, a play examining the lived experiences of LGBTQ+ people living in Northern Ireland. Her show Ms Noir’s Seven Deadly Sins was livestreamed as part of the Derry Halloween online programme.

The Henry Girls (Live Stream)

Sisters Karen, Lorna and Joleen McLaughlin, collectively known as The Henry Girls, make music that will give you goosebumps. The harmonising, lilting, melting voices imbue their music with overwhelming romanticism, although the very classic and traditional folk sound is given an edge with Americana, bluegrass and blues sounds.

Recent album Far Beyond the Stars has won massive praise, not least for the sister’s knack of creating authentic original material rich in traditional values. Their tight three-part harmonies are matched by soulful musicianship across a range of instruments including harp, fiddle, accordion, ukulele, piano and a few more in-between.

In our view there are few better ways to spend a Saturday afternoon

This will be a live streamed performance that you will be able to view online for free, with a capped number of tickets, and the option to make a donation. 

No Oil Paintings

No Oil Paintings are an alternative-folk band from Belfast who use typical folk instrumentation and four-part harmonies to produce music that’s a little wilder than is often associated with the genre.

The band switch and share vocal leads, each member playing to their own strengths and bringing their own style to the songs they shepherd. Expect to hear everything from swampy blues rock to straight-up country waltzes.

During their career they have had many notable successes, some of which include headlining stages atSunflower Festival, Stendhal Festival and Open House Festival.

Other live accomplishments include playing the prestigious Mandela Hall supportingThe Emerald Armada, a sold-out launch on the Belfast Barge for their debut release, and more recently being chosen by Hannah Peel to partake in the online Mix the City project joining 95 musicians and curators in 12 locations to create a creative platform representing Belfast.

‘Think less Earl Scruggs and more Jack White.’ – Our Back Yard Festival.

‘For serious fans of country and folk music, No Oil Paintings are a must-see.’ – Folk & Tumble.

‘Too Close to the Sun is a must-hear EP for anyone attracted to folk music and vocal harmony.’ – Chordblossum.

Villiers and the Villains

Not long ago, on the third Saturday afternoon of every month, an air of decadence would descend as the jet black blinds of an upstairs room of the American Bar in Sailortown were pulled down and fans settled in for two hours of original music by Villiers and The Villains.

For the price of a couple of pints in the no-frills Belfast bar you could hear a band that appeared at Electric Picnic, were played on BBC Radio Scotland by Ricky Ross, featured on RTE music programmes, admired by Fiachna Ó Braonáin of Hothouse Flowers and championed by long-time supporter Ralph McLean of BBC Radio Ulster.

Their alt-country blues sound, akin to Dylan or Prine, has attracted a discerning audience and solid following with gigs at Kilkenny Roots FestivalWhelan’s and a plethora of shows and festivals across the country.

Off the road for last nine months, Tony Villiers, the band’s singer and songwriter, has continued writing and has recently produced a lockdown song to remind us all that one day the good times will return. Hear the new song live for the first time during Out To Lunch on January 23rd.

“Villiers and The Villains would blow away any roots music audience anywhere” Trevor Hodgett, R&R Magazine

One of the best bands in the country… storming sets… quite magical” / “Superb songwriting rooted in a great tradition.” Ralph McLean, BBC Radio Ulster

“…frantic, dirty blues sounds of the 60’s Reeperbahn. Other more tender moments drip with an ‘Astral Weeks’ like sweet cherry wine” Folk & Tumble

“Dylan and The Band in The Big Pink basement, after a couple of bottles of red” R2 Magazine

“You want your support to be good…but not this good!” Mark Kermode, BBC / The Dodge Brothers

Jim ‘The King’ Brown

The Good Lord giveth and the Good Lord taketh away. Sadly, Villiers and the Villains had to cancel tonight due to COVID-19 but Jim ‘The King’ Brown was able to step into the breach and perform for our Out to Lunch audience.

Born in Belfast and married with five children, the young King was reluctantly hauled on stage at a works karaoke. When the crowd went berserk he realised he might be on to something. He took a two-year sabbatical from his job at the Post Office and headed out on the road.

Swiftly picked up by EMI, he released the Gravelands album to rave reviews. It was a marvel. The King stamped the indelible mark of Elvis across the songs of the latest and the greatest, belting out tunes like Nirvana’s Come As You Are and Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart as if they were written for the boy Presley himself.

The King takes the Elvis legend and builds on it. Where jobbing impersonators merely mirror Elvis, The King becomes him. Every gesture, every smirk, every vocal nuance is the purest Presley, but at the same time he’s so natural you’d be forgiven for thinking you were watching the great man himself.

Join us on Saturday night for an hour of pure entertainment.

Matt McGinn & Guests – Lessons of War

Matt McGinn is an Irish songwriter like no other. It’s obvious by now that with the release of his 4th album Lessons of War, Matt does not follow any blueprint in any genre. Although the sentiment of his lyrics are forged in folk music, the sonic landscape he creates can really transcend most genres.

His 2018 album The End of the Common Man won praise far and wide – AMERICANA UK called it ‘an outstanding blend of soulful passion and melody that will haunt and inspire.’

Early critical acclaim is already coming in for Lessons of War with Line of Best Fit declaring it ‘a plaintive and devastating reassessment of the futilities of war, its horrors, effects and after-effects’. The lead single Bubblegum featuring Ciara O’Neill has been labelled as “one of the best singles you will hear this year” by HOT PRESS magazine.

Matt’s work is filled with tension and emotion, adding some ointment to the disparaging current affairs of today. This album was Matt’s own way of coming to terms with the world’s mistreatment of decent people over this last few years.

Teaming up with leading Irish songwriters like Mick Flannery, Ciaran Lavery and Ben Glover, the album tackles the huge subject of war and its affects. At the same time he sought out musicians from areas of conflict across the world to play their part on this important work.

In this unique festival event, Matt will be joined by his very special guests Ciara O’Neill and Ria Maguire, who both feature heavily on Lessons of War. Also on stage will be Matt’s incredible touring band that includes Nicky Scott and piano virtuoso, John McCullough.

‘Well isn’t that just extraordinary?…A tune that jumps out of the speakers and shakes hands with your ears’ –  TOM ROBINSON, 6MUSIC

‘A track that puts goosebumps on your goosebumps’ –  HOT PRESS

‘Fantastic…stops you in your tracks.’ – LYNETTE FAY, BBC RADIO ULSTER

 ‘It just keeps getting better and better with every listen.’ –  RALPH MCLEAN, BBC RADIO ULSTER

Doors 1:30pm | Unreserved Seating

 

Preserving for the Apocalypse – A Faculty Lecture

There is little in life more satisfying (and reassuring) than a well-stocked larder with rows of gleaming jars each filled to the brim with homemade jams, jellies, sauces and ferments.

With Brexit shortages and pandemic panics there has never been a better time to learn a few essential preserving techniques. Let Erin, from The Edible Flower, guide you through four essential preserves – a jam, a chutney, a ketchup and sauerkraut – providing a master recipe for each that can be adapted to a myriad of different fruits, vegetables and spices.

Then you can merrily go forth preserving, safe in the knowledge that whatever 2021 brings you will have plenty of jam!

This will be a live streamed performance that you will be able to view online for free, with a capped number of tickets, and the option to make a donation.

A Rabbie Burns Lunch (Live Stream)

Today is all about celebrating the poet and Scottish hero Robert Burns. And what better way to do so than by reading and sharing some of the great man’s most famous works.

Scotland’s favourite son Robert ‘Rabbie’ Burns was known as the Ploughman Poet, the Bard of Ayrshire or simply The Bard. Burns was born on January 25, 1759 and Burns celebrations have been held in his honour on this date for over 200 years.

We’ll be having a special Burns celebration complete with a piper, toasts, a bit of poetry and some famous Burns songs led by singer songwriter Hugh Jordan.

The Selkirk Grace

Some hae meat and canna eat,
And some wad eat that want it;But we hae meat, and we can eat
Sae let the Lord be thankit.

This will be a live streamed performance that you will be able to view online for free, with a capped number of tickets, and the option to make a donation. 

The Minotaur Speaks – A Faculty Lecture

If you’ve spent time in Belfast City Centre over the last few weeks, you’ll have noticed something very different taking place in the Entries off High Street and Corn Market.

Artists from across the UK and Ireland have helped transformed these previously dank and neglected spaces through vivid, playful pieces of contemporary street art.

The language of street art echoes the edgier, complex, almost covert character of the Entries. And street art is a language the population of Belfast understand, it is a tradition with a long and colourful history that continues to grow and evolve with each new generation of artists

Gemma Reid and Adam Turkington from Daisy Chain Inc, who researched and programmed this scheme will take you through the rich history of this area of Belfast and explain the process, the challenges and the hidden meanings of this new body of work.

They’ll also consider what role there is for creatives in rebuilding our civic centres as retail continues to collapse.

Emer Maguire – Is Laughter Really the Best Medicine? – A Faculty Lecture

We’re probably finding it a little harder to laugh these days with everything that’s going on in the world…but when we do find something hilarious, there’s no better feeling than those joyful, laugh out loud moments.

But why do we laugh? Why do we all find different things funny? Is there a recipe for a good joke? Are comedians born and not made? Does humour affect our health, and does laughter make us live longer?

Musical comedian and science communicator Emer Maguire explores these questions for us through a lighthearted lens, and hopefully makes us laugh along the way.

This will be a live streamed performance that you will be able to view online for free, with a capped number of tickets, and the option to make a donation.

Richard Herring – The Problem with Men – Webinar

For the past decade, Richard Herring has been answering sexist trolls on International Women’s Day when they ask ‘when is International Men’s Day?’ in the mistaken belief there isn’t one.

If only the trolls had learned to use Google they would realise that there is an International Men’s Day – it’s on November 19th.

In The Problem with Men Richard expands on his Twitter discussions and tackles some of the big questions surrounding the problems of toxic masculinity – for women, but also for men – including:

– Should men fear feminism?

– Is society sexist against men?

– Could you win a point against Serena Williams?

*spoiler* The answer to all of these is no.

With Richard’s signature humour and insight, The Problem with Men is a book for anyone striving for an equal society, all year round.

‘The problem with The Problem with Men is that I do believe men will have less trouble with it than the title suggests as it is actually a glorious, funny book written by a glorious funny man‘ AISLING BEA


‘This is a great book but I think the last thing it needs is a quote by yet another man’ JAMES ACASTER

Martin Lynch – Live podcast

Out to Lunch join forces with the Best of Belfast podcast for a livestreamed conversation with one’s of Belfast’s most celebrated playwrights and a genuine force of nature – Martin Lynch.

Born and brought up in the Docks area of Belfast, Martin started out in Community Theatre at Turf Lodge in the heart of West Belfast. He was soon appointed Resident Playwright at the Lyric Theatre where his early plays of strong political and social themes had a huge impact, attracting large audiences.

His recent election to Aosdána is a fitting culmination of a 35 year writing career which has seen Martin’s work produced in many parts of the world including the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Brighton Festival, the USA, Romania, Russia, Canada and Australia.

He has also written many plays for BBC Radio 3 and 4. He co-wrote the screenplay for the Sam Goldwyn film, A Prayer For The Dying starring Mickey Rourke, Bob Hoskins and Liam Neeson.

Music in the Glen

Music In The Glen are an exciting trio performing the very best of Irish traditional music. 

Featuring the combined talents of Brendan Mulholland (flute) and founding Réalta members Conor Lamb (uilleann pipes, whistles) and Deirdre Galway (guitar), these musicians deliver the infectious rhythm and soul which are the hallmarks of Irish music.

Forged from a relationship of 20 years playing music together, Conor and Brendan have joined forces with Deirdre on accompaniment to create a sound that draws upon a long-developed bond and mutual musical understanding.

Each musician is a respected artist in their own field. Through different projects they have performed across the globe from Belfast to Washington, Moscow and Seoul in venues ranging from your local folk club to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and the Milwaukee Irish Festival Main Stage.

Individually they have featured on a dozen albums and have performed with a variety of international acts including Réalta, Gráinne Holland, Craobh Rua, Micky McCluskey and Mary Dillon. Collectively they are one of the finest trios on the Irish music scene today.

Music In The Glen’s debut album was released in January 2018 and the launch concert in the Black Box was a truly memorable, sold out show. Tonight’s show promises to be no less memorable. 

Teresa Livingstone – Class

Teresa Livingstone is a classy lady, at least she tries to be despite everything being a 40-something Northern Irish woman throws at her.

She spent her thirties being delighted by the success of others and her ever-fluctuating weight but her forties are here and there’s no time like the present to rewrite the rules.

As seen on BBC’s The Blame Game, Soft Border Patrol and Late Licence.

“One of the few Belfast acts moving away from traditional stand up” The Guardian 

“With hilarious songs like “Cake and Wine” and “Nice Ladies”, no one escapes Teresa’s commentary.” Belfast Live 

This will be a live streamed performance that you will be able to view online for free, with a capped number of tickets, and the option to make a donation.

Should official public health regulations change prior to the date to allow us to offer a live performance for a limited, socially distanced audience, we will offer a strictly limited number of tickets for sale closer to the time.

The Linley Hamilton/Matt Curran Quartet

Dr Linley Hamilton, in his guise as Music Lecturer at Ulster University (Magee), has uncovered some rare talent in the college with mature students joining the degree course to further their jazz career.

Matt Curran, a recent 1st Class Masters graduate, has had a stellar career on the Country circuit and as a session musician and now he and Linley have come together to explore common musical ground.

John Hodge (bass) is no stranger to the music scene in Ireland and is one of the few electric bass players to occupy the genre in Ireland.

The band is completed by young derry drummer John Goodman, a multi-faceted musician drawn to fusion and modern jazz.

The repertoire for the night will come from Linley’s 4 albums as well as some spicy new arrangements that will feature the whole of this exciting new Quartet.

The 4 of Us

We’re finishing this year’s Out to Lunch with a livestreamed show by perennial festival favourites, The 4 of Us.

Thirty years of playing together, and, as new album Heaven and Earth demonstrates, the creativity of brothers, Brendan and Declan Murphy, shows no sign of abating.

The pair have forged a unique musical identity, producing original and award-winning recordings and building a loyal fan base along the way.

With an enviable catalogue of timeless songs including Mary, Washington Down, She Hits Me, Sunlight and Sugar Island, expect some beautiful songs, stunning interplay and great stories from the road.

The 4 Of Us have been a steadfast part of Irish music for three decades and gained some glowing reviews along the way.

Fix yourself a drink and join us for the finale of a very different Out to Lunch this year.

‘Never before have I been to a gig where the atmosphere has been so electric’ – THE IRISH NEWS

Amy Montgomery

Amy has had a fantastic year. If you haven’t come across her yet, she is outstanding. The first thing that grabs your attention about Amy Montgomery is her raw and beautiful voice honed from relentless busking throughout Ireland. Her vocals seem to channel the spirit of Janis Joplin and Grace Slick whilst also acknowledging her all-time favourite Alanis Morissette.

In late 2019 Amy performed three headline shows in Belfast, London and Dublin. The shows were highly charged. Emotions swung from happiness and smiles to audience members literally weeping – these three shows proved incontrovertibly that Amy, at just 20, is ready to take on the world.

Festivals have included Electric Picnic, Stendhal, a main
stage Glastonbury slot, Cambridge Folk Festival Main Stage, Black DeerA Summer’s Tale in Germany, A tour of Australia is booked and now Rolling Stone Beach and Park Weekenders in Germany. It really has been an incredible response – but when you hear her voice, you’ll get an idea of why.

Doors 7.00pm | Standing/Limited Unreserved Seating

 

SOLD OUT – Dea Matrona

Hailing from Carryduff and Dundrum, Dea Matrona formed in 2018. Their mutual love of classic rock and bands such as Fleetwood Mac, Led Zeppelin, Prince and The Beatles, sparked a musical chemistry between the three that continues to blossom into their own originals.

The band consists of sisters Mollie McGinn and Mamie McGinn as well as life-long friend Orláith Forsythe. All three members are multi-instrumentalists and started playing together after deciding that busking would be a happier alternative than getting a part time job. The success of their busking videos reaching up to 60K views on Facebook encouraged them to take things more seriously

Their infectious enthusiasm for churning out hard hitting guitar riffs whilst being able to strip their music down to the core with glistening acoustic guitar lines and soulful melodies, has captured the hearts of audiences across Ireland, earlier this year, the famous Cavern Club in Liverpool. Get your Out to Lunch festival of to a rousing start with this fast-emerging trio.

Doors 12.30pm | Unreserved Seating

DJ Yoda – Tarantino AV Show

DJ Yoda’s Tarantino AV Show explores the work of one of Hollywood’s most iconic directors, in a live spectacular.

The multi award-winning producer takes to the turntables for a new spin on Tarantino’s well-loved cult classics.

Expect the unexpected and everything in-between from this preview, as DJ Yoda reinvigorates his craft with wry invention and humorous intent.

Yoda’s AV show is perfect for hardcore fans of Tarantino (Pulp Fiction / Once Upon A Time In Hollywood) as well as newly introduced audiences. It’s sure to be a night of epic production from one of the UK’s freshest DJs.

 

The Vinyl Revival

The Vinyl Revival is a 43-minute documentary that follows on from acclaimed Last Shop Standing and directed and produced again by Pip Piper.

It came out on Record Store Day 2019 as part of a gatefold album featuring artists from the Distiller label.

The Vinyl Revival explores the renaissance in all things vinyl. We hear from passionate new record shops owners as well the established die-hards still going and thriving. We speak with musicians and music industry pundits, experts on culture and music history.

The film discusses the importance of the record shop and vinyl as a whole. We answer the why’s of vinyl’s revival, the human need for belonging, the love of history, and the stories of how the humble little record shop has shaped so many lives.

Doors 3.45pm | Unreserved Seating

 

This event is supported by Film Hub NI, part of the BFI FAN Network.

 

 

SOLD OUT – Cerys Matthews – Where the Wild Cooks Go

With host, Kim Lenaghan 

Join BBC broadcaster Cerys Matthews, as she takes us around the world, celebrating her love of food and music.

Song-loving cook or food-loving musician? Either way, Cerys Matthews has been experimenting with music and food ever since she can remember.

From foraging and chewing on knotweed to cooking flapjacks and nettle soup as a young child, her interest in this planet’s edibles has never waned.

A life of touring guaranteed further culinary exploration: thousand-hole pancakes, amlou, roasted artichokes, vermouth with anchovy-filled green olives, death by chocolate, za’atar sprinkled on fresh tomatoes, hot baked soda bread, pineapple with chilli, crispy sage leaves and vegan haggis are just a few of the recipes she’ll be celebrating.

And now, to mark the recent publication of her glorious new book, Where the Wild Cooks Go, she is bringing her culinary, literary and historical learnings, from around the globe to Out to Lunch.

She will indulge us with some poetry readings and a sprinkling of singing, playing a few of her favourite songs from the countries that she has visited.

Cerys Matthews will be signing books after the event.

SOLD OUT – Nine Below Zero

Nine Below Zero are one of Britain’s most respected R&B bands, famous for their no-frills, punchy and direct approach

Forty years since Nine Below Zero first offered a rhythm & blues alternative to the punk-pop of the mainstream, the south Londoners make a welcome return to Out to Lunch with their Are We There Yet? tour.

Formed in 1979 and named after the famous Sonny Boy Williamson song, in 1980 they signed to A&M Records and released the seminal Live at the Marquee album. By the end of that year, they had moved from selling out the Marquee to selling out the Hammersmith Odeon.

With a reputation as “one of the best blues bands around today” for their scintillating live performances, this show will not disappoint – expect a fearsome, supercharged set from start to finish.

Doors 7:30pm | Limited Unreserved Seating

The Utopia Strong // Steve Davis & Kavus Torabi DJ Set

For this massive post-Christmas shindig we are delighted to bring you… The Utopia Strong! Snooker legend Steve Davis and Prog guitarist Kavus Torabi have teamed up with Coils Michael J. York for this amazing new project.

Kavus Torabi, Michael York and Steve Davis have fused Modular Synthesisers with conventional and traditional instruments to create a weird and joyous celebration of all that is good about left field psychedelic music.

Kavus Torabi is an experimental/psychedelic musician with a long history in the field. He has his own band, Knifeworld, and is frontman in the current line-up of Gong. He has been a member in various other bands including Guapo and most notably a guitarist in the final line up of Cardiacs.

Steve Davis was the most successful professional Snooker player of the 1980’s, winning a total of 28 major ranking events including 6 World Championships.

In recent years he has indulged in music related activities, namely collecting left field music from around the globe, co-presenting a monthly radio show on NTS Radio and now joining forces with Kavus and Michael York to form The Utopia Strong, further cementing his growing interest in playing the Modular Synth.

Michael York is a multi-instrumentalist and luthier, working mainly with modular/analogue synths and woodwinds (primarily focusing on bagpipes, reeds and flutes of Europe and the Near East). His piping has seen him work not only in the realm of folk, with the likes of Shirley Collins and avant garde ensembles Coil, Cyclobe, Current 93, Guapo and The Stargazers Assistant.

‘The overall sound was pretty accidental. I certainly didn’t expect the music to sound so ecstatic and positive. Without wanting to puncture the mystery, there really felt like an element of magic at play in making this album’ – Steve Davis

‘A total fucking miracle. In twenty years of making records it’s certainly been the easiest and most enjoyable to make.’ – Kavus Torabi

Doors 8.30pm | Mostly Standing

Deven Green & Ned Douglas Live

With Special Guest Lady Portia Di’ Monte

Well Hello! Deven Green is an award-winning comedic chanteuse based in Los Angeles via Canada.

You know her from the cult series Welcome To My Home and Welcome To My White House parodies, as a judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race, portraying the satirical Betty Bowers – America’s Best Christian, being in Trixie Mattel, Katya, Jinkx Monsoon videos and proudly performing her live music shows at notorious brothels abroad.

Ned Douglas is originally from London now based in Los Angeles as Head of Music for Dave Stewart Entertainment. As a credited music programmer and engineer Ned has an extensive client list: No Doubt, Katy Perry, Steve Nicks, and Celine Dion to name a few. This creative genius now comes out of the studio and onto the stage with the same brilliance you have heard all these years.

Deven & Ned play their versions of songs from the 1920’s to today in this convivial music show. From mash-ups to sing-a-longs to audience requests to original songs there is no genre these human jukeboxes haven’t mastered.

You never know what they will play or say next on their electric ukulele and guitar. They have been honoured to perform with the top Drag Queens in the world, play Pride and headline shows internationally.

Support will be beautifully provided by the classically chic Lady Portia Di’ Monte, PPI Award winner and Ireland’s 1st Lady of Drag.

Doors 1.30pm | Unreserved Seating

 

Jacqui Dankworth with Charlie Wood – Just You, Just Me

Jacqui Dankworth is one of the most highly regarded vocalists in the UK. Her concert appearances and her stylistically diverse recordings showcase her virtuosic, seemingly effortless mastery of a wide spectrum of genres.

Known primarily as a jazz singer, Jacqui’s unique musical palette also draws on folk, soul, classical, blues, and numerous other influences.

For Out to Lunch Jacqui is joined onstage by her husband, acclaimed American pianist-vocalist Charlie Wood, for a unique concert of duet arrangements celebrating a century of song.

Inspired by some of the great musical partnerships, such as Ray Charles & Betty Carter, Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington & Billy Strayhorn, George & Ira Gershwin, Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway and James Taylor & Carole King, this concert features numbers including Alone Together, Autumn In New York, It Don’t Mean A Thing, The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face, You’ve Got a Friend and other favourites.

“Probably the most flexible and expressive voice of her generation”- The Observer

“One of our finest singers, regardless of category.”-The Sunday Times

“Remember the first time you heard Dylan, or Springsteen, or Costello, or Waits? Charlie Wood delivers that same jolt.” – Jazz Times

Doors 7.30pm | Unreserved seating

Something About Simon (Lunchtime show SOLD OUT)

Paul Simon is a name that has cemented itself into the hearts of audiences all over the world. As an artist, his name has become synonymous, not only with music, but with cultural history.

In this brand-new show, singer-songwriter Gary Edward Jones not only recites the music of one of his idols, but also tells the unique story of Paul Simon combining visuals, stage design and, of course… the music.

With classic ballads like The Sound of Silence, America and Kathy’s Song, to the more upbeat Me and Julio, 50 Ways to Leave your Lover, Wristband, to the much-loved Bridge Over Troubled Waters. The show will have you both reliving and rediscovering these great songs again.

After years of comparisons, Gary set out on a journey of discovery and for over two years, he lived and breathed all things Simon, creating a show which has received five-star reviews and standing ovations across the UK and at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe.

SOLD OUT – Los Dramaticos

Belfast based group Los Dramáticos invite you to accompany them on a musical journey through the cultures of the Latin world.

Stunning arrangements of well-known songs played with soul and bravura from around Latin America and Spain on 10-string charango (Victor Henríquez) and flamenco guitar (Paddy Anderson) are interspersed with surprising and humorous stories from their personal encounters with Latin music and culture.

Joyful melodies, hot rhythms and beautiful harmonies combine with tragic lyrics in music from the melting pots of Cuba, Chile, Bolivia, Mexico, Argentina and those other mysterious places where Africa, Asia and Europe meet.

“Los Dramáticos have captured the imagination with their infectious passion and global outlook, their entertaining musical approach and their incredible musicianship” – Linley Hamilton, BBC Radio Ulster

Doors 12.30pm | Unreserved Seating

Eleanor Conway – You May Recognise Me from Tinder

Eleanor suspects she may have intimacy issues. She always has sex on the first date and hasn’t got beyond a third date in over ten years.

It’s a shame because she’s really good at sex. She’s even crossed a line that many women have probably contemplated crossing on occasion but few have actually done: sex work.

Conway follows up her global smash hit Walk of Shame with a candid look at intimacy, shagging and crossing lines. TMI guaranteed.

Doors 7.45pm | Unreserved Seating

Ian Saville – The Marxist Magician

For more than 30 years, Ian Saville has been presenting his Marxist Magic and ventriloquism.

Whereas David Copperfield is content with little tricks like making the Statue of Liberty disappear, Ian Saville aims at the much more ambitious goal of making International Capitalism and exploitation disappear. True, he hasn’t quite succeeded, but he keeps on trying.

This is a funny, magical, thought-provoking and topical celebration of alternative thinking.

Doors 12.30pm | Unreserved Seating

Abandoman – Road to Coachella

Fancy a full music festival in 60 minutes? Abandoman’s got your back! Rob Broderick brings his innate ability to craft songs on the spot to the world of Coachella.

Combining hip hop, pop, EDM and more, Rob will transport you to the world’s greatest music festival and leave you high on life – without leaving the Cathedral Quarter!

‘Raucous, expansive and relentlessly hilarious’  **** TIMES

‘A totally unique and mind-blowing musical comedy experience’ ***** BROADWAYBABY.COM

 ‘An unstoppable force of nature… improv skills bordering on the magical’ **** LIST

Doors 7.30pm | Unreserved Seating

SOLD OUT – Glasshouse: Berlin Trilogy

Glasshouse are proud to present a re-imagination of David Bowie’s Berlin Trilogy in concert at The Black Box, Belfast as part of Out to Lunch Festival. This selection of music from Low, Heroes and Lodger will take you on a journey to what Bowie called his musical ‘DNA’.

Join us on January 10th for an uproarious evening, with rousing performances of this highly innovative work. Featuring an 12-person ensemble, you can be sure this will be a night to remember.

Doors 7.45pm | Unreserved Seating

SOLD OUT – Joanne Harris

Out to Lunch is proud to welcome Joanne Harris to this year’s festival. Joanne will read from The Strawberry Thief, the compelling new Chocolat novel, published 20 years after her original bestseller.

Joanne Harris is an Anglo-French writer, whose books include fourteen novels, two cookbooks and many short stories. Her work is extremely diverse, covering aspects of magic realism, suspense, historical fiction, mythology and fantasy.

In 2000, her 1999 novel Chocolat was adapted to the screen, starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp.  Chocolat has sold over a million copies in the UK alone and was a global bestseller.   She is an Honorary Fellow of St Catherine’s College, Cambridge, and in 2013 was awarded an MBE.

Doors 12:45pm | Unreserved Seating

SOLD OUT – Linda Ronstadt – The Sound of my Voice (Irish Premiere)

Since bursting onto the music scene in 1967, Linda Ronstadt’s extraordinary vocal range and ambition created an unforgettable and hugely eclectic back catalogue.

As the most popular female recording artist of the 1970s – with songs like You’re No Good, When Will I Be Loved, and Blue Bayou—Ronstadt filled huge arenas and produced an astounding eleven Platinum albums.

In The Sound of My Voice, Ronstadt is our guide through growing up in Tucson singing Mexican canciones with her family; through to her reign as the “queen of country rock” in the ‘70s and early ’80s. She was a pioneer and champion for women in the male-dominated music industry and a passionate advocate for human rights.

Ultimately, her singing voice was stilled by illness and forced her into early retirement but her music and influence remain timeless.

With moving performance footage and appearances by friends and collaborators including Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, Bonnie Raitt and Jackson Browne, Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice is a remarkable film that celebrates a remarkable artist whose desire to share the music she loved, made generations of fans fall in love with her and her music.

Doors 2.45pm | Unreserved Seating 

 

This event is supported by Film Hub NI, part of the BFI FAN Network.

 

Blue Rose Code + Malojian

A hugely revered talent, Ross Wilson (Blue Rose Code) has released his 4th outstanding record The Water of Leith on Navigator Records to huge acclaim.

Ross writes from the heart; eschewing any specific genre but boasting an eclecticism that has become his hallmark – and has seen him compared to John Martyn, Van Morrison and Tom Waits.

Underlining the sense of movement and place in Ross’s work, The Water of Leith is rooted in his return to his Scottish homeland. There, he reconnected with stellar musicians including multi award-winning singer Julie Fowlis and Grammy-winning American singer-songwriter Beth Nielsen Chapman, who feature on the album

‘The Water of Leith is an ode to forgiveness, to letting go of the past and holding on to hope – it’s an astonishingly accomplished, pure and sincere record’ –  The Skinny – Album of the Year.

The show will begin with a 45 minute set from Malojian AKA Stevie Scullion. Over the last few years, Malojian has released 4 stunning solo albums, along the way collaborating with some musical legends, including Steve Albini, who earned his chops producing NirvanaThe Pixies etc.

Malojian’s latest album features Joey Waronker (BeckR.E.M.Roger Waters), Gerry Love (Teenage Fanclub) and more…But it’s Malojian’s own voice and songs that sets him apart from the crowd.

This will be an amazing afternoon of music by two masters of their craft.

Doors 1.30pm | Unreserved Seating

Martin Stephenson & The Daintees + St Vitus Dance

One of Out to Lunch’s favourite ever artists returns. Martin Stephenson’s live performances are an exuberant tour-de-force combining heart-in-your-mouth intimacy with playful humour and warm self-deprecation.

The hugely acclaimed 1986 debut Boat to Bolivia showcased Stephenson’s song writing, poetic romanticism and spiritual depth – so marking him out as a soulful cream of the leftfield crop during the self-obsessed 1980s.

Never pandering to a particular scene, Stephenson’s lightness of touch on a varied mix of musical styles was immediately apparent. His path was destined to be a lifelong journey through the music he loved: folk, ragtime, jazz, rockabilly, show tunes, punk-pop and country.

The NME said of Martin’s song craft that he “builds bridges between love and hate, cradle and grave, folk and pop, past and present.” Stephenson’s restless troubadour spirit has amassed an extraordinary catalogue of some 40 albums and he is a gifted, entertaining and much-loved performer.

This Winter tour comes after a busy period for Martin and the band that saw the 9th Daintees album Chi Chi And The Jaguar released in August.

The album, named after Japanese surf guitarist Chi Chi Nakamura, captures the spirit of the early Daintees, unencumbered by record company pressures and 80s production values. It’s a cracking album made for playing live.

Martin, along with John Steel(guitar), Chris Mordey(bass) and Kate Stephenson(drums) will no doubt also be featuring songs from the classic back catalogue but, as usual, predicting the set list is impossible!

Doors 7.30pm | Limited Unreserved seating

David Lyttle: Tapes & Drums, New York

+ special guest Joseph Leighton

MOBO Award nominated Co. Armagh born drummer/composer David Lyttle has performed around the world, stopping recently in Russia, China, the U.S., Canada, Holland, Spain, the Middle East, Finland and Switzerland.

He has collaborated with a long list of jazz visionaries from Kurt Rosenwinkel to Joe Lovano, and played in the groups of some of today’s jazz icons. David brought jazz to new audiences in his much-talked-about U.S. coast-to-coast residency in 2017, performing for cowboys, bikers and UFO tourists.

His solo show Tapes & Drums features improvised drumming alongside taped dialogue of people collected around the world. In Tapes & Drums, New York, made during his residency there in 2018, he features the city’s citizens’ thoughts on change.

David will also perform with his unique duo project featuring rising star Derry guitarist Joseph Leighton.

Together they make their Belfast debut following performances in the Middle East and ahead of tours in Australia and Jamaica.

‘David represents the best in jazz coming out of Ireland today.’THE INDEPENDENT

The Heart is a Drum: NEU! and Klaus Dinger (Irish Premier)

After a failed relationship with a Swedish girl in the summer of 1971, Klaus Dinger returns home to Düsseldorf. Here he finds solace in the drums and lives out his longing for one day to regain his lost love.

In a repetitive, hypnotic beat, he visualised the feeling of never giving up and let his heartache pulse out through bands like NEU! and La Düsseldorf.  The unique beat, “motorism”, quickly got infected in the music world.

Through archival material and personal interviews with musicians such as Iggy Pop, Bobby Gillespie (Primal Scream), Gudrun Gut, Kim Gordon (Sonic Youth), Wolfgang Flür (Kraftwerk) and Stephen Morris (Joy Division/New Order), filmmaker Jacob Frössén captures the shock of the NEU! and the incredible mind that shaped a new musical language.

Doors 2.45pm | Unreserved Seating

 

This event is supported by Film Hub NI, part of the BFI FAN Network.

 

Janey Godley – Sunday Sold Out – Extra Date Added

NEWS ALERT……Janey Godley, the Godmother of Scottish comedy and chief Trump annoyer is on tour. So, tell all the Sandra’s, Big Frank and all the lassies fresh from Zumba to grab the soup pot and get ready for the “Queen of Scottish Comedy” coming to a town near you!

Live voice over’s and stand up like you’ve never seen before. Check out some hilarious patter from Big Tereeza (if she’s still around!) and Nicola up on the big screen.

Hot from her recent appearance’s on BBC’s Have I Got News for You and BBC Scotland’s Breaking the News and with over 20 years of performing award winning comedy around the world from Newcastle to New Zealand, Janey is excited to bring her hilarious new show to a town near you.

With over 40 million hits online and regular sold out shows at Edinburgh and Glasgow comedy festivals, book early to avoid disappointment.

Come see the woman who Billy Connolly called “A Fu%king great comedian”

Janey Godley – Extra show

NEWS ALERT……Janey Godley, the Godmother of Scottish comedy and chief Trump annoyer is on tour. So, tell all the Sandra’s, Big Frank and all the lassies fresh from Zumba to grab the soup pot and get ready for the “Queen of Scottish Comedy” coming to a town near you!

Live voice over’s and stand up like you’ve never seen before. Check out some hilarious patter from Big Tereeza (if she’s still around!) and Nicola up on the big screen.

Hot from her recent appearance’s on BBC’s Have I Got News for You and BBC Scotland’s Breaking the News and with over 20 years of performing award winning comedy around the world from Newcastle to New Zealand, Janey is excited to bring her hilarious new show to a town near you.

With over 40 million hits online and regular sold out shows at Edinburgh and Glasgow comedy festivals, book early to avoid disappointment.

Come see the woman who Billy Connolly called “A Fu%king great comedian”

Stephen Sexton + Leontia Flynn

Leontia Flynn

Leontia Flynn has published four collections of poetry with Jonathan Cape. Winner of the AWB Vincent Literary Award in 2014, her most recent book, The Radio (2017), was described as “an outstanding book from a poet who is not only one of the best writers of her generation but who seems, more and more, to be the voice of that generation.” (The Irish Times). Shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize, it won the Irish Times Poetry Prize.

‘One of the most strikingly original and exciting poetic voices to have emerged from Northern Ireland since Muldoon’ – Fran Brearton

Stephen Sexton
As a boy, video games were a way for Stephen Sexton to slip through the looking glass. His remarkable debut If All the World and Love Were Young was winner of the Forward Prize for Best First Collection. In these poems about the death of his mother, this moving, otherworldly narrative takes us through the levels of Super Mario World. It is a daring exploration of memory, grief and the necessity of the unreal.

‘Every poem in this book is a marvel. Taken all together they make up a work of almost miraculous depth and beauty’  – Sally Rooney

Doors 12:30pm | Unreserved Seating

SOLD OUT Gary Delaney – Gagsters Paradise

Due to exceptional demand and an array of sold out dates all over the UK, Britain’s leading one-liner comic has extended his brand new tour and is bringing his onslaught of lean, expertly crafted gaggery to Belfast.

A Mock The Week regular and recent star of the new Live At The Apollo series, Gary’s shows are renowned in the business for a near unrivalled volume of high-class gags. You should expect no different from this highly acclaimed show. Please note Coolio will not be appearing.

SOLD OUT – Gary Delaney – Gagsters Paradise

Due to exceptional demand and an array of sold out dates all over the UK, Britain’s leading one-liner comic has extended his brand new tour and is bringing his onslaught of lean, expertly crafted gaggery to Belfast.

A Mock The Week regular and recent star of the new Live At The Apollo series, Gary’s shows are renowned in the business for a near unrivalled volume of high-class gags. You should expect no different from this highly acclaimed show. Please note Coolio will not be appearing.

SOLD OUT – Opera for Lunch – Soup and Song

A musical lunch-time hour with the NI Opera Studio.

Enjoy a tuneful lunch with a musical repertoire of international operatic highlights and rare gems from the last two centuries.

The young talents of the Northern Ireland Opera Studio will present music from comic opera, operetta and early musical theatre, including works by Rossini, Victor Herbert, Franz Lehár, Donizetti, Johann Strauss and Cole Porter, among others.

Doors 12.45pm | Unreserved Seating

Lunch with Julie Andrews

“She is Practically Perfect in Everyway”

Join highly acclaimed local singer and actress Katie Patton for a deliciously, delectable afternoon treat as she brings to life vocal legend Dame Julie Andrews in her very own heartfelt ‘tribute’ performance, Out to Lunch with Julie Andrews.

For generations Julie Andrews has graced the stage and screen, fondly remembered for her roles in the Sound of Music, Mary Poppins and Thoroughly Modern Millie to name but three.

Katie excels in this portrayal of the Grand Dame – in the words of critics “it was like watching the real Julie Andrews in concert, her tone & diction is crystal clear and bell like singing voice simply rings through the audience!”

So ‘Step in time’ and get your tickets booked for this ‘Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious’ lunch time performance! We guarantee you will not be disappointed & positive you will leave singing your ‘favourite’ tune!

Katie Patton

Katie is a highly skilled vocalist and chameleon of musical genres. She is classically trained with a background in light opera and musical theatre. Swapping a legal career for one as a performer, she secured The Mary (Hammond) & Rosemary (Ashe) Scholarship to Bristol Performing Arts Academy.

Recent roles have included parts in the BBC comedy sketch Border ControlMrs Darling and Tiger Lilly in Peter Pan and the premier run of Blinkered by Sole Purpose Theatre Company.

Doors 12.30pm | Unreserved Seating

SOLD OUT – Val McDermid

Britain’s Queen of Crime Fiction, with more than 30 books to her name and 16 million worldwide sales, comes to Out to Lunch to discuss her new novel How the Dead Speak.

Her work was adapted for the successful Wire in the Blood ITV series starring Robson Green and for the last 20 years she has produced at least one fresh story per year and says she has no notion of slowing down.

McDermid is from Kirkcaldy and is a keen Raith Rovers fan. She also broadcasts on BBC Radio 4 and has become a regular on BBC1’s Question Time panel.

Doors 7:30pm | Unreserved Seating

SOLD OUT – The Cajun Roosters

The Cajun Roosters are a multi-award winning band featuring some of the finest and most experienced Cajun and Zydeco musicians in Europe.

The band plays music from the Louisiana swamps and prairies north west of New Orleans. It is a music which instantly appeals to audiences and infuses them with a feeling of bonhomie and good times.

They play with energy, intensity and passion, infusing life into old standards and new compositions. Every gig is a celebration of the richness of a Louisiana musical culture that all the band members love and understand. A non-stop Louisiana party that you won’t want to miss.

Doors 12.30pm | Unreserved Seating

Portico Quartet

Portico Quartet return with Memory Streams, their fifth studio album and one that continues the journey that first started with 2008’s Mercury nominated debut Knee Deep in the North Sea

Portico Quartet has always been an impossible band to pin down. Sending out echoes of jazz, electronica, ambient music and minimalism, the group created their own singular, cinematic sound over the course of three studio albums.

From the band’s 2007 breakthrough Knee-Deep in the North Sea, and the John Leckie produced Isla in 2010, to the self-titled recording Portico Quartet in 2012.

The group released their fourth studio album Art In The Age Of Automation on Gondwana Records in August 2017. It was hailed as possibly their finest album yet, with the band simultaneously delivering both a return to their mesmeric signature sound and fresh new sonic departures in their new music.

Doors 7.30pm | Unreserved Seating

Fran and Flora

Described as ‘a string duo bound for glory’ by Max Reinhardt (BBC Radio 3 Late JunctionFran & Flora (Francesca Ter-Berg and Flora Curzon) are quickly becoming one of London’s most sought-after bands. A duo with a distinctive improvisatory style and ethereal aesthetic, they draw inspiration for their material from their travels and mentors in eastern Europe and beyond.

The overwhelming response they received from releasing debut album Unfurl has accelerated their growing reputation across the UK, gaining widespread critical acclaim with attention from national radio, magazines, newspapers and many online publications. They have appeared live in session on BBC 4’s Woman’s Hour, Radio 3’s In Tune, Cerys Matthews’ 6 Music show, Soho Radio and Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide FM.

Active contributors to London’s vibrant music scene and known as collaborators with many ground-breaking artists including Sam Lee and Talvin Singh, Fran & Flora mesmerise their audiences, selling out venues across the UK. Last summer they were selected by BBC Music Introducing to perform previews of Unfurl at Latitude Festival, which was broadcast live across the BBC network.

Doors 2:30pm | Unreserved Seating

SOLD OUT – Badly Drawn Boy (Solo)

With an intuitive ear for melody and a ferociously creative mind, Damon Gough and his music have been loved by fans and critics for over twenty years, with 2020 marking two decades since the release of his Mercury Prize-winning debut album The Hour Of Bewilderbeast.

Following the success of this “lo-fi masterpiece”, Gough went on to pen seven more albums, including the soundtrack to the films About a Boy and Being Flynn.

It’s been a curious, wonderful, inimitable, unpredictable career so far of major prizes and minor incidents, all possibilities and magic in the air. Don’t miss this rare, intimate, solo show.

Doors 7.30pm | This will be a standing show due to anticipated demand.

Classic Albums Revisited – Figure 8 by Elliott Smith

The Oh Yeah Classic Albums Revisited 

Marking 20 years since its release, Rachael Boyd, Junk Drawer and Conor Mason will revisit Figure 8, the fifth and final album Smith completed before his death.

Released in 2000, Figure 8 songs have all Smith’s ornate elegance and a sublime mastery of pop hooks.

Rolling Stone placed Figure 8 on their list of the 100 greatest albums of the decade and it was included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Doors 7:30pm | Limited Unreserved Seating

The Delightful Sausage and Joanna Neary + Paul Currie

Tonight’s show is the second outing of Bivouac Comedy Club. Curated and hosted by Edinburgh Comedy Award winner, Paul Currie, Bivouac features the best alternative comedy from across the UK and beyond.

The Delightful Sausage

The Delightful Sausage is a surreal sketch comedy double act created by Amy Gledhill and Chris Cantrill.

The duo have been delighting audiences and perplexing middle class reviewers since 2017. Ginster’s Paradise is their most recent show. It was nominated for ‘Best Show’ at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards and is gearing up for a massive 2020.

Despite achieving great fame and a level of personal wealth which would make a pharaoh blush, both Amy and Chris are incredibly humble.

‘Fun and hilariously sinister’ – THE TIMES            ‘A Cult Hit’ – THE GUARDIAN

Joanna Neary

One of Bivouac’s favourite acts is Joanna Neary whose skewed clowning is gloriously different and inspired.

Joanna’s forte is superbly off-kilter sketches. One moment she is a sublimely funny Bjork, the next she is a netured cat sporting a boater and a stoic grin. An immaculate Brief Encounters parody encapsulates a lost age of repressed passion, snobbery and lumpy marmalade.

‘A performer who is one of the most naturally funny stand-ups around’ – THE STAGE

Doors 7.45pm | Unreserved Seating

It’s In My Nature: In Conversation with Dara McAnulty

Dara McAnulty is 15 year old autistic naturalist, activist and writer. In this special event for Out to Lunch he will be joined by Marie Louise Muir to discuss writing as a form of environmental protest and the importance of nature for mental wellbeing.

Together they will explore nature and mental health and how people in cities can draw upon nature for their own wellbeing.

Dara has appeared on BBC Radio 4 and Springwatch Unsprung. He is an iWill Ambassador and has received awards for his work campaigning for nature and young people’s access to nature.

His debut book, Diary of a Young Naturalist will be published in June 2020 and we’ve been promised some exclusive extracts.

Doors 1.45pm | Unreserved Seating

The Darkling Air

The Darkling Air is Rachel McCarthy and Michael Keeney from Bangor, County Down.

Their music involves voice, piano and guitar and is often wreathed in string arrangements featuring Arco String Quartet.  Their work is a channel for melody, song, classical and traditional forms plus a questing, modern aspect.

The band released Ancestor, the second album, in November. It is a significant development on the much-praised 2016 debut, Untamed and Beloved.

As before Rachel’s voice is a singular, resonant force as she explores memory, melancholia and bliss. The songs alternate between quiet, intimate moments and searing emotion.

For this Out to Lunch Belfast debut performance of Ancestor, expect filmic folk-noir coupled with poetic lyrics, strings and a richly emotive and melancholic sound world accompanied by bespoke projected visuals. Expect a very special show.

Doors 1.30pm | Unreserved Seating

Maurice: Screening and Post Show Discussion

2020 will be the year that equal marriage finally becomes a reality in Northern Ireland. Similarly, it’s the 50th anniversary of EM Forster’s death. What better way to mark both, than a screening of Maurice, based on Forster’s most personal novel of the same name.

Maurice remained unpublished in his lifetime, for fear of the public and legal attitudes to this powerful homosexual love story. This beautiful, little-seen Merchant-Ivory film follows its main character Maurice Hall (James Wilby) through university, a tumultuous relationship with Clive (Hugh Grant), struggling to fit into an unforgiving society, and ultimately being united with his life partner.

Forster’s own close links to Belfast were forged through a longstanding correspondence with Belfast author Forrest Reid.

Doors 2.45pm | Unreserved Seating

 

This event is supported by Film Hub NI, part of the BFI FAN Network.

 

SOLD OUT – An Evening of Stories and Song with Ryan Bingham

With special guest John Craigie

Grammy and Oscar-winning singer-songwriter Ryan Bingham was born in New Mexico and raised all across Texas and the southwestern United States. He set out on his own, at a young age, shuffling from town to town and performing gigs at local no-frills bars.

Drawing inspiration from Bob Dylan, Marshall Tucker, and Bob Wills, Bingham fashioned a road-weary sound that piqued the interest of a barroom proprietor in Stephenville, Texas. Bingham was offered a weekly residency at the bar; soon after, he began issuing self-released albums like Lost Bound Rails and Wishbone Saloon.

The material was brought to the attention of Nashville heavyweights Lost Highway Records, who signed Bingham and issued his major-label debut, Mescalito. Mescalito was well-received by critics, with Rolling Stone aptly comparing Bingham’s raw, scratchy voice to that of ‘Steve Earle’s dad.’

Later that year, he joined another music veteran, producer/songwriter T-Bone Burnett, in contributing music to the film Crazy Heart. Revolving around the attempted comeback of a down-and-out country singer, Crazy Heart became one of the year’s highest-praised films and won a Golden Globe and an Oscar for The Weary Kind, one of Bingham’s original compositions written with T-Bone Burnett.

American Love Song is the first new album in four years by Bingham and is co-produced by renowned guitarist Charlie Sexton (Bob Dylan).

Among the album’s early acclaim, Rolling Stone Country has called it Bingham’s “most personal and political album to date” and “a rolling-blues country workout awash in slide guitar, soaring gospel-roadhouse stomps and meditative folk fingerpicking that takes on his past with a cautious hope for the future.”

American Songwriter rated it 4 out of 5 stars, stating the album’s overarching theme “encompasses triumph and tragedy from one moment to the next.”

John Craigie
Americana style folk singer songwriter with engaging & amusing live shows & topical stories galore. Loved by Jack Johnson, Gregory Alan Isakov and Chuck Norris, as well as festival crowds all around the US.

Craigie is starting 2020 with a UK/EU headline tour that includes Celtic Connections, Tradfest and Out To Lunch Festivals. New album due out in the 1st half of 2020.

SOLD OUT – Emer Maguire – Hilarious Humans

Emer Maguire flawlessly blends laugh out loud musical comedy, science, and Northern Irish charm. Emer is a TEDx performing musical comedian, an international award-winning science communicator and a double Irish Radio Award winning BBC radio presenter.

Her debut solo show Emer Maguire: Hilarious Humans is fresh from a sell-out run at the 2019 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Hilarious Humans takes an uproariously funny (and sometimes scientific) look at the oddities of human behaviour through Emer’s ingenious musical comedy.

From the nuances of being a middle child, to social awkwardness and online dating, Emer explores what it means to be human.

‘Emer Maguire is a figurehead for aspiring female stand ups’ –  SUNDAY TIMES

 ‘Emer Maguire is one of the most unique comic prospects in the country’ –  DAILY MIRROR

 ‘Indie Victoria Wood’ –  BBC RADIO ULSTER

 Doors 12.45pm | Unreserved Seating

Jonah Tolchin

Jonah Tolchin has wrestled with a wellspring of emotions in his 26 years, and in the process, has consistently found the means of integrating his sentiments into his songs. It’s been a relatively brief progression as far as his career is concerned, but the maturity and musical progression he’s tallied in that short time has been shared in sync with his coming of age.

On his new Yep Roc album, Fires for the Cold, Tolchin lays bare the conflicts and quagmires that have engulfed him over the course of the last few years. Indeed, by his own admission, it’s been a difficult time. The ending of a marriage and an upheaval in his mindset left him shattered, confused and struggling to find the solace that had eluded him for too long a time.

“Every record I make is like a record in time,” Tolchin explains. “It recounts the things that I’ve observed and experienced between the last album and the current one. It’s painful for me to talk about the last few years. It’s even painful to write about it. But singing and strumming about it? That’s different. That’s the main way I feel that I’m able to interact with the impossible emotions. It’s the greatest gift that music has given me throughout my life.”

“…the singer-songwriter and bluesman joins forces with an impressive collective of well-regarded names in the modern roots landscape to produce what may be his most ambitious LP to date.” —PopMatters

“Tolchin has delivered a uniquely sounding, deeply memorable recording.” —Elmore Magazine 

Doors 7:30pm  | Unreserved Seating

Tenx9: The Kindness of Strangers

Tenx9 is back at the Out to Lunch festival for 2020!

Join the storytelling sensation where nine people have up to ten minutes each to tell a true story from their own lives. Entry is free, and there are no tickets – just turn up! (But turn up early – it’s a popular event).

Tenx9 is looking for people to tell true stories from their own lives about The Kindness of Strangers. You might have had a stranger who helped you; you might have helped a stranger; maybe a stranger didn’t help you when you needed it.

You know the story — if you have one true story from your life you can share in ten minutes or less, we want to hear from you. Head to tenx9.com/submissions to submit a story.

Don’t forget to read the editorial guidelines on tenx9.com/editorialguidelines

Doors 7.00pm 

Seth Lakeman

Seth Lakeman, recently on a break from the Robert Plant musical juggernaut, released his ninth studio album The Well Worn Path last year.

The charismatic singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist visits Belfast for a headline show in his own right in the intimate surroundings of the Empire Music Hall.

It’s a return to a no-nonsense, organic, classic folk-rock approach with hints of Fairport Convention, Neil Young, Nick Cave and Billy Bragg – plus Lakeman’s trademark foot-stomping, fiddle bow-shredding and soaring vocals. It’s a deft collection of mini musical biographies of colourful West Country characters.

Seth has performed everywhere from Libya to Texas, as well as featuring on just about every major festival bill across the UK.

Since the Mercury Prize nominated Kitty Jay (recorded in his kitchen for £300), the follow-up gold selling Freedom Fields and his last, highly acclaimed offering, Word of Mouth, Seth Lakeman has relentlessly pushed his musical boundaries and those of folk and roots music.

SOLD OUT – Cup O’Joe

Cup O’Joe is a close family trio who have been playing together from their early teens. They were raised in the traditions of bluegrass and folk and it is these traditions that their music is rooted in.

They blend the intricate tones of bluegrass, folk and jazz to tones to create their own progressive acoustic sound. Their mix of original and re-imagined traditional songs sets the ingredients for an energetic and enthusiastic performance, and this is giving them a growing presence on the festival scene in Ireland, the UK and Mainland Europe.

Strong sibling harmonies can be heard throughout their music, harmonies that blend together like only sibling harmonies can.

They are set to release their new album in January 2020, which contains nine original songs and one traditional song with all tracks embodying a fresh original sound.

“Imagine what these young artists will accomplish before they’re done” – Bluegrass Today

“Gorgeous blend of gentle bluegrass picking, beautiful folk melodies and mellow  harmonies”  – Americana UK

Doors 12.30pm | Unreserved Seating

Xylouris White

George Xylouris, the Cretan lute player who partners here with the Dirty Three’s preternaturally fluent Australian drummer Jim White, poetically describe their approach in this duo as “Like goats walking in the mountain. They may not know the place, but they can walk easily and take risks and feel comfortable.”

The sound they create is tumultuous, tender and terrifically expressive and testifies their determination to stretch the scope of their instruments and forge something vigorously questing from more traditional roots.

PJ Harvey has likened White’s playing to dancing. Yet if dancers need partners, Xylouris is his, this being a friendship forged over 25-plus years.

Xylouris was touring with his Ensemble when he met White in Melbourne in the early 1990s, when the drummer was in his pre-Dirty Three avant-rock outfit Venom P Stinger. And here they are nearly 3 decades later, on our Out to Lunch stage, to show us just how far their horizons can stretch.

Their new record The Sisypheans is released on Bella Union on 8th November 2019.

‘The chemistry between Crete lutenist George Xylouris and former Dirty Three drummer Jim White makes for a thrilling musical foray into avant-garde folk.’ –  THE GUARDIAN

Doors 7:30pm | Unreserved seating

Speci/men by Davy and Kristin McGuire

Be an unwitting explorer through a human zoo of pocket-sized people in this witty anthropological study of the human species.

Ulster University opens its foyer as an anthropological museum exploring a world of tiny people in their various habitats captured in a series of terrarium-like display cases.

Members of the public are invited to observe these miniature humans and reflect upon how they behave under the various conditions they are placed. At the beach, in the city, even at an apocalyptic rubbish dump, we are aided by an Attenborough style commentary on headsets and get to explore these little people’s behaviour as if they were a different species.

Studio McGuire deliver astonishing worlds sculpted out of anything from paper and wood to glass and fabric enhanced by miniature projections. They have delivered work worldwide in 60 countries including collaborations with Royal Shakespeare Company, Hull 2017, Barney’s of Madison Avenue and Swedish Museum of Performing Arts.

‘Magical and exquisitely crafted, Davy and Kristin McGuire’s universe is full of visual wonders’ The Guardian

SOLD OUT – Lunch with The King

Jim ‘The King’ Brown’s own story is as steeped in legend as the good lord Elvis himself.

Born in Belfast and married with five children, the young King was reluctantly hauled on stage at a works karaoke.

When the crowd went berserk he realised he might be on to something. He took a two-year sabbatical from his job at the Post Office and headed out on the road.

Swiftly picked up by EMI, he released the Gravelands album to rave reviews. It was a marvel. The King stamped the indelible mark of Elvis across the songs of the latest and the greatest, belting out tunes like Nirvana’s Come As You Are and Joy Division’s Love Will Tear Us Apart as if they were written for the boy Presley himself.

The King takes the Elvis legend and builds on it. Where jobbing impersonators merely mirror Elvis, The King becomes him. Every gesture, every smirk, every vocal nuance is the purest Presley, but at the same time he’s so natural you’d be forgiven for thinking you were watching the great man himself.

Doors 12.30pm | Unreserved Seating

Supertonic Sound Club + The Skallions

As Out to Lunch draws to a close, this will be a night to be savoured featuring the best of Irish Soul, Reggae and Ska.

Supertonic Sound Club are an 8-piece Dublin based band influenced by old school soul-funk and authentic reggae.  They have performed in session on both RTÉ and BBC and have received national airplay throughout Europe.  Members of the band have performed with a diverse range of leading international acts including Oasis, Sinead O’Connor and Tony Allen.

The Skallions are an 8-piece Ska Reggae powerhouse based in Belfast, bringing bags of energy and stacks of attitude. The Skallions are as fresh as they come, bursting onto the Belfast music scene in late 2017. They have wasted no time spreading their unique brand of big brass, high energy, 2Tone and Ska.

Doors 7:30pm | Limited Unreserved Seating

SOLD OUT – Turin Brakes (Acoustic)

One of the finest bands of the last two decades, Turin Brakes continue to produce powerful new music as their journey continues. This Out to Lunch show is a chance to see the band in their first full stripped back acoustic tour since way back in 2002.

Turin Brakes comprise of founder members and former primary school friends Olly Knights and Gale Paridjanian, along with longtime bandmates Rob Allum and Eddie Myer. Formed in Balham, London in 1999, the band signed to French label Source in 2000 and released their Mercury Music Prize nominated debut album The Optimist in 2001.

This show will feature a range of songs spanning Turin Brakes 20 year career – which includes seven top 40 singles and 6 top 40 albums with sales over a million worldwide.

Tim Burgess (DJ Set)

Tim Burgess started collecting records at the age of 13 and hasn’t quite finished yet.

At 21 he joined and fronted The Charlatans, one of the UK’s most venerated and respected indie bands. Twelve albums in and still making incredible records, The Charlatans continue headline festivals around the world and getting an insane amount of coverage in the media.

He has written and released two books, programmed festival arenas under his Tim Peaks event, designed a breakfast cereal and has one of the most irreverent and entertaining social media accounts in the twitterverse.

As A DJ, Tim was resident at the infamous and zeitgeist changing Heavenly Social, which helped launch the careers of both the Chemical Brothers and Norman Cook’s Fatboy Slim alias and Tim has DJ’d at some of the globe’s best clubs and venues.

Tim is a proper DJ, no pre-prepared sets, no pre-prepared mixes, just a man with a huge record collection at the centre of the room & at the centre of the dancefloor. A club night like no other.

Doors 9.45pm | Mostly Standing

SOLD OUT – The 4 of Us

Thirty years of playing together, new single River Flows shows that the creativity of brothers, Brendan and Declan Murphy, shows no sign of abating.

The pair have forged a unique musical identity, producing original and award-winning recordings and building a loyal fan base along the way.

With an enviable catalogue of timeless songs including Mary, Washington Down, She Hits Me, Sunlight and Sugar Island, expect some beautiful songs, stunning interplay and great stories from the road.

The 4 Of Us have been a steadfast part of Irish music for three decades and gained some glowing reviews along the way.

‘Never before have I been to a gig where the atmosphere has been so electric’ – THE IRISH NEWS

Doors 1.30pm | Unreserved Seating

Kaidi Tatham

Kaidi Tatham’s ability to mix soul, jazz and dance all together harmoniously is legendary.  He makes his Out to Lunch debut, in the intimate setting of the Sunflower Bar and it will be spectacular. The Neighbourhood nights have been energetic dancefloor focused sessions and with Kaidi at the controls this one will not disappoint.

Although this will be a DJ set, it is worth noting Kaidi is an accomplished flute player and pianist, he’s also in demand on drums and percussion as well as excelling on bass, guitar and writing for strings and orchestral arrangements.

In addition to Kaidi’s own great solo releases including his dance production alias Agent K his performance, production, writing and remix credits read like a who’s who of contemporary jazz, soul, neo-soul & hip-hop including artists such as: 2000Black, 4 Hero, Afronaught, Amp Fiddler, Amy Winehouse, to name a few.

Doors 8:00pm | Limited Unreserved Seating

SOLD OUT – Jason and the Argonauts: Screening + Stop Motion Modelling Workshop

THE DEFINITVE stop motion movie. Gods, monsters and a whole load of skeletons!

To celebrate the legendary pioneer of animation Ray Harryhausen’s centenary, we’re not only screening the timeless classic Jason and the Argonauts – but we’ll also have a stop motion workshop afterwards with top animator Joel Simon.

Bring your own phone camera or tablet (if not, devices will be provided) and make your own stop-motion monster come to life!

Doors 10.15am

Recommended age range 7-13 

(NB Screening is free. Ticket price goes towards Stop Motion Workshop)

 

This event is supported by Film Hub NI, part of the BFI FAN Network.

In association with Into Film.

 

 

Inna de Yard

Looking out over the lush green mountains of Kingston, Peter Webber’s vibrant documentary captures a remarkable group of reggae legends (including Ken Boothe, Winston McAnuff, Kiddus I, Cedric Myton and Judy Mowatt) as they gather to record an album of hits in an unplugged style that harks back to their roots.

The film is studded with intimate acoustic versions of popular anthems (such as Ken Boothe’s Everything I Own), remarkable personal histories and powerful live performances.

A “Buena Vista Social Club for reggae”, this landmark film recounts the history of reggae music and its continuing relevance, conjuring an unforgettable portrait of truly pioneering musicians as they share stories of success, heartaches and happiness during a lifetime immersed in the scene.

Doors 2.45pm | Unreserved seating

 

This event is supported by Film Hub NI, part of the BFI FAN Network.

 

Jane Weaver

Psychedelic synth-pop emerges from its cocoon and spreads its wings on Jane Weaver’s Loops in the Secret Society tour.

Throughout her career, English singer/songwriter, musician, producer, and label owner Jane Weaver has explored many different styles and approaches, never staying too long in any one spot while showing mastery of each one she attempts.

Fusing sounds from her two most recent albums, Jane Weaver channels a lifetime of experimentation and experience through melodic codes, expanding drum drones and multi-layered synthetics.

Loops in the Secret Society is a glorious sense-stimulating journey that reimagines and combines elements of 2014’s The Silver Globe with 2017’s Modern Kosmology.

In late 2018, Weaver united the two critically acclaimed albums in an expansive experiment; hot-housed into a soundscape to form the imminent album of the same name.

‘Motorik rhythms and ancient technology create music that brims with urgency, and originality.’ –  MOJO

Startling’ –  DROWNED IN SOUND

 ‘(A) beguiling spiritual medium for immaculate psychedelia.’ – THE GUARDIAN

Doors 7.45pm | Limited Unreserved Seating

The Mighty Mocambos

Out to Lunch and Superfly Funk & Soul Belfast kick off the new year with The Mighty Mocambos flying in from Hamburg to play NI for the very first time.

The band have released dozens of 45’s and several albums on their own  label, Mocambo Records and have collaborated with musical legends such as Afrika Bambaataa, Lee Fields, Ice -T and Kenny Funk, as well as putting new talents like Gizelle Smith and Caroline Lacaze on the map.

They have also brought Caribbean steel drums to funk clubs with their alto ego Bacao Rhythm & Steel Band and have toured extensively over a number of years.

The Mighty Mocambos  deliver their brand of funk through blazing horns, soulful guitars, driving drums and basslines combined with an extra slice of quirkiness.

They play with passion and energy, bringing joy to those who are lucky enough to catch their live performances. Pretty much unmissable.

Cassetteboy VJ Show

The legendary video mashups from Cassetteboy have had over 26 million views! Be it Lord SugarDownton Abbey or Harry Potter, no one is safe from their editing talent.

Cassetteboy are a cut ‘n’ paste duo from Chelmsford, Essex. They re-edit footage of TV shows to make celebrities talk about sex and drugs, and are somehow trying to make a career of it. They’ve released five albums including The Parker Tapes, which received a mark of 8.7 on Pitchfork, if that’s important.

Their smash hit The Bloody Apprentice, in which Alan Sugar talks about sh*tting frying pans, has been watched five and a half million times. They have also tackled David Cameron, Downton AbbeyHarry Potter, and The Only Way is Essex.

Cassetteboy have over 123,000 YouTube subscribers and 26,000,000 total video views. Their work has been featured on Radio One and regularly appears on Rude Tube. They enjoy long walks in the country and have kind eyes.

Cassetteboy are famous for lying about themselves and recently sailed round the world with Clare Balding.

Doors 8.30pm | Unreserved Seating

SOLD OUT – Realta + Luke Daniels support

Described by Irish Music Magazine as “a full-bodied pipe and whistle extravaganza, Réalta carry on the Bothy Band tradition of taking tunes by the scruff of the neck and firing excitement through them like hot flames!”

Based in Belfast, this award-winning multi-instrumentalist group have travelled extensively bringing their unique take on Irish traditional music to international audiences with an enchanting programme of dance music interspersed with the occasional air and song.

While Conor Lamb and Loïc Bléjean pursue the melody on uilleann pipes and whistles, guitarist and vocalist Deirdre Galway explores the harmony and rhythms within the tunes.

All-Ireland champions Dermot Mulholland and Dermot Moynagh complete the line-up with dynamic accompaniments on double bass, bouzouki, banjo, bodhrán and voice, making this one of the most exciting acts on the Irish music scene today.

The release of their second album, Clear Skies, has brought Réalta widespread critical acclaim, with the Irish Times summing things up by writing “Réalta have grown bigger, bolder and braver and this is one of the best CDs to have come out of Ireland this year!”.

A performance by Réalta is joyous, energetic, foot-stomping and unforgettable.

Over twenty years Luke Daniels has recorded and produced 20 acclaimed records, had numerous live sessions and airplay on BBC Radio 2 and 3, and performed at many the UK’s top festivals.

The Guardian describes him as “a musical force to reckon with.” Originally from Oxfordshire, though now Glasgow-based, this folk singer, producer and multi-instrumentalist was featured in fRoots and hailed as “a genius” whilst his songs have been described as “future classics” by Songlines magazine.

Doors 1.30pm | Unreserved Seating

SOLD OUT – How to Drink Beer – A Faculty Lecture

You may already have had plenty of practice but there is always more you can learn about drinking beer.

Join enthusiastic beer drinker and homebrewer extraordinaire, Jo Facer of The Edible Flower for a journey through the world of beer tasting. Learn how to taste and recognise some classic beer styles, how different ingredients and the brewing process affect the taste and to recognise those funky (wrong!?) flavours in beer.

After you’ve been exposed to Jo’s graphs a quick pint down your local will never be quite the same again!

…and yes beer is included in the price so strictly over 18s.

Doors 2.45pm | Unreserved Seating

Craig Hill – Bottoms Up

If you’re the gin, he’s the tonic! Join Craig as he pops his cork to toast his 20th solo show – this is one fun mixer that will keep you fizzy all the way to the bottom!

Fresh from making his solo debut on New York’s off-Broadway, Craig’s in the pink this year, channelling his best Bertie Bassett, turning 50 shades of gay, and proving it takes Allsorts to make the world go around in his bubbly, fun new show. Cheers!

‘Flat-out hilarious… I’ve not heard a room laugh so long and hard… There isn’t anyone better at working a crowd… the audience was in absolute paroxysms of laughter… Genuinely funny’ ***** MIRROR

Doors 7:30 | Unreserved Seating

INVITATION TO TENDER: CONTRACT FOR INCOME GENERATION AND FUNDRAISING

The Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival wishes to appoint a strategic partner consultant to provide income generation advice and develop fundraising income from a range sources.

Click here to download the Tender Specification.

Responses to this brief should be submitted as a written proposal by email to Sean Kelly, Festival Director at sean@cqaf.com by 17.00 on Friday 23 August 2019.

Raise Your Expectations: Exchange 1NE

Individual walks every 15 minutes between 11am and 5.15pm.

What do you imagine Belfast will be like in 10 years from now? How has it changed? Come and see for yourself a projected vision of Belfast – a real estate development fantasy, a dream of immersive marketing, and a way of life that is coming to North Street anytime soon.

Artists John D’Arcy and Una Lee present the augmented- reality-assisted walk Raise Your Expectations: Exchange 1NE – a story of past and future, myths and forecasts, memory and loss.

Duration: 10 min.

What Girls Are Made Of

It’s 1992. An ad in the local paper declares: Band Seeks Singer.

In a small town in Fife, a schoolgirl is catapulted into a rock star lifestyle. Grunge has gone global, indie kids are inheriting the earth, and a schoolgirl from Glenrothes is catapulted to a rock star lifestyle as the singer in a hot new indie band.

Touring with Radiohead, partying with Blur, she was living the dream. Until she wasn’t.

Based on her meticulously detailed teenage diaries, this is the true story of Cora Bissett’s rollercoaster journey from the girl she was to the woman she wanted to be.

Directed by the Traverse Theatre’s former Artistic Director Orla O’Loughlin, Cora celebrates life’s euphoric highs and epic shitstorms, asking what wisdom we should pass on to the next generation – and which glorious mistakes we should let them make.

CQ Bazaar

CQ Bazaar kicks off the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival with a feast of delights in the majestic St. Annes Cathederal.

Live Music all evening with an Eclectic mix of DJs, Independent record lables, second hand vinyl, Vintage clothes, antiques and Retro furniture. The best Art, design and craft and a feast of delicious food from local producers.

We have the unique Crypt bar brought to us by the award winning Sunflower. Come and treat your eyes, ears, mouth and pockets. Sure to be a great way to kick start CQAF 2019!

Brought to us by CQAF, Little Fox Events and CQ Bid.

SOLD OUT – Bernard MacLaverty

Bernard MacLaverty read at the very first Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival in May 2000 so we are honoured and delighted Bernard will open this, our 20th edition, of the Festival.

In Midwinter Break, 16 years on from his last novel, Bernard MacLaverty reminded us why he is regarded as one of the greatest living Irish writers.

A retired couple, Gerry and Stella Gilmore, fly from their home in Scotland to Amsterdam for a long weekend―a holiday to refresh the senses, to do some sightseeing, and generally to take stock of what remains of their lives. Their relationship seems safe, easy, familiar. But over the course of the four days we discover the deep uncertainties that exist between them.

In tonight’s event, Bernard will read from his work and discuss a remarkable career in writing.

Doors 7.15pm | Unreserved Seating

Howe Gelb

Howe Gelb has been called one of the most resilient and consistently inventive American artists his generation.

Based in Tuscon Arizona since 1972 Howe has collaborated with artists such as M Ward, PJ Harvey and John Parish, and his band Giant Sand spawned and inspired bands such as Calexico who are part of Howe’s extended musical family.

The key question with any Howard Gelb show is what guise he will take on for the occasion – solo piano music, free jazz excursions, late night crooning, dusty acoustic Americana, flamenco, , another version of one of his songs, or something that he hasn’t done yet. If there is such a thing.

CQAF is honoured to welcome Tucson’s unique, freewheeling Americana icon Howe Gelb.

Doors 7.15pm | Unreserved Seating

Teenage Fan Club

Over the past three decades, Teenage Fanclub have produced consistently exquisite songs that nod to ’60s sunshine pop and folk-rock as much as they do to classic power pop and the grungier sounds of electric Neil Young.

Teenage Fanclub’s radiant brand of pop classicism has yielded numerous outstanding albums including Bandwagonesque (covered in its entirety in 2017 by super-fan Ben Gibbard of Death Cab for Cutie)Grand Prix and Songs from Northern Britain. It’s a body of work that remain utterly timeless, utterly compelling.

Fortunately for us – and rest of the world – the band have recently regrouped for standalone single Everything is Falling Apart and a slew of summer festival dates.

Heartfelt, lyrical with vocal harmonies to crack the hardest rock exterior, Teenage Fanclub remain one of our favourite bands and it’s a great honour to welcome them back to the CQAF stage for our 20th celebrations.

Doors 7.45pm | Limited Unreserved Seating 

Hen Ogledd

The four musicians of Hen Ogledd (Richard Dawson, Rhodri Davies, Dawn Bothwell, Sally Pilkington) each hail from historically different tribal regions of the Old North, and come together to create Mogic – a record that challenges the idea that the ancient world was rife with magic, while the new is infiltrated by cold logic.

The tracks on Mogic create new phantasmal blends of images and ideas that draw upon the mystical and technological.

Mogic is a discombobulating pop prayer exploring artificial intelligence, witches, nanotechnology, pre-medieval history, robots, romance, computer games and waterfalls.

This dynamic record of eddies and swirls, ravishing melodies, hallucinatory textures and bonkers rhythms is pinned down by some deft performances: Pilkinton’s picture-perfect pop and earthy singing, Davies’ blazing harp splutterations and guitar moans, Bothwell’s twisted telephone techno and bamboozling lyric-bombs and Dawson’s utter bass.

‘Phantasmal electronic, squelching synths and a bass that almost clangs with detuning.’ – Wire

‘While it’s easily the most accessible material from the project to date, a few listens will reveal that it’s every bit as chaotic as their early outsider sounds.’ –  All Music

Their improvisational roots are still evident, but the bursts of outsider pop shining through proves they have plenty more to dig up.’ –  Mojo

Doors 7.45pm | Limited Unreserved seating

William The Conqueror

William the Conqueror’s new album Bleeding on the Soundtrack is out now on Loose. Produced by Ethan Johns (Kings of Leon, White Denim, Laura Marling) at Peter Gabriel’s iconic Real World Studios, it is the second instalment of William’s story following on from debut album, Proud Disturber of the Peace, released in 2017 to widespread critical acclaim.

A character, a mythology, the flicker of a younger self, William the Conqueror is many things, but in simplest terms it is the name of a band put together by songwriter Ruarri Joseph, alongside his close musical conspirators Harry Harding(drums) and Naomi Holmes (bass). The trio have been picking up praise from far flung corners ever since Joseph took the step to go public with his erstwhile secret alter-ego, their shows steadily winning over fans up and down the country.

The indie-rock three piece channel classic blues and roots rock through a grunge/indie filter, with diverse influences including The Doors, Pearl Jam and The Lemonheads. Praised for their grit and authenticity by The Guardian and NPR’s Ann Powers, they signed to Loose, joining a roster that includes Courtney Marie Andrews, Israel Nash, The Handsome Family and Treetop Flyers. Praise for their live performances has drawn wildly enthusiastic comparisons to the likes of Kings of Leon, Nirvana, Buffalo Tom and The Marshall Tucker Band.

“there are few more heartfelt and soul-baring writers in any medium today” Mojo ★★★★

“Fantastic second album” Americana UK 9/10

“strikes a rich vein of gold” Culturefly ★★★★

UNCUT 8/10

Doors 7:30pm | Unreserved Seating

Neu! Reekie!

Neu! Reekie! are a prize-winning literary production house based in Scotland with anchors in poetry, music, animation & film, performance and the weird realms in between. Neu! Reekie! curated The Curfew Tower, Cushendall in 2018. This show will reflect this and involve writers that participated including Neu! Reekie! Founders poets Michael Pedersen and Kevin Williamson.

Salena Godden
Salena Godden is one of Britain’s foremost poets whose electrifying live performances have earned her a devoted following. Her latest poetry collection, Pessimism is for Lightweights, was published in July 2018 to wide acclaim.

Bill Drummond – Elvis & Me
In the November of 1992, Bill Drummond, deep into his midlife crisis, formed the belief that it could only be Elvis who had the power to save the world from itself.

Drummond’s course of action to enable Elvis saving the world, was for him, to take an icon of Elvis to the North Pole. Once there this icon of Elvis would be left to leak love, peace and happiness down the longitudes and out across the latitudes and world peace would shortly follow.

This course of action lead to a set of circumstances where Bill Drummond ended up owning The Curfew Tower in Cushendall, County Antrim which he ran as an artist residency for almost 20 years.

As part of this year’s Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival and the Neu! Reekie! involvement with it, Bill Drummond will be joining the dots between Memphis, Tennessee, The North Pole and Cushendall, County Antrim. The joining of the dots will have the title Elvis & Me.

Eugene Kelly
Eugene Kelly is a Scottish musician best known as a founding member of the group The VaselinesKurt Cobain was a big fan of the band, with Nirvana covering several Vaselines songs including Molly’s Lips, Son of A Gun and Jesus Don’t Want Me For a Sunbeam.

Kelly’s solo album, Man Alive was released in 2003. Since 2008, The Vaselines have continued to perform around the world and Kelly continues to perform as a solo artist.

Michael Pedersen
Leading the way in new Scottish Writing’, Michael Pedersen is a Robert Louis Stevenson Fellowship winner, a John Mather Trust Rising Star of Literature, a Canongate Future 40 and much mare. His recent collection, Oyster (Polygon 2017), was illustrated by and performed live with Frightened Rabbit’s lost giant Scott Hutchison.

Kevin Williamson
Writer, publisher, poet and performer of BurnsKevin Williamson has an impressive track record of building a community around his activities. Williamson is also co-founder of the political and cultural publication, Bella Caledonia, and founded and ran the cult literary powerhouse, Rebel Inc, which published early work by authors including Alan Warner and Irvine Welsh.

Doors 7:45pm | Unreserved Seating

Dan Ferguson – Double Take

Double Take showcases original paintings by award-winning artist Dan Ferguson featuring scenes of urban spaces in Northern Ireland.

They invite viewers to look at well-known places with new eyes or take notice of the most overlooked ones, and ultimately encourage them to reflect upon their experiences of urban spaces and how they have singled out particular ones for their importance.

Curated by art consultant Francesca Biondi. Works can be purchased online from Gallery 545, a gallery specialising in contemporary art from Northern Ireland

Opening times: Mon-Fri 8am-5pm, Sat 10am-5pm.
Friday 3 May, 1pm – Dan Ferguson presents his work (free but must be booked by emailing maggie@cqaf.com)

For more information visit: http://www.gallery545.com

This exhibition is kindly sponsored by Clements Coffee.

Farset Feirste – A Typeface for Belfast

Opening: Thursday 2 May 7.00pm

Belfast’s historic tiled street signage is immediately familiar to the city’s residents and visitors alike as a representation of the city’s unique character. Originally hand-made with poured clays as white capitals on black tiles during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the signs were first commissioned by the Belfast Corporation for use on major thoroughfares.

The exhibition traces how John McMillan, Emeritus Professor of Graphic Design at Ulster University and a Belfast resident, took the lettering and developed it into a functioning typeface then translated this into a corresponding gaelic typeform that would afford bilingual usage and a shared ownership by our citizens.

Ray Duncan

Exhibition Launch: Thursday 2 May 6.00pm

“The production of abstract painting has been a thread running throughout my work since the 1960s. I use painting as an evolutionary process, mixing colours directly onto the canvas, incorporating chance and accident, taking a series of calculated risks.

Throughout the process there is an emotional reaction to the painting, it’s nothing more and nothing less. I carry elements of the real world into the work through observations of colours and shapes that I see in the environment but I am not bound by the need to make representational images.” – Ray Duncan

Ray Duncan attended night classes at The Art College studying under John Luke and Terry Flanagan in the 1960s and went onto teach Art and Design in Belfast for over forty years.

He has exhibited his own work locally regularly since the early 70’s. In the 1980’s, with a group of artists, in a response to a lack of local venues he ran a series of ‘House Shows’ in artists’ houses.

His work is held in the Northern Ireland Civil Service Collection and the Northern Ireland Libraries collections.

Susan MacWilliam: The Telepaths

Exhibition Launch: Thursday 2 May 5.00pm – 8.00pm

The Golden Thread Gallery is delighted to presenting a new solo presentation by the internationally celebrated artist Susan MacWilliam in the Project Space in May.

The Telepaths is an installation of sculpture, video, and photographic work that explores the ideas and imagery related to historical investigations of telepathy and extrasensory perception.

With a fascination in the experimental handmade objects and apparatus used within psychical research studies MacWilliam draws parallels between the exploratory space of the researcher’s laboratory and that of the artist’s studio.

Susan MacWilliam uses diverse forms of reconstruction, portraiture and storytelling to explore personal and social histories. Subjects include psychic mediums, ectoplasm, X- ray vision, telepathy, table tilting, remote viewing and dermo optical perception.

Susan MacWilliam represented Northern Ireland at the 53rd Venice Biennale, 2009. In 2017 she was awarded the EIKON Award (45+) for European women photographers and media artists.

Earth to Alice

Alice’s award-winning and unconventional poetry performances have captivated audiences ever since she made her start as Artist in Residence of CQAF back in 2014. Her unique way with words has won her slams and fans both locally and internationally, with poems commissioned for BBC TV and radio, and internationally touring live performances, supporting talents in poetry, music and comedy, including Katherine Ryan, Duke Special and Lemn Sissay. In this new adaptation of her critically acclaimed one-woman show ‘Earth To Alice’, after a break from performing that included two admissions to a mental health ward, Alice tackles the stigma of mental illness head-on as she plays with the boundaries between poetry, comedy, storytelling and theatre. Expect laughter, some tears, and a life-affirming kick in the balls in this re-emergence of a talent not to be missed.

“Alice McCullough is radiant when she reads her poems -she is one of the rare gems I’ve discovered on my gigging circuits across the waters. Her words cover all corners as she quietly stamps down injustice and concocts poetry potions with equal part sadness and joy. Basically, she’s bloody great.” >Hollie McNish

“A warm and confident slam-winning performer, Alice McCullough is a strong and sensitive voice on the poetry scene in Northern Ireland whose poetry is well-deserving of a wider audience – She’s a dead rare red hair Fred Astaire of words.” Tony Walsh

“Wonderful! I especially like the ‘Love’ poem and the ‘Wonderland’ poem – delightfully good.” Simon Callow

“Great show – fragile but in control, real, and in the moment.” Kevin McAleer

Doors 7.45pm | Unreserved Seating

SOLD OUT – Echo and the Bunnymen

Plus special guest CONCHUR WHITE

It would be remiss of us not to invite “the best band in the world” (copyright Ian McCulloch 1984) to play at the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival 20th anniversary celebrations. And speaking of anniversaries, it’s been 40 years since the release of the incendiary Pictures on My Wall introduced a startled world to Echo and the Bunnymen.

In the decades since, McCulloch and Sergeant have steadfastly followed their own dazzling star. Building a stunning body of work (including the likes of The Killing Moon, Seven Seas and Bring on the Dancing Horses) along the way, their masterful ability to blend the epic and the intimate has influenced inferior copy bands too numerous to mention (*cough cough U2).

Throughout a career of dramatic highs and lows though, the music has always burned bright.  The recent release of The Stars, The Oceans and The Moon, in which the band revisit many of their classics, not only found McCullouch in fine voice, but reminded us all – if a reminder were needed – what a truly seminal act The Bunnymen are.

So it’s with a thrill in our heart and an artful scouse swagger in our gait that we welcome Echo and the Bunnymen back to the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival.

Doors 7.45pm | Standing gig with very limited seating

Lisa O’Neill + special guest Kú Kilian

With support from Kú Kilian.

Lisa O’Neill from Cavan is an Irish songwriter like no other. Her roots may be sourced in folk and traditional music but her work opens up a landscape beyond any settled sense of genre.

On her last album, Pothole in the Sky, she has set her remarkable incisive voice against impressionistic instrumental back-drops, like Margaret Barry colluding with the Dirty Three or some such meeting of minds.

Over the years she has quietly built a reputation for herself on the Irish and international scenes and now has a growing following with her unique folk sound, strong song-writing and distinctive voice.

Her work is filled with tension and emotion, contextualizing themes of love, loss, heartache and sorrow today through referencing tales from the past with beauty, honesty and defiance.

Lisa’s latest release Heard A Long Gone Song has garnered huge acclaim.  It has recently been ChoiceNominated, had a 5/5 star review from The Guardian on release and a coveted Best Folk Album of 2018 from the same publication.

‘At a time when sameness threatens to drain the world of charm and surprise, Lisa O’Neill stands tall for difference, as an outlier with a mission to frame the world as she sees it and to perform it accordingly. Her voice is her own. No small achievement.’ THE IRISH TIMES

‘It’s uncompromising, stunning, soul-shaking stuff’ – THE GUARDIAN OCTOBER 2018 5*****

‘A record that is personally political, uniquely beautiful, heartfelt and witty. And perhaps as timeless as the passed down songs Lisa sings as if they were hers.’ – FOLK UK

KÚ KILIAN

Kú Kilian is a folk singer and a songwriter from Dublin, Ireland. Having spent the past four years performing around Ireland as a solo act, he has been the guest singer at “The Night Before Larry Got Stretched” as well as performing opening slots for “Skipper’s Alley”, “Lisa O’Neill” and most recently “The Sick And Indigent Song Club”. Kú Kilian is also an accomplished Traditional Irish Musician (Fiddle and Guitar) having played in a number of countries including Germany, China and the U.S.

Doors 7:45pm | Unreserved Seating

SOLD OUT – Jason Lytle (Grandaddy) & Malojian

If Jason Lytle learned anything from nearly 15 years at the helm of Grandaddy – the Modesto, California quintet whose celebrated five-album run started as a project in Lytle’s bedroom and took him around the world – it’s that he’s just not cut out to be a 21st century pop star.

There were triumphs, no doubt – they toured the world, created a technological dystopian classic with 2000’s The Sophtware Slump, shared stages with Elliott Smith, and talked shop with David Bowie when he turned up at their shows.

But Lytle was a poor fit for life in a breakthrough indie rock franchise. By the time he was writing 2006’s Just Like the Fambly Cat, he knew it was over, that the machine had simply lost its momentum, its gears too clogged with years of frustration, substance abuse, and diminishing returns. His choice became clear: he needed to go somewhere else and start over completely.

Jason moved to Montana, and enjoys hiking in woods, skateboarding in skateparks, bicycling on anything, skiing on mountains, playing the piano in his living room, and recording music, and occasionally playing shows.

As a solo artist, Lytle has built a catalogue of inventive and evocative works. Dept. Of Disappearance (2012) followed up his critically heralded 2009 release Yours Truly, the Commuter which American Songwriter called “one hell of a re-emergence.”

Jason will be joined in this special performance by Stevie Scullion AKA Malojian. Over the last few years, Malojian has released 4 stunning solo albums, along the way collaborating with some musical legends, including Steve Albini, who earned his chops producing NirvanaThe Pixies etc.

Malojian’s latest album features Joey Waronker (BeckR.E.M.Atoms For PeaceRoger Waters), Gerry Love (Teenage Fanclub) and more…But it’s Malojian’s own voice and songs that sets him apart from the crowd.

This will be an amazing night of music by two masters of their craft.

Doors 7.30pm | Unreserved Seating

Lowkey

One of the UK’s most potent and electrifying rappers, Lowkey is a towering figure of the scene who renews the old tradition of conscious hip-hop activism for the war on terror generation.

Fusing politically charged lyrics and deft dissection of topics such as race, war, global poverty and politics with anthemic choruses and unrelentingly energetic performance, Lowkey commands a keen and growing legion of followers – still treading new ground and generating fresh hysteria 14 years after releasing his first mixtape.

Born Kareem Dennis in London in 1986 to an Iraqi mother and English father, he first started rapping at the age of 12 and cut his teeth at Carnaby Street’s legendary Deal Real records.

After releasing his respected 2003 Key to the Game mixtape, he took a hiatus and returned in 2009 with debut full length Dear Listener, at the same time as releasing an album with Reverend and the Makers frontman Jon McClure, Arctic Monkeys drummer Matt Helders and members of Babyshambles to form the group Mongrel.

Following several humanitarian aid missions in Palestine and various charity projects, he released his critically acclaimed sophomore outing, Soundtrack to the Struggle, in 2011.

Back on form and with a slew of new releases and collaborations including his poignant singles Ahmed & Children of Diaspora alongside a largely sold-out UK tour in 2016, Lowkey is out of retirement and ready to make more memorable marks in the global hip-hop consciousness.

“Arguably the biggest name on the UK hip-hop underground scene” The Guardian
“Soundtrack To The Struggle solidifies Lowkey’s position at the forefront of UK hip hop” SBTV

Doors 7.30pm | Very Limited Unreserved Seating

Kitt Philippa

Who is Kitt Philippa? They are human, they are searching and in music they find hope. Although raised on classical, the songs are strangely urban and often conveyed with digital sleight. An organ scholar and an experimentalist, KP plays piano, guitar, clarinet, prayer bowl and bicycle wheel.

The 2018 emergence of Kitt Philippa with new single Human and follow up single Grace has been championed by Mary Anne HobbsTom Robinson, Phil Taggart, Huw Stephens, RTE 2FM, Today FM, Hotpress, The Line of Best Fit and Nialler9.

They took new music on the road in support of SOAK, Villagers, Lisa Hannigan, Hilary Woods, Wye Oak and closed out 2018 by winning ‘Single of the Year,’ by public vote, at the Northern Ireland Music Prize.

’they are extraordinary. I think they are a shining future star’ – Mary Anne Hobbs (BBC 6 Music)

‘Kitt Philippa is very talented and thoughtful singer and musician who performs in an open and honest way, unburdened by external pressure and it shows’.– Nialler 9

‘… full of sparse, graceful, elegantly pitched wonder. There’s a beautiful minimal soulfulness…’

The Irish Times

‘Bright, dynamic and boasting one of the most interesting new Irish voices we’ve heard in aeons, this one’s a must for lovers of Fiona Apple or James Blake.’ – Hotpress Magazine

Doors 7:45pm | Limited Unreserved Seating

SOLD OUT – Marian Keyes in conversation with Roisin Ingle

Marian Keyes is one of the most successful Irish novelists of all time. Though she was brought up in a home where a lot of story-telling went on, it never occurred to her that she could write. Instead she studied law and accountancy and finally started writing short stories in 1993 “out of the blue.”

Though she had no intention of ever writing a novel (“It would take too long”) she sent her short stories to a publisher with a letter saying she’d started work on a novel. The publishers replied, asking to see the novel and, once her panic had subsided, she began to write what subsequently became her first book, Watermelon.

It was published in Ireland in 1995, where it was an immediate runaway success. She has gone on to write thirteen novels and three collections of journalism and short stories, all of which have been bestsellers. Marian is now published in thirty-six languages. Marian’s latest novel, The Break, was published by Penguin in 2017.

Roisin Ingle is a columnist, editor and podcaster with The Irish Times. She is the author of two collections of her columns, Pieces of Me (Hachette) and Public Displays of Emotion (Irish Times Books) and is the co-author of The Daughterhood (Simon and Schuster) with Natasha Fennell which has been published in several languages.

She produces The Women’s Podcast and presents her own podcast ‘Roisin Meets …’ on The Irish Times online.

Doors 12:30pm | Unreserved Seating

SOLD OUT – Mary Coughlan

Mary Coughlan is one of Ireland’s greatest female jazz and blues singers a true artist who has carved out a highly regarded career and a legion of devoted fans worldwide.

Described as Ireland’s Billie Holiday, Mary has overcome childhood trauma, alcoholism, drug addiction to become a musical force like no other. Her life story gives weight to the truth that the best singers are the ones with the most painful lives (The Guardian).

Her seminal first album Tired and Emotional rocketed her to overnight fame in 1985, and fifteen albums later, her ability to deeply connect with both the song and her audience remains undiminished, a testament to her inner strength and to the power of transformation redemption.

Mary live is in a league of her own, her glorious husky voice pulling every ounce of emotion from the music. As the Observer rightly said “Mary Coughlan’s talent is awesome.”

Resonant with the grief of Billie Holiday the soul of Van Morrison and the defiance of Edith Piaf, to hear Mary sing is to be at the core of the human heart.

“Her husky gin-soaked voice has been compared more often to Billie Holiday… at times she is more like an incredibly relaxed KD Lang or Edith Piaf.” The Times.

Doors 1:45pm | Unreserved Seating

Sean O’Hagan + guests Big Monster Love

Sean O’Hagan is a multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and arranger who leads the avant-pop band the High Llamas. His musical career started with seminal Irish band Microdisney which he co-founded in the 1980s.  For several years he was also a member of the English-French band Stereolab.

As well as writing and performing, Sean is also an arranger working in film, art and cultural events. His talents have lead to numerous collaborations with Brian Wilson, Paul Weller, Super Furry Animals, Doves, Vanessa Da Mata, Sondre Lechre, The Charlatans, The Coral , St Etienne, Mercury Rev, Gilberto Gil  and Terry Hall.

This concert is being staged to remember Thomas McCabe who successfully opposed the formation of the Belfast Slave Ship Company in 1786.

Proceeds from the concert will be given to the N. Ireland Law Centre with a brief introduction from historian Raymond O’Regan author of Hidden Belfast. Supported by Experience Belfast Walking Tours (www.experiencebelfast.com).

Doors 2.45pm | Unreserved Seating

Sneaks

Washington DC-based Sneaks is leading the resistance against the mundane. Breathing new life into the DIY post-punk scene, Eva Moolchan takes a minimalistic approach to creating tunes that rebel against the over embellished.

Using only a drum kit, bass, and whispery vocals, she makes songs you’ll find yourself humming along to after you’ve stopped listening.

New album Highway Hypnosis plays on hip-hop, post-punk, and invented words to fill a gap between the feminist underground and genre-specific singles charts. Through it, Moolchan joins the resistance forged by queer black feminists who create, explore, empower, conquer, and play bass.

Like a piece of art with as many interpretations as people who view it, Sneaks’ music is kaleidoscopic, completely unique to the listener—and live, it takes on even more power. A potential ‘show of the festival’.

Doors 8:30pm | Unreserved Seating

Spiritualized

Jason Pierce has always created his own worlds. It began almost 4 decades ago with Spaceman 3’s mesmerising fuzzed-up drone, which metamorphosed into Spiritualized’s majestic, beautiful soundscapes. Hypnotic hymns, throbbing blues rock, and swooning lullabies about love and self-doubt, backed by cathedral-sized arrangements full heart-swelling crescendos..

“I want to make music that catches all the glory and beauty and magnificence, but also the intimacy and fragility, all within the space of the same 10 seconds,” Pierce has said, and boy does he deliver. Each Spiritualized album is a unique and perfectly assembled collection of sounds that are bruised and beautiful, intimate and glorious.

There’s 1997’s masterpiece Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space; the swelling, spectacular, Let It Come Down, and last year’s And Nothing Hurt, a record which seemed a perfect distillation of what’s gone before: glorious gospel, rock’n’roll, country and psychedelia sound-tracking his cracked vocals.

Just listen to I’m Your Man, a perfect, lilting supernova nursery rhyme. Backed by choirs and strings, these hymns soar as high as the stars. Ladies and gentlemen, get ready for an epic evening at the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival.

Doors 7.45pm | Standing gig with very limited seating

Wonders of the Wake

The Wonders of the Wake is a totally unique Irish Trad Arts show that in laughter, song, keening and haunting Gaelic laments celebrates the ancient rite of the Irish Wake.

Our hauntingly beautiful Mná Caointe, three keening female singers, will bring a tear to your eye and shiver in your spine and take you on a 90 minute magical adventure to the best Irish wake you could ever experience.

The  Wonders of the Wake is artistic collaboration between the acclaimed writer of My Father’s Wake author Kevin Toolis and the world renowned  Henry Girls, Joleen, Karen and Lorna McLaughlin.

In association with The Duncairn Arts Centre. 

Doors 7:45pm | Unreserved Seating

Barb Jungr: Bob, Brel and Me

Barb Jungr’s reputation as “one of the world’s great cabaret singers” (Time Out) may have gone to her head, as she will now only sing songs by writers whose names start with the letter B. But this means she can return to two colossi of popular song, whose writing has helped define her whole career. A good plan, because she is “one of the best interpreters of Jacques Brel and Bob Dylan anywhere on this angst-ridden planet today” (Village Voice).

In this brand new collection for 2019, Barb will turn her acclaimed ability at reinvention and reinterpretation to exploring her relationship with a set of Dylan and Brel songs she has never tackled before. They include Les Cœurs Tendres (The tender hearts), Voir un ami pleurer (To see a friend break down and cry), Mr Tambourine Man and This Wheel’s on Fire.

Placed alongside them will be some of Barb’s own songs, written with a number of wonderful collaborators.

‘it’s as if Edith Piaf and Nick Cave had a love-child, who was adopted by Carmen McRae’ – GLAM ADELAIDE

‘the alchemist among jazz singers… electrifying… the top rank of jazz singers… she is truly a marvel, who should not be missed.’ –  TELEGRAPH

Doors 7.45pm | Unreserved Seating

Men of North Country

Another winner from the Superfly Funk and Soul Belfast and CQAF team – Rock’n’roll from the soul of Tel Aviv.

After a string of successful tours in continental Europe, recording a live session for Craig Charles on BBC Radio 6, and playing the Madness House of Fun weekender, it is time for the soul-boys to tour the UK!

Emerging from Tel Aviv’s small soul scene, geared with a fresh approach to creating the perfect three-minute nugget, the sextet that has been described as ‘Soul with influences of Mod 79 and Punk 77’, lived up to the expectations with its sophomore LP for the London based Acid Jazz label.

12 tracks that dare infuse Northern Soul, Post-Punk and Rock’n’roll into heady visions of their city’s buildings, streets, bedrooms, clubs and bars, while remaining dedicated to MONC’s brass section extravaganza and their firm belief in the power of a great pop song. It’s the work of a small collective of music fans in a culturally diverse city.

Doors 8.45pm | Very limited Unreserved Seating

Hannah Peel & Will Burns – Chalk Hill Blue

‘… a damp wood

and the madness, really,

of a dawn chorus being taped.

Our field recordings made

so we might never lose a thing.’

A new album of poetry and electronic music: A dislocated, slippery examination of memory, social and familial relations, landscape and our urge to both belong and move elsewhere.

This is an anti-pastoral picture of a middle-England that could be anywhere, lost, empty, and beautiful even in its decaying phase.

Existing and reacting off each word and sound in the studio together; with the words of poet Will Burns, the analogue electronic compositions of Hannah Peel and the overarching eye of producer Erland Cooper, all tracks were produced and recorded in its entirety within 12 hours.

Scoring these strange worlds of electronic ruralism Peel says, “After only meeting Will at a few gigs before, we met at the studio to try out some ideas. Whenever he heard a sound or texture, he instinctively brought out a poem that he thought fitted the mood. It was like ‘Tone Poetry’. Equally when he read a poem to us in the studio, we reacted straight away with sound… casting away apprehensions, creating an album with no boundaries or expectations”.

Doors 3:30pm | Unreserved Seating

Hit the North

Hit the North is moving. Ireland’s biggest street art festival Hit the North is changing dates.

We’re delighted to be working alongside Seedhead Arts and Community Arts Partnership and join them on their mission to transform the Cathedral Quarter’s most boring walls.

For six years Hit the North has showcased the worlds best street artists to the attendees of Culture Night so a move to May is great news for attendees of CQAF.

On Sunday 5th May head to Union Street and Kent Street (beside the Sunflower) between 2-5pm where there will be artists from all over Ireland painting live.

A date shift means a smaller festival for just this year but there’s something new planned for Monday 6th May so watch this space…

Alejandro Escovedo + guest Don Antonio

Crossing borders, jumping barriers, taking risks, betting it all: that’s the path Alejandro Escovedo has been taking in his lifelong search for the heart of rock and roll.

Alejandro’s new album, The Crossing is about that journey: searching, but not necessarily finding, eyes and ears open all the way. It is his first for Yep Roc Records and his first ever recorded in Europe. “This says more about me than any of my records without it being a record about me,” Alejandro says.

The Crossing tells the tale of two boys, one from Mexico, one from Italy, who meet in Texas to chase their American rock and roll dreams. They discover a not-so-welcoming, very different place from the Promised Land they imagined, with cameos from the likes of Wayne Kramer of the MC5, Joe Ely and James Williamson of the Stooges to show the boys the way.

It was recorded in an Italian farmhouse near Mogdliana and features his collaborator and co-songwriter Don Antonio with his band whom will be backing and opening for Alejandro.

Escovedo’s trailblazing career began with The Nuns, San Francisco’s famed punk innovators, to the Austin-based-based alt-country rock pioneers, Rank & File, to Texas bred darlings, True Believers, through countless all-star collaborations and tribute album appearances and finally a series of beloved solo albums beginning with 1992’s acclaimed Gravity.

Escovedo has earned a surplus of distinctions: No Depression magazine’s Artist of the Decade Award in 1998 and the Americana Music Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Performing in 2006, just to name two.

His last album Burn Something Beautiful was co-produced, written and recorded with Peter Buck and Scott McCaughey.

Alejandro worked with producing legend Tony Visconti (David Bowie/T-Rex) on Real Animal and Street Songs of Love; he has previously worked with Chuck Prophet, John Cale, Los Lobos, Willie Nelson and Bruce Springsteen.

A true artist and craftsman, CQAF is delighted to welcome Alejandro Escavado to this year’s Festival.

Doors 7:30pm | Unreserved Seating

Craig Charles (DJ Set) with special guests

The legendary actor, host and broadcaster Craig Charles is one of UK’s most beloved Funk and Soul DJ’s. From Robot Wars to Red Dwarf, Craig has now grounded himself as a Funk & Soul icon after 10 years of broadcasting on BBC 6 Music with their primetime Saturday night show.

Live every Saturday night with an assortment of classic gems and emerging artists, Craig has garnered global support as one of the UK’s foremost Funk and Soul commentators, DJ’s and promoters of new music. The show has become a European benchmark for artists who want to connect directly with their fans.

Mr. Charles and his trunk of funk is back to help CQAF celebrate it’s 20th birthday. In the words of the soulful don himself, ‘No Sleep till Bed time’.

The crowd lapped it up and danced their socks off and Craig seemed to enjoy every minute.” – Nottingham Post

From there the seemingly jet propelled jockey has carved out a career as a dynamic, knowledgeable and frankly electric DJ, merging classic tracks with modern numbers.” – Skiddle

For three hours the DJ would not relent, feeding off the intensity of the night throwing sonic curve balls of genres you never knew would be dancing bed-fellows. It’s difficult to imagine the whole night without being on that dancefloor.” – Yorkshire Evening Post

Doors 6:45pm | Unreserved Seating

SOLD OUT – Jerry Sadowitz: Make Comedy GRATE Again!

Jerry Sadowitz, Britain’s FAVOURITE COMEDIAN, is back!

Yes, the man with no visible demograph returns to make you laugh while simultaneously parting you of hard earned cash!

Affectionately known as ‘miserable c**t’ to his imaginary friends, Sadowitz is the only comic hardly working today who campaigns against human rights.

His television appearances include Love Island, Hard Talk, Michty Me!(still in production) and Loose Stools. He now suffers from Alzheimer’s disease and has to watch Netflix comedy specials so he can remember his own material.

Doors 7.45pm | Unreserved Seating

SOLD OUT – Joshua Burnside

Northern Irish experimental folk songwriter and producer Joshua Burnside is something of an anomaly in local terms.

With a brooding, powerful sound echoing artists of places afar and time long gone, his enthralling craft defies local comparison in striving towards an aesthetic as much as visual as it is sonic.

Balanced with a diverse palette of sounds, Burnside deftly blends alt-folk and elements of the Irish folk song tradition with South American rhythms and Eastern European influences, whilst introducing synthetic and found-sounds, synths loops and crunching beats to create a stormy world that shifts and swirls perspective like a lingering lucid dream.

Joshua was the winner of the NI Music Prize 2017 and has chalked up over 10 million streams on Spotify with extensive radio play and support from BBC Radio 1 and 6 MusicGuy Garvey, Tom Robinson, Tom Ravenscroft, Lauren Laverne, Huw Stephens and Phil Taggart.

The setting of the 1st Presbyterian Church will make this a special show and a great one to witness an artist at the height of his song craft.

Doors 7:45pm | Unreserved Seating

Kevin Roche – The Quiet Architect

Celebrated Irish-American architect Kevin Roche was working right up until his death, aged 96 in March of this year.

Despite a lifetime of acclaimed work that included designing new galleries for The Met in New York, Roche had little interest in celebrity and always eschewed the label “Starchitect”.

Graduating from UCD in 1945, and after more than 60 years in the USA, his first Irish project, the Convention Centre Dublin, opened in 2010. Roche’s architectural philosophy focused on creating “a community for a modern society” and he has been credited with creating green buildings before they became part of the public consciousness.

He won awards for his designs of over 300 major buildings around the world, among them the Pritzker Prize in 1982 – the highest honour given to a living architect.

With The Quiet Architect, Irish Director Mark Noonan brings a cinematic yet intimate portrayal of the man and his staggering body of work.

Doors 5.45pm | Limited Unreserved Seating

SOLD OUT Kevin McAleer – Guru

Tyrone’s biggest living lama Kevin McAleer has just been voted ‘Ireland’s Most Humble Guru’ by Mindfulness Magazine for the eighteenth year running.

To celebrate this modest achievement, he has announced a majestic interplanetary tour for 2019, taking in the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Venus and Pluto, before returning to his home planet Earth for a series of spectacular live apparitions.

It’s almost fifty years since Guru McAleer first coined the word ‘mindfulness’, and he is still coining it today. He achieved global fame and fortune with the bestselling Be Your Own Brexit, and has appeared dozens of times on Celebrity Zen Master Chef and as an outspoken judge on Tibet’s Got Talent.

McAleer’s Advanced Awareness seminars promise total self-discovery on the night, or your money back; participants are gently guided to a state of deep relaxation, emptying the mind of all thought, and replacing it with meaningless laughter. An evening of divine light entertainment not to be missed.

Immaculate mastery of language’  The Scotsman
Will leave your head spinning and your cheeks hurting‘  British Comedy Guide

Doors Tickets 7.15pm | Limited Unreserved Seating 

Best in Show

It’s nearly 20 years since “the canine Spinal Tap” aka Best in Show hit the big screen.

Hilarious, heart-warming and 100 per cent doggytastic, Best in Show follows the journey of five eccentric entrants as they pit themselves and their pooches against one another in a prestigious dog show.

Directed by and starring the great Christopher Guest along with a stellar cast of comedy talent, we can’t think of a better movie for our first ever dog friendly cinema event! And what better venue than Belfast’s own official dog friendly pub – The Sunflower?

Come join us, bring a four (or two) legged friend with you, grab a beer or a bowl of water, and enjoy Best in Show – easily the funniest improvised film about American dog shows ever made!

Doors 1.45pm | Unreserved Seating

SOLD OUT – Tom Stade – ‘I Swear To…’

Following last year’s smash-hit UK tour, the Canadian comedy legend is back with a new show.  Welcome back to ‘I SWEAR TO…’ picking up just where he left off as an hour simply wasn’t long enough.

Direct from the Edinburgh Festival, join Tom as he attempts to figure out exactly where he fits into this emerging new world of feelings and FaceTime.  Exactly when did he, and all his stuff become vintage – and why didn’t he see it coming?

Armed with his usual swagger and playful sense of mischief, join Tom as he explores these generational conundrums, and a whole lot more….

One of the most prolific and engaging stand-ups of our time.  As seen on Ch4’s Comedy Gala, BBC One’s Michael McIntyre’s Comedy RoadshowThe John Bishop Show and Live at the Apollo (twice, bitches!)

Unmissable’ –  EDINBURGH EVENING NEWS

‘Sack loads of charm, poise and free-flowing spontaneity. Mischievous, high-spirited, no-nonsense stand-up from an expertly skilled Pro.’ – CHORTLE

‘Every inch the star. If comedy is the new Rock and Roll, then Tom Stade is Keith Richards! ‘– DAILY RECORD

‘So cool he could well be the answer to global warming. Gloriously funny.’ – SCOTSMAN

Doors 7:30pm  |  Unreserved Seating

Rufus Wainwright

Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter, and composer Rufus Wainwright will play a special intimate solo show at the Festival Marquee.

This is the 20-year anniversary of his eponymous debut which first burst him onto the music scene. Immediately beloved and critically acclaimed, both Rufus and the record were widely hailed as a breakthrough. It influenced many artists that came after him and set the path for his illustrious career ever since.

One of the great male vocalists, songwriters and composers of his generation, Rufus Wainwright has released eight studio albums, three DVDs, and three live albums. He has collaborated with artists ranging from Elton John, David Byrne, Mark Ronson, Joni Mitchell to Burt Bacharach. At the age of 14 he was named Canada’s best young musician and later received the Juno Award for Best Alternative Album. His album, Rufus Does Judy recorded at Carnegie Hall in 2006, was nominated for a Grammy.

Doors 7.45pm | Limited Unreserved Seating

SOLD OUT – Mad Notions Podcast

Irish musicians Mick McCullagh and Nathan O’Regan discuss famous music myths, legends and true stories. IsPaul dead? Is Elvis alive? Just what exactly was Phil Collins singing about on In The Air Tonight? In this sight-loss friendly special event supported by Guide Dogs Northern Ireland, Mick and Nathan discuss the late great, Ray Charles.

Mad Notions enjoyed 60,000 listens across the world in it’s first year, with festival appearances throughout Ireland and
sell out live shows in Belfast.

All stories discussed with as much factual accuracy and focus as scrawled graffiti in the backstage bathroom.
Peppered among these famous tales are personal anecdotes from each of the lads that highlight the disparity
between the perception and the realities of gigging life.

Doors 7.15pm | Limited Unreserved Seating

whenyoung

whenyoung are Aoife Power (Vocals/Bass), Niall Burns (Guitar) and Andrew Flood (Drums) who hail from Limerick but are currently based in London.

First meeting as teenagers, sneaking into the only indie bar of their city in Ireland, they bonded over cheap vodka and The Velvet Underground. Soon after, Niall moved to London, with Andrew and Aoife quickly following, and here they began writing songs together.

Following the release of their critically acclaimed debut EP, Given Upwhenyoung are back with an epic new single, Never Let Go, released through Virgin EMI.

A massive slab of joyous guitar-pop, Never Let Go finds the band expanding their sound. Produced by Al O’Connell (The Big Pink, Superfood), The slow burning track features layers of chiming guitar and vocals, creating a wall of sound that beautifully compliments Aoife’s evocative lyrics.

Doors 7.45pm | Limited Unreserved Seating

SOLD OUT – Kevin McAleer – Guru

EXTRA SHOW

Tyrone’s biggest living lama Kevin McAleer has just been voted ‘Ireland’s Most Humble Guru’ by Mindfulness Magazine for the eighteenth year running.

To celebrate this modest achievement, he has announced a majestic interplanetary tour for 2019, taking in the Sun, Mars, Jupiter, Uranus, Venus and Pluto, before returning to his home planet Earth for a series of spectacular live apparitions.

It’s almost fifty years since Guru McAleer first coined the word ‘mindfulness’, and he is still coining it today. He achieved global fame and fortune with the bestselling Be Your Own Brexit, and has appeared dozens of times on Celebrity Zen Master Chef and as an outspoken judge on Tibet’s Got Talent.

McAleer’s Advanced Awareness seminars promise total self-discovery on the night, or your money back; participants are gently guided to a state of deep relaxation, emptying the mind of all thought, and replacing it with meaningless laughter. An evening of divine light entertainment not to be missed.

Immaculate mastery of language’  The Scotsman
Will leave your head spinning and your cheeks hurting‘  British Comedy Guide

Doors Tickets 7.15pm | Limited Unreserved Seating 

SOLD OUT – Patty Griffin

With support from Erika Wennerstrom

Grammy Award winner Patty Griffin has just released her 10th studio recording and first-ever eponymous LP, PATTY GRIFFIN on her own PGM Recordings label.

PATTY GRIFFIN represents an extraordinary new chapter for this incomparable singer-songwriter and immediately stands among the most deeply personal recordings of her remarkable two-decade career.

The album – which follows 2015’s Grammy-nominated Servant of Love – collects songs written during and in the aftermath of profound personal crisis, several years in which she battled – and ultimately defeated – cancer just as a similar and equally insidious disease metastasized into the American body politic.

Yet as always, like very few others, Griffin’s power lies in how, as Holly Gleason in the Martha’s Vineyard Gazetteobserved, “her songs seem to freeze life and truth in amber.” It’s in how Griffin can express the strikingly intimate while never making it about herself, all wrapped in sparse arrangements that breathe an incomparable force and import into her songcraft.

A very special performance is guaranteed.

SOLD OUT – Kieran Hodgson: ’75’

Edinburgh Comedy Award Best Show nominee 2018.

Passion. Betrayal. Harold Wilson. Character comedian Kieran Hodgson returns with the epic and surprising tale of how Britain joined Europe in the first place.

On a deeply personal quest for understanding, Kieran perfects a series of obsolete impressions and discovers that the 70s were about more than just TISWAS, the colour brown and the words ‘Let’s go on strike again’.

Three-time Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee, Star of Radio 4’s Earworms and Lance, and as seen regularly on BBC2’s Two Doors DownUpstart Crow and Dad’s Army: We’re Doomed.

 ‘A terrific show’ ★★★★ THE GUARDIAN

There’s a delicious perfectionism here to the writing, structure and delivery that puts most other shows to shame’ ★★★★ THE TELEGRAPH

‘Ravishingly entertaining, informative, full of insight and plenty of laughs’ ★★★★ THE TIMES

‘Incredibly dense in laughs…it’s not half as niche as it sounds, and ten times funnier’ ★★★★ CHORTLE

 Doors 7.45pm | Unreserved Seating

New Fiction: Geraldine Quigley & Jan Carson

Celebrating the release of two great new novels by two of our finest new voices.

Music Love Drugs War.

This astonishing debut novel by Geraldine Quigley is a clever multiple-narrative account of teenage kicks and sectarian strife in early 80s Northern Ireland marking the author out as a writer of rare compassion and humour.

The Fire Starters

This hugely anticipated second novel by Jan Carson is dark, propulsive and thrillingly original. It is a tale of fierce familial
love and sacrifice which fizzes with magic and wonder.

“Gripping, affecting, surprising. I inhaled it.” (Lisa McInerney)

“Spectacular . . . Dark, beautiful, at once grittily real and wildly magical. Insanely alluring.” (Donal Ryan)

Doors 7.45pm | Unreserved Seating

Anna Calvi (Solo)

In less than a decade Anna Calvi has received two Mercury Prize nominations, praise from the highest quarters, and established herself as an artist fearless of examining identity and passion. The three Anna Calvi albums to date are dark-inked essays in turbulence and drama.

She’s collaborated with Brian Eno, Marianne Faithful and, on the 2014 covers EP Strange WeatherDavid Byrne. In 2017, she composed the music for The Sandman, an opera directed by Robert Wilson.

Hunter, the third album from Anna Calvi, is the embodiment of the feeling of truly letting go.

For the art-rock singer-songwriter it was a catharsis, and an opportunity to be more truthful than she has ever been before. Hunter is a galvanising record which explores freedom. It’s about the female protagonist being the hunter; it goes beyond gender, it is visceral and primal.

Doors 7.45pm | Unreserved Seating

Phil Taggart’s Slacker Guide to the Music Industry

What do Biffy Clyro, Run the Jewels, Charli XCX, and George Ezra all have in common?

Well, aside from selling a truckload of records, and defying all the gloomy predictions about the music industry, they’ve all given up their hard earned wisdom to contribute to the one-stop-shop for everything you’ll ever need to break into the frightening world of being a professional musician – Phil Taggart’s The Slacker Guide to the Music Industry.

With contributions from some of the most successful names in the business, and the behind-the-scenes label bosses, managers, promoters, and marketers who made it happen, BBC Radio 1 DJ Phil Taggart has shared his considerable expertise within the business to give even the most basic beginner a road map that will hopefully lead to success.

But lest you think this is some scam or ‘get rich quick’ scheme, Phil Taggart’s The Slacker Guide to the Music Industryuses the expertise of the people who’ve navigated these difficult waters to ask all the questions you never even knew you had to ask: At what point to you need a manager? What is sync? What does a sound person even do, anyway? This isn’t going to teach you how to write a killer song, or what moves to pull on stage, but it’ll have the invaluable advice that you’ll need when you want to take your career to the next stage.

Phil Taggart is a BBC Radio 1 DJ who specialises in new and alternative music. He has been at the forefront of cutting-edge music since 2012, giving first radio plays to the likes of Royal Blood, London Grammar, Jorja Smith, Years and Years amongst countless others.

He played bass in his band Colenso Parade from the age of 14 and spent nine years working his way through the spaghetti junction of the music industry. Having lived and breathed it on the music-making side, he secured a spot at the biggest new music radio station in the world, and began his career as a critically acclaimed DJ on BBC Radio 1.

Not content with breaking new bands on-air, he started his own record label, Hometown Records releasing the likes of Rat Boy, Rejjie Snow, TOUTS, Yonaka, Rhodes, and many others.

Phil Taggart’s The Slacker Guide to the Music Industry is his first book, and he’s poured all that experience into every page, drawing from the expertise of some of the key names in the business. In music, there’s no certainties. But knowledge is power.

Phil Taggart touches on every aspect of this bizarre but rewarding world. This is the only book you will need to navigate the shark infested waters of the music industry. Find that dolphin and ride it! – SIMON NEILL (BIFFY CLYRO)

I wish Id had a book like this to read when I was starting out. Phil has done a wonderful job of breaking down the whole industry for beginners and experts alike. – FRANK TURNER

‘Phil was the first person to ever play me on the radio. His love and enthusiasm for new music is contagious. This book is an essential buy for anyone venturing into the madness of the music industry. – SOAK

It’s tough when youre starting out and you dont really know where to go to for advice or who to trust in the industry. Well, now new acts have this brilliant new music Bible to turn to for immediate trusty, tested and appropriate advice. Get on it. – BLOSSUMS

What a wonderful idea for a book – this industry is difficult to navigate, there are no fixed routes to success. Philly explores all the different facets of making it’ in music with humour and expertise. – ANNIE MAC

Doors 7.45pm | Unreserved Seating

SOLD OUT – Chris Difford

2019 Grammy nominated, double Ivor Novello Award winning lyricist Chris Difford comes to CQAF with his 2019 “stand-up, sit-down” tour Up the Junction and we couldn’t be more excited.

The tour carries on from a successful show at 2018’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and sees Difford discussing extracts from his book Some Fantastic Place, which takes a look back at his career, whilst performing hits from across his Squeeze back-catalogue, and debuting some new solo material.

Over 40 years in the business, Difford rose to fame with his first incarnation, co-founding Squeeze with his longtime collaborator Glenn Tilbook. The pair quickly demonstrated an ability to turn characters and sketches from everyday life in to music, going on to write some the nation’s best-loved hits: Up The Junction, Cool For Cats, Labelled with Love, Tempted to name a few.

2017 saw Squeeze return with new album The Knowledge, followed by extensive worldwide touring the following year.

Always keen to bridge the gap between artist and audience, for the last 25 years Difford has hosted songwriting retreats in prisons, rehabs and with the Buddy Holly Foundation.

What’s more, he is one of the country’s most respected songwriters, having co-written with the likes Wet Wet WetJools Holland and Steve Nieve (Elvis Costello & The Attractions/Madness). Paul Carrack and Mick Jones of Foreigner.

Get tickets fast – this one will sell out.

Doors 7.45pm | Limited unreserved seating

Dead Lee

Dead Lee are a Portland-based folk duo comprised of Brian Koch and singer-songwriter Kara Harris. The duo represents a mutual love of the darker folk and country traditions.

Koch works as a drummer with Northwest-based Blitzen Trapper. The band formed in 2000, and recorded independently before signing with Subpop Records in 2007 in Seattle.

When Koch and Harris began playing music together, they discovered their interests were parallel and similar.

“We’re drawn to sadder, darker songwriters, like Townes Van Zandt, Gram Parsons and Neil Young,” Koch says. “We like music centered around themes of loss and breakups. Not exclusively, but there’s a lot of that.”

Doors 7.45pm | Unreserved Seating

Mick Flannery

With Special Guest Mo Kenney.

Mick Flannery is widely regarded as one of the finest singer-songwriters to come out of Ireland in recent years.

An award winning- double platinum selling artist, Mick has released five albums to date – including two number ones and received widespread airplay. He became the first Irish musician to ever win awards at the International Songwriting Competition in Nashville, aged 19.  His critically acclaimed live performances have seen him sell out shows in Ireland’s Olympia Theatre and Cork Opera House.

Mick first picked up a guitar at age of 14 under the musical influence of his mother’s family in their old farmhouse in Blarney, Co. Cork where he grew up listening to Tom Waits, Bob DylanJoni Mitchell, Van Morrison, and Jim Croce.

Mick wrote songs throughout his teens, while training as a stonemason, which culminated in him signing to a major label at just 21 and releasing his first album Evening Train.

2018 has seen Mick Flannery step out of his comfort zone both musically and geographically, touring new cities across UK, Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand whilst working with a number of celebrated producers along the way.

What has transpired over the last year is one of his strongest bodies of work in his fifteen year song-writing career.

“astute and sophisticated lyrics”  RTE

 “strong, imaginative melodies”     Irish Examiner

 “a song-writing force to be reckoned with”  Irish times

 “an album dripping with maturity, poise and potential”   Entertainment.ie

Mo Kenney

Mo Kenney is fuelled with quirky songs, a unique voice, and the admiration and support of industry veterans such as Joel Plaskett and Ron Sexsmith.

Since the release of her self-titled debut recording in September 2012, Mo Kenney has toured the country selling record numbers of CDs off-stage and gleaning outstanding reviews.

Doors 7.45pm | Unreserved Seating

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The Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival and Out To Lunch are annual festivals of music, comedy, theatre, art and literature which take place in January and May in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

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Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival / Out To Lunch Arts Festival
Unit 8
Northern Whig House
Bridge Street
Belfast
BT1 1LU