Category: CQAF Earlybird

Mellow, relaxed and sometimes haunting all describe Sarah’s singing and playing style.

Accompanied by her beautiful custom-made guitar – regularly tuned to DADGAD – the richness of her vocals is striking. Sarah’s international upbringing might explain her eclectic musical influences, which include folk, jazz, traditional, contemporary, classical and even medieval influences.

Sarah’s fifth album If We Dig Any Deeper It Could Get Dangerous (Shovel And A Spade, 2018) was produced by cult guitar great Michael Chapman, hailed by the likes of Meg Baird, William Tyler and Ryley Walker as ‘the godfather of new cosmic Americana” (The Guardian).

A staunch champion of Sarah’s since the two met at the 2014 Village Pump Festival, Chapman has given her his Ibanez electric guitar on long-term loan; it features on several tracks on the album, which also sees Sarah playing piano, high-strung Stratocaster and her own 1965 Martin D-28 and custom-made Andy Manson acoustic guitars.

The emphasis this time round is very much on Sarah’s superb writing and delivery, plus arrangements for guitar and voice of the medieval chant “Dies Irae” and Jeff Wayne’s classic “Forever Autumn”.

‘One voice, one guitar, and the wondrous reminder of the magic of music. Sarah has the gift.” — Gregory Weinkauf’ – THE HUFFINGTON POST

‘Brilliant musicianship, a warm and welcoming stage presence and a voice as rich, matured and knowing as the finest thrice-distilled Irish malt whiskey.’ –  fROOTS

Doors 7:45pm | Unreserved Seating

Try as you might, you simply cannot get a ticket to see this uplifting & amazing show in London. Every venue that puts tickets on sale, sells out in an instant.

Thirty years after its release, 17 members of the London African Gospel Choir, backed the LAGC’s excellent band, perform their own powerful twist on Paul Simon’s Graceland album delivering the Simon’s masterpiece from start to finish.

In the early 80s, Paul Simon was totally smitten by the infectious and irresistible rhythms of Township music. He travelled to Johannesburg recording with the absolute cream of South African musicians.

The resulting album Graceland became a true global phenomenon and spawned the hit singles, Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes, The Boy in the Bubble and it’s biggest smash – You Can Call Me Al.

The Choir’s rhythmic, evocative and empowering, voices have created an overwhelming musical event, we bring you… Graceland.

Doors 7:30pm | Unreserved Seating

One of the albums of 2017 for us was Irish alt-folk and electronica alchemist’s truly magnificent second album and Domino Records debut The Curious Hand.

A record not born of grand ideas realised at a stroke, but eked out slowly and steadily, honed and cultivated, turned over and around, deconstructed and put back together again. A record made through open-spirited collaboration with friends and family and hours lost in a headphone world.

All that and Seamus’s natural inclination to take his songs and “screw them up,” as he puts it. By which he means squirreling them back to his home studio and applying the synthesiser drones and circuit burps, found sounds and spoken-word audio samples that give all of his records such wonderful atmosphere. It’s as if they’re haunted by rogue half-tuned signals from another world.

Produced by Seamus and Leo Abrahams (Brian Eno, Wild Beasts), The Curious Hand elevates Fogarty into another bracket of artists doing fascinatingly skewed and modern and heartfelt things with roots-influenced and electronic music.

He’s an evocative and thoughtful lyricist and melodicist as well as an inquisitive sonic explorer for fans of Alasdair Roberts, Will Oldham and Kieran Hebden.

Arborist’s debut album Home Burial has been lauded by some of the music industry’s biggest publications.

MOJO music magazine gave the album 4/5 stars describing it as ‘a staggering debut of depth and substance‘. UNCUT magazine described the album as ‘a deliciously self–assured collection’ and scored it 8/10.

Led by singer–song writer Mark McCambridge the style could best be described as slow, smooth, melancholic Americana.

Doors 7:45pm | Unreserved Seating

*Limited Tickets available on the Door*

A human thermonuclear device with more than a hint of demonic possession, Barrence Whitfield is the ultra-hard hitting front man of one of the most frenetic, wild and generally insane bands in the history of the world.

Combining the energy of classic Little Richard with the vocal style of Wilson Pickett and Solomon Burke, Barrence and partners produce soul garage punk in a way that no-one else has ever come close to.

Raucous, manic, mesmerising, spellbindingly brilliant and above all else utterly unforgettable.

‘Whitfield and the Savages never let up, pummelling your heart and your eardrums with some of the rawest soul to come along since Pickett and Redding. It’s a welcome assault, as soothing as it is savage, and long overdue.’ NO DEPRESSION

‘Whitfield and his band are one of those rare groups whose latter-day post-reunion work sounds just as good as their first go-round.’ POPMATTERS

Sunglasses After Dark DJs have been mixing Wild Instrumental, Greasy Rock’n’Roll, Garage Stompers and Hand Clapping Soul for 7 years in Belfast’s Underground clubs.

Doors 7:45pm | Limited Unreserved Seating

*Tickets available on the Door*

The Go! Team bust onto the scene in 2004 with their universally praised debut, Thunder, Lightning, Strike, a homebrewed collage of meticulously chosen samples and trashy live instruments assembled brilliantly by Go! Team founder Ian Parton.

It somehow found its way from the bedroom to international acclaim, casually picking up a Mercury nomination along the way. Developing into a festival crushing live proposition, wowing fans and critics alike from Seoul to Sydney to Sao Paolo, and having over the course of their subsequent albums collaborated with the likes of Bethany Cosentino, Chuck D and Deerhoof.

The Go! Team have always been cheerleaders for a better world – an outpouring of collective joy in the face of small-mindedness and dismal careerism. They rejoice in the unifying urges and the chance encounters between cultures that lead to something new. They’re a band who still have faith in the power of music to make things better. Now more than ever, we need The Go! Team.

With brand new album Semicircle released earlier this year and picking up rave notices, The Go! Team are once again on the move. A guaranteed festival highlight.

The Correspondents consist of a singer Mr Bruce and a producer Chucks. Both growing up in South London, they formed in 2007 and within two years had taken their hi-octane genre-blending dance music from house parties to festival main stages.

The show that quickly established the duo as one of the best live acts in the UK has Mr Bruce assuming the look of a monochrome matador, singing with force, scatting at speed and dancing like his life depends on it while Chucks takes the audience on a journey through a multitude of genres from jazz and blues to the nether regions of electro and drum ‘n’ bass.

Doors 8:00pm | Standing

*Limited Tickets available – Please contact Waterfront Hall Box Office on 02890 334455*

Adopted child, teen runaway, addict, convict—instead of wearing her many pasts on her sleeve, Mary Gauthier wears them sewn into her songs like trophies from battles mainly lost.

Now deep into her second decade of spinning dark poetry into lyrics that are three parts autobiography, two parts short story, and five parts brutal candour, Gauthier has rightfully taken her place alongside America’s premier songwriters.

While the sentiments may be stark, they are beautifully disrobed, and the musical phrasing provides gentle relief. Listening to Gauthier perform is like finding hidden gems in a vintage clothing store.

We are delighted to welcome Mary back to CQAF with her new album Trouble & Love, one of the wisest testaments of broken-heartedness an Americana singer-songwriter has ever committed to tape

“To be affected by these songs, you don’t have to know anything of Gauthier’s backstory (Louisiana orphan addict chef turned sober troubadour), the respect she commands across gender lines in the Americana scene, or the heavyweight catalog she’s built out of unflinching introspection and Southern Gothic-shaded storytelling.”  NPR Music

“Every tune is a rough gem of melody, misery and economy, as Gauthier excavates romantic wreckage like an archaeologist telling the story of a fossilized love.” Rolling Stone

“…her razor-sharp eye for detail and her commitment to unsentimental self-reflection puts her in a class with greats such as Kris Kristofferson, John Prine and yes, Bob Dylan.”  Los Angeles Times

Doors 1:45pm | Unreserved Seating

 

Peter Perrett’s band The Only Ones were one of the most thrilling, literate musical propositions in an era of acts glutted with such qualities. When they exploded onto the late 70s post punk scene with the glorious sucker punch of debut single Lovers of Today, the impact was immediate and enduring.

A string of stunning singles (including instant classic Another Girl, Another Planet) followed, before, as the legend goes, The Only Ones disintegrated in tsunami of drugs and acrimony.

Since then, the elusive genius of Peter Perrett has only occasionally surfaced with the occasional dazzling solo release, before, inevitably, his addictions got the better of him and he went to ground again, often for years at a time.

But now, one of rock n roll’s great survivors (and the man who Johnny Thunder’s once begged to “take it easy”) isn’t just clean, he’s also gone and released the album of his career.

Last year’s How the West Was Won, isn’t merely a return to form; it’s a tour de force of the scabrous wit and uncanny ear for melody that’s remained with Perrett, even in his darkest days. “Rock and roll is back in me” he sings on the new album. You just can’t keep a good musical legend down…

‘As with Lou Reed, or Dylan, Perrett critically reviews his life (on How The West Was Won), and surpasses even his former band’s legacy.’ – THE QUIETUS

‘Perrett has pulled off something genuinely remarkable here. If How the West Was Won does turn out to be one last defiant breath, then it’s an astonishing twist to his story.’ – GUARDIAN

Doors 7:45pm | Limited Unreserved Seating

Iconic Warp mainstay Nightmares on Wax announced his long-anticipated return in January with a stunning new album Shape The Future.

The marriage of soul, hip-hop, dub and timeless club sounds that N.O.W. has been mutating and perfecting for years finds perhaps its most fluid form yet on Shape The Future.

This includes the shamanistic vocals of recent single Back To Nature, and in particular the arresting voices of Mozez alongside Kanye West and Flume collaborator Allan Kingdom, as featured on brand new track Citizen Kane.

Energized by globetrotting runs of studio sessions and DJ sets, this latest salvo is a masterpiece of contemporary and classic genre-blending that solidifies Nightmares On Wax’s place as an inspirational electronic music figurehead.

Nightmares on Wax is one of the most influential artists of a generation, his music has inspired many musicians and producers across the globe over his quarter decade career.

As Warp’s longest serving active artist, he has broadened the sound of the label and paved the way for artists such as Flying Lotus, Hudson Mohawke and Mount Kimbie.

Doors 7:30pm | Standing

*Tickets available on the Door*

Acclaimed indie-rock songwriter Jeffrey Lewis began recording homemade cassettes at home in New York City in 1998, before coming to the attention of Rough Trade Records and releasing his first album on Rough Trade in 2001.

Now with seven official albums on Rough Trade, and a number of additional self-releases and side-projects (on labels like Don Giovanni and K Records), Jeffrey Lewis has toured the world and developed a devoted following from Los Angeles to London, Melbourne to Moscow, Chicago to Shanghai and beyond.

Jeffrey’s career has also included sharing bills and tours with The Fall, Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks, Roky Erickson, The Mountain Goats, Daniel Johnston, Pulp and other luminaries.

In addition to mixing contemplative folk narratives and garage indie-punk songs, Jeffrey is also a comic book writer/artist and includes his own illustrations in live concerts to accompany certain songs (like The History of Communism or The Creeping Brain).

Jeffrey’s most recent release is Works by Tuli Kupferberg (1923-2010), Interpreted by Jeffrey Lewis & The Deposit Returners, out worldwide on Don Giovanni Records 2018.

A brand new Jeffrey Lewis & Los Bolts album, recorded in Nashville by Roger Moutenot (Yo La Tengo), is awaiting a release date.

‘[Jeffrey Lewis is] The best lyricist working in the US today.’ – JARVIS COCKER

‘Ramshackle and beautiful noise… Lou Reed’s natural successor as punk poet of the New York streets’ – LOUDER THAN WAR

‘Really great and impressive and inspiring and exciting… There’s not a lot of people that can tell a story and use language like that in music.’ – WILL OLDHAM

Doors 1:45pm | Limited Unreserved Seating

*Tickets available on the Door*

Michael Nau is a musician from rural Maryland who, with his playfulness and tendency to jump from one style to another, brings to mind eccentric Seventies songwriters such as Harry Nilsson and Tim Buckley.

Nau’s acclaimed new album, Some Twist was released in June on Suicide Squeeze and is the follow up to 2016’s brilliant collection Mowing.

He has received extensive BBC radio play and been selected as a 6 Music Recommends pick. One-off single Love Survive cracked the Top 50 on Spotify’s Global Viral Chart.

The first single from Some Twist, Good Thing, debuted via The FADER. Bright piano and fingerpicked guitar weave together throughout the song with a chorus that swells with feedback fuzz and crashing percussion. Nau’s ever-present sense of humour, one of the hallmarks of his songwriting, gives the song a wry sense of purpose amidst its reflection.

‘His masterful instinct for arrangement, along with his reedy voice, earns Nau a place in the rock’n’roll underdogs’ Hall of Fame’. – PITCHFORK

Doors 5:45pm | Unreserved Seating

*Limited Tickets available on the Door*

A true living legend of songwriting, Jimmy Webb has been crafting amazing songs, many of which have become cherished standards, for some forty years. And he’s still doing it.

Now on tour with his newest Album, Still Within the Sound of My Voice Jimmy Webb is engaging his audiences like never before.

Though some might still not know his name, they know the songs: Wichita Lineman, By The Time I Get To Phoenix, Galveston, The Moon’s A Harsh Mistress, All I Know, The Highwayman, Up, Up and Away, MacArthur Park, and many more. And those are just the famous ones.

Webb is one of those rare songwriters who manages to bring a genuine measure of magic to everything he touches.

‘He’s a prodigious performer, and a night with Jimmy at the keys is not unlike getting to hear George Gershwin or Cole Porter live. It’s hard to believe one guy could have written all these amazing songs. Webb is still at it, thankfully, and if you get a chance to see him live, grab it. People ask why nobody writes songs like they used to. Fortunately for us all, Jimmy Webb still does.’ – AMERICAN SONGWRITER MAGAZINE

‘Mr. Webb is a superb natural melodist whose best songs often combine the tuneful directness of country music with the unabashedly romantic harmonic palette of classic Hollywood film scores.’ – THE NEW YORK TIMES

Doors 7:30pm | Unreserved Seating

*Limited Tickets available on the Door*

The Blasters exemplify the best traditions of American Music, performing with passion and honesty that for over three decades has won the hearts and souls of fans worldwide.

Composed of founding members vocalist-guitarist Phil Alvin, drummer Bill Bateman and bassist John Bazz with Keith Wyatt on guitar, they carry on a hard-won legacy as one of the most recognizable and credible bands in American Music.

Their influences range from the likes of George Jones and Carl Perkins to Ike Turner, Howlin’ Wolf, James Brown and Big Joe Turner, all blending into a sound that ignores the lines between Rock & Roll, Country, Blues and Rockabilly.

Fun On Saturday Night (Rip Cat Records) is the Blasters’ sixth and latest studio album, featuring twelve tracks that extend the band’s legacy of classic recordings. Fronted by Phil Alvin’s powerful vocals, the band follows through with spontaneity, power and grit that make their live performances into experiences not to be missed.

Doors 7:45pm | Limited Unreserved Seating

+ The Organauts and DJ’s Gazfunk and Pete Brady

Smoove & Turrell came about by the joining of forces between DJ/ Producer Smoove and singer John Turrell. A chance introduction and a plan to do one record together quickly grew into a band that has played massive festival stages worldwide and become one of the UK’s most loved soul acts.

With their new album Mount Pleasant, Smoove & Turrell cement their position as one of the UK’s most exceptional soul acts with their innate ability to deliver hard times social commentary in a dancefloor friendly medium.

Gritty and powerful, the band make no attempt to sound or look like anyone else – not for them the sharp suits and trumpet twirls of some of their peers. Instead you get a wildly talented and vital crew of larger than life Geordie lads taking their rightful place on the international soul scene having already become figureheads within the UK.

It’s through their dedication to live performance that Smoove & Turrell have really built solid foundations though. Playing at some of the biggest festivals in the UK and Europe (including Glastonbury, Bestival and Trans Musicales in France), plus support slots with the likes of Chic and Charles Bradley, and worldwide tours in 2015, 2016 and 2017 that has allowed the band to gain a huge and dedicated fan base that only hard work can deliver.

‘To say Smoove & Turrell are the greatest modern Soul act to emerge from the UK would be an epic understatement!’ – CRAIG CHARLES (BBC 6 Music)

Doors 7.00pm | Standing

 

We’re beyond excited that New York based dance-punks !!! (Chk Chk Chk) are set to make their Belfast debut at CQAF – and in the Black Box no less!

Joining the welcomed re-emergence of mid-00s alt-dance this year, including contemporaries LCD Soundsystem, the announcement comes after the release of their seventh studio album, Shake The Shudder, which came out in May.

The album harks back to their punk roots, blurring the boundaries between genres, incorporating elements of high energy disco and European electronica, yet lyrically leans towards the self-reflective as opposed to the political, as we see on previous offerings.

MMODE are an Irish music duo based in Belfast consisting of siblings Lucy and Thomas Gaffney. The duo exchange beguiling vocals and deeply insightful lyrics over the melancholy of classic brooding art rock, and the bouncy, bohemian haze of psychedelia.

This will be sweaty and magnificent and a guaranteed sell out show.

Doors 8.00pm | Standing

*Tickets available on the Door*

Floods and plagues, ghosts and slaughter: woe to those who populate the songs of Yarrow. A gentle summer breeze swings the gallows ropes, flowers bloom callously on lovers’ graves. These anthems are definitely not from Eden.

The Deep Dark Woods’ newest album was borne in a fever – scarlet fever, to be medically specific. A disease of the last century is a fitting backdrop for songs that dig bare handed into the loam to unearth the corpses of old English folk and country blues.

Yarrow is Deep Dark Woods reimagined by leadman Ryan Boldt, and accompanied by the same band that crafted prairie psychedelics and a “loose grungy folk sound” (Paste).

For nearly ten years they developed an international following with particular success in the Americana realm, nominated alongside Alabama Shakes and Dawes for Emerging Artist of the Year at the 2012 Americana Music Awards.

Now wrest out of the woods, their outlook is decidedly more macabre, tapping into a rich vein of gothic surrealism that aligns with some of the great murder balladeers of our time. With Appalachian soil under his fingernails, Boldt writes in a deep tradition of bleak and forlorn storytelling, drawing lines from Ireland to Tennessee, the Oxford Girl to Folsom Prison.

In Yarrow, there’s a juicy unease to frontman Boldt’s presence, as if a new door has opened to let loose the weirdness. In place of the freewheelin’ jammy vibe there’s a darker, stranger tenor that sides with those modern mystics whose music exists in the creepier, freakier corners of existence.

The music of Kacy and Clayton (Canada) exists outside of time, and burgeons with beautiful contradictions. It’s psychedelic and traditional, contemporary and vintage, melancholic and joyous.

All at once, it showcases a slightly psych-folk sound of Linda Perhacs, Fleet Foxes, and First Aid Kit; rare country blues records and English folk tunes; and 1920s disaster songs and murder ballads.

Doors 7:45pm | Unreserved Seating

Of all the stars in Folk Music’s wondrous firmament, few shine as brightly as Yorkshire’s Kate Rusby. A career which spans over 25 years in music showcases her as one of the finest interpreters of traditional folk songs and one of our most emotive original songwriters.

Forever proud to call herself a folk singer, Kate’s beautiful, expressive vocals never fail to connect the emotional heart of a song to that of her audience. The crossover appeal Kate enjoys is unprecedented for a folk singer and has been achieved without resort to compromise.

Rusby’s wondrous singing and hugely engaging Yorkshire wit and the intuitive support of the band ensure that audiences will be treated to a truly remarkable and unforgettable concert experience.

This festival special will feature Kate’s choice of much-loved classics from her back catalogue stretching over her two decades of music making together with a selection of songs from her most recent studio album Life in a Paper Boat.

As ever, Kate will be joined on stage by the cream of British folk musicians who formher select band.

‘Everybody loves and respects Kate Rusby, not just for her lovely voice, but for the way she has moved folk forward while remaining true to tradition’ – SUNDAY TIMES

Doors 7:30pm | Unreserved Seating

Robyn Hitchcock is one of England’s most enduring contemporary singer/songwriters and live performers. A surrealist poet, talented guitarist, cult artist and musician’s musician, Hitchcock is among alternative rock’s father figures and is the closest thing the genre has to a Bob Dylan (not coincidentally his biggest musical inspiration).

Since founding the art-rock band The Soft Boys in 1976, Robyn has recorded more than 20 albums as well as starred in Storefront Hitchcock an in concert film recorded in New York and directed by Jonathan Demme.

Blending folk and psychedelia with a wry British nihilism, Robyn describes his songs as ‘paintings you can listen to’.

His most recent album is self-titled and marks his 21st release as a solo artist. The album is produced by Brendan Benson (The Raconteurs). Hitchcock describes it as a “ecstatic work of negativity with nary a dreary groove.”

It has received rave reviews from UNCUT, Rolling Stone, Paste, Tidal and more.

‘A gifted melodist, Hitchcock nests engaging lyrics in some of the most bracing, rainbow-hued pop this side of Revolver. He wrests inspiration not from ordinary life but from extraordinary imaginings…’ – ROLLING STONE

‘These 10 gems slither, rock, roll, glide and shapeshift, coalescing around Hitchcock’s typically anxious, strained but striking and immediately identifiable vocals.” – American Songwriter

“Beloved of everyone from Led Zeppelin to REM, Hitchcock has only enhanced his status with this wonderful outing.’ – HOT PRESS

‘Witty, moving and seriously catchy, Robyn Hitchcock is a glorious return for a man who wasn’t really gone in the first place.’ – PASTE MAGAZINE
Decorated with an array of four-star reviews from the Guardian, Uncut, Mojo and The Independent to name a few, Irish singer and multi-instrumentalist Brona McVittie performs at the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival in support of Robyn Hitchcock – ahead of her Spring Tour in promotion of her critically acclaimed debut solo album ‘We Are the Wildlife’ – with voice, harp and electronics.

Doors 7:45pm | Limited Unreserved Seating

Touring as co-headliners, Molly Tuttle and Rachel Baiman will join one another for their respective sets, making both sets a duo performance.

Molly Tuttle was the first woman in the 27 year history of the International Bluegrass Music Association awards to be nominated for ‘Guitar Player of the Year’, the only instrumental category that had not yet nominated a woman, and she has just won it! Blazing a trail Stateside with appearances at top tier festivals, including RockyGrass Festival, and on programs such as A Prairie Home Companion, Molly has expanded her audience in the USA and is about to do the same in the UK. She will be showcasing songs from her debut solo EP, Rise.

Nashville Americana songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Rachel Baiman was one half of the excellent 10 String Symphony and has played fiddle for numerous other artists, including Kacey Musgraves. Rachel will be showcasing songs from her debut solo album, Shame, which has received hugely positive reviews since on released in the UK earlier this year. Inspired in equal parts by John Hartford and Courtney Barnett, Rachel’s influences span a wide range, but years spent playing traditional music shine through in the album’s firmly rooted sound.

A fine night of Americana is promised by these two emerging stars.

Doors 7:45pm | Unreserved Seating

This Is The Kit – the musical project which holds exceptional Paris-via-Bristol songwriter Kate Stables close to its heart – have earned the adoration of peers including Guy Garvey, The National and Sharon van Etten.

Recent album, Moonshine Freeze, is undoubtedly their most compelling and accomplished to date. Produced by John Parish (PJ Harvey, M Ward, Perfume Genius), it began in the immediate wake of its predecessor, Bashed Out, when Stables and her band headed into Geoff Barrow’s Invada studios in Bristol. Aaron Dessner of The National also features on six of the album tracks.

Moonshine Freeze is a beguiling mixture of great musical sophistication and something more guileless — children’s games, incantations and snatches of nursery rhymes. Stables’ voice too is a remarkable thing: in its angles there lies an exquisite strangeness reminiscent of Will Oldham, Magnolia Electric Co, Robert Wyatt, Karen Dalton.

Doors 7:45pm | Unreserved Seating

*Tickets available on the Door*

British blues rock guitarist and singer Joanne Shaw Taylor has been a force to reckoned with on the blues scene for half her life – she was discovered at age 16.

Growing up in England’s Black Country, she was inspired in her early teens to play the blues after hearing musicians such as Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix.

Joanne’s debut album White Sugar mixed rock riffs with blues influences and first opened the door. Her career has since gone stratospheric, with her breaking the notoriously hard-to-crack US market.

Joanne has beaten the stereotypes of her age and gender, gaining acclaim from critics and peers alike. Subsequent albums; Diamonds in the Dirt, Almost Always Never and Songs From The Road followed and Joanne’s fan base rose globally.

Following international recognition in 2017 including performances on Later… With Jools Holland, BBC’s Glastonbury coverage and outstanding reviews for her latest album, Wild, Joanne tours with a formidable force starting 2018 with a sell-out UK and European tour.

Joanne has been acquiring famous fans across the guitar world including Joe Bonamassa, Tedeschi Trucks, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Wilko Johnson, Glenn Hughes and John Mayall to name but a few.

A rare opportunity to catch the greatest star in the British Blues firmament in an intimate environment. Don’t miss.

Doors 7:30pm | Unreserved Seating

*Tickets available on the Door*

Also known by Azniv Korkejian, Bedouine has released a debut album that sounds like the work of a songwriter with dozens of LPs to her name.

Released via Matthew E. White’s Spacebomb Records, Bedouine is a sparkling collection of captivating folk songs, showcasing Korkejian’s crystalline vocals, carefully refined sonic aesthetic and shrewd storytelling.

As her name implies, Bedouine’s music has a nomadic heart; sweeping and hypnotic, esoteric yet familiar.

Born in Syria, raised in Saudi Arabia, then moving to the USA, her debut, self-titled 2017 album created a warm and intimate world of sound. Recently supporting Fleet Foxes and Jose Gonzalez on an American tour, Bedouine’s Sixties folk-flavoured music is beautiful, striking and dreamy.

Doors 7:45pm | Unreserved Seating

*Tickets available on the Door*

The Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival are delighted to present Beans on Toast on his aptly titled ‘SITTING ON A CHAIR TOUR‘ will see the enthusiastic songwriter playing seated theatres and venues rather than pubs and clubs.

He’s promising a unique evening of stories about his travels and songs from his huge nine album back catalogue. Love songs, protest songs and drinking songs are intertwined with the stories behind the songs and the random adventures they’ve led him on.

The tour will coincide with the release of ‘DRUNK FOLK STORIES‘ his first book. A collection of ten, short, true-life stories about songwriting, travelling and drinking. Featuring the likes of Billy Bragg, Banksy and The Cookie Monster.

From Glastonbury to Wembley via The Bahamas, these first-hand accounts of drunken escapades, car-crashes, recreational drugs and burning pubs are full of humour, grace and honesty – just like his music.

The book is released worldwide on 1st May via ‘Play on Words Publishing’ The 1st May also sees the re-release of the 2009 album ‘STANDING ON A CHAIR‘. The whopping 50-track debut will be released on vinyl for the first time – a double vinyl nonetheless.

Produced many moons ago by Mumford and Sons’ Ben Lovett, this much-loved album features crowd favourites such as ‘MDMAmazing’, ‘The Price of Rice’ and ‘Don’t Believe The Bullshit’ and cameos from the likes of Emmy The Great, Justin Young and Frank Turner.

9 years might seem a strange anniversary to celebrate but when he started putting these plans together Beans thought it had been 10 years. But he thought fuck it and went ahead with it anyway. Such is his way.

Doors 7:45pm | Unreserved seating

Ben Folds is widely regarded as one of the major music influencers of our generation. He’s created an enormous body of genre-bending music that includes pop albums with Ben Folds Five, multiple solo albums, and collaborative records with artists from Sara Bareilles and Regina Spektor, to William Shatner. His most recent album is a blend of pop songs and his Concerto for Piano and Orchestra that soared to #1 on both the Billboard classical and classical crossover charts.

For over a decade he’s performed with some of the world’s greatest symphony orchestras, and was recently named as the first ever Artistic Advisor to the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Centre in Washington, DC.

Folds continues to perform with symphonies and also recently returned to solo touring reminiscent of his earliest years, delivering a high energy rock performance using the intimacy of just a piano.

An avid photographer, Folds is a member of the distinguished Sony Artisans of Imagery, and recently completed an assignment as a photo editor for National Geographic. He is also an outspoken advocate for music education and music therapy as a member of Americans For The Arts, and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Nashville Symphony.

Doors 7:30pm | Limited Unreserved Seating

I’m With Her is Sara Watkins, Sarah Jarosz and Aoife O’Donovan. From their early contributions in bands such as Nickel Creek and Crooked Still, these three musicians are noteworthy for their recent and extensive solo career successes, including several Grammy awards.

An impromptu show in 2014 at the Sheridan Opera House in Telluride, CO, sparked the formation of I’m With Her and sent the trio touring the world together the next year.

Along the way, I’m With Her formed a special, family-like chemistry, garnering acclaim for their unique blend of instrumental interplay combined with their indelible harmonies, as the New York Times describes, “… that could be sweetly ethereal, or as tightly in tandem as country sibling teams like the Everly Brothers, or as hearty as mountain gospel.”

Their debut album, See You Around, was recorded in Bath, England, with Ethan Johns at Real World Studios and will be released in February 2018.

Doors 7:30pm | Unreserved Seating

+ support from Explosion Sound System DJs + The Skallions

*Tickets available on the Door*

David Rodigan MBE celebrates a remarkable 40 years in the business as both a prolific broadcaster and DJ. Performing his acclaimed DJ sets, running through his 40 years in reggae and related genres, we’re delighted to have David join us at CQAF for a masterclass in roots and reggae music.

Rodigan’s love of music started at the tender age of 15 when he started DJing at school dances and youth clubs and it’s kept growing ever since.

His Roots Rockers show on Capitol Radio cemented his reputation as one of the most knowledgeable and talented DJs on the scene. In 1990 Kiss FM relaunched as London’s first legal 24-hour dance music station and it was David that they turned to represent all things roots and reggae on the station.

In recent times he has taken his legendary show to BBC 1Xtra where he continues to share his passion for both cutting edge bass and classic reggae, ensuring that it remains a vital and paramount part of urban bass culture.

Doors 7:30pm | Standing