CQAF2020 Earlybird Archives

BC Camplight

Posted on 31st July 202019th January 2022 by site_admin

Rescheduled until Friday 29 April, 8.00pm, buy tickets here.

“This is an examination of madness and loss,” says Brian Christinzio, the inimitable force behind BC Camplight. “I hope it starts a long overdue conversation.”

Fired by his ongoing battle with mental illness, Shortly After Takeoff is the final, and finest, chapter of what Christinzio calls his “Manchester Trilogy”, following 2015’s How To Die In The North and 2018’s Deportation Blues.

All three albums were created after the native Philadelphian had moved to Manchester. Like Deportation Blues, Shortly After Takeoff spans singer-songwriter classicism, gnarly synth-pop and ‘50s rock’n’roll, with Christinzio’s similarly distinctive, flexible vocal carrying a fearless approach to lyrical introspection, but the new album is a major leap forward in songwriting sophistication and lyrical communication.

The album has alreadfy been revered by critics, become a stalwart on the BBC Radio 6 Music playlist, and put BC Camplight back on the stage where he belongs. With a slew of tours and festivals on the horizon Christinzio, a remarkably relentless entertainer, will bring his immense new live show to the UK and Europe.

“It’s no fun giving an audience a standard show that they can get elsewhere” explains Christinzio. “Sometimes it’s intense, sometimes it’s emotional, sometimes it’s basically a fucking stand-up routine. I always like to involve the audience and make it memorable for everyone involved. I think we are one of the best live bands in the world and it’s an odd feeling finally getting an opportunity to get in front of loads of ears and eyes. In a perfect world I’d be able to organise a concert on the roof of the Home Office one day”.

Doors 7:30pm | Standing/Seated

Hollie McNish: Slug Tour – SOLD OUT

Posted on 29th October 20206th January 2022 by site_admin

Rescheduled until Sunday 8 May, buy tickets here.

Ted Hughes Award winner Hollie McNish is a poet whose live readings are not to be missed. Expect strong language and adult content ribbon wrapped in poetry and chat as Hollie reads from her new collection: Slug…and other things I’ve been told to hate.

Hollie is a writer based between Cambridge and Glasgow. She has published four poetry collections Papers, Cherry Pie, Plum, Slug, one play Offside and one poetic memoir Nobody Told Me, of which the Scotsman suggested “The world needs this book”. She was the first poet to record at Abbey Road Studios.

Her poems have been translated into French, German, Spanish, Hungarian, Polish and Japanese and she has performed them worldwide alongside the likes of Irvine Welsh, Kae Tempest, Jackie Kay, Helen Pankhurst and Young Fathers. Her new title – Slug: and other things I’ve been told to hate – is published in May 2021 with Fleet, Hachette, available now to pre-order.

As well as live readings, Hollie is a big fan of online accessibility – her poetry videos have attracted millions of viewings worldwide.

About Slug…

From Finnish mermaids and soppy otters to Kellogg’s anti-masturbation pants, Slug is a book that holds a mirror up to the world, past and present, through Hollie’s driving, funny and beautiful words. A blend of poetry, memoir and short story, Slug is an absolutely joyful read about the human condition: from birth to death and her attempt to manage the tangle in-between.

‘She writes with honesty, conviction, humour and love. She points out the absurdities we’ve grown too used to and lets us see the world with fresh eyes’
Kae Tempest

Doors 1.45pm | Unreserved Seating

Erland Cooper – Rescheduled

Posted on 22nd November 20196th September 2021 by site_admin

This show has been rescheduled to Thursday 27 January, 8.00pm. More info.

Hailing from the archipelago of Orkney, composer and multi-instrumentalist Erland Cooper explores the natural world of landscape, memory, people and place. Cooper believes music often reflects the landscape a musician is surrounded with, be it rural, urban, real or imagined.

His second solo album, Sule Skerry, was released last year as the second in a triptych shaped by Orkney’s air, sea and land, as it was celebrated by Orcadian poet George Mackay Brown.

While his acclaimed first solo record Solan Goose paid homage to Orkney’s birdlife, Cooper turns his attention to the North Sea in Sule Skerry.

Originally part of acclaimed bands The Magnetic North and Erland & The Carnival, Cooper has a diverse musical history. Last year’s debut solo album Solan Goose was an Album of the Year at BBC Radio 6 Music, the Quietus, and more; and Sule Skerry has already been crowned a BBC Radio 6 Music Album of the Day.

This promises to be a highlight of our 2020 festival.

Doors 7:30pm | Unreserved Seating

Covid protocol – CQAF small venues*

CQAF is committed to facilitating the return of live entertainment and the gradual reopening of events. We are making every effort to provide a safe environment for our audiences, artists, volunteers and staff.

Current conditions of entry are:

·Temperature check on arrival at the venue.

·Please wear a mask while queuing for indoor events and if you have to leave your seat to move around the venue. No masks necessary when seated.

·Visitors to the venues will be allocated seats as per their booking. (Please email us if there’s someone you’d like to sit with.

·1m physical distancing in line with government guideline.

·Please do not come to the event if you’re displaying any of the symptoms of Covid 19. Email us at info@cqaf.com and we’ll happily refund your tickets.

We hope you enjoy the festival. We will review these conditions of entry if COVID-19 guidelines are updated prior to the event.

* This applies to The Black Box, Oh Yeah Music Centre, The Sunflower, Deer’s Head Music Hall, The American Bar, Ulster Sports Club, 1st Presbyterian Church, The Dark Horse

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfoQgiapJ04

The Handsome Family – Rescheduled

Posted on 1st November 201911th September 2021 by site_admin

This show has been rescheduled to Thursday 15 September 2022, 8.00pm. More info.

The Handsome Family have written some of the most haunting and beautiful songs in American music. During a 30-year career, Brett and Rennie Sparks have created songs that transform the mundane landscape of modern life into a place of mysterious portent.

Handsome Family songs take place in parking lots and big box stores, under overpasses and in airports. They sing about Custer’s last stand and automatic lawn sprinklers in the same song. Rennie’s lyrics often focus on the myriad creatures that live at the edges of the man-made world: the sparrows, rats, cockroaches and crows that share our cities.

Handsome Family shows are famously relaxed. Their songs can be dark, but there’s always laughter on stage. Rennie sings as well as plays Autoharp, banjo, and uke bass. She often introduces songs with seemingly unrelated stories. Brett, with his stentorian voice, is a powerful presence at center of the stage.

There are a lot of new faces at shows these days, lured by Far From Any Road, which became a global hit after it was used as the theme to season one of True Detective.

In 2020 Loose Music released their first two records, Odessa (1995) Milk & Scissors (1996), on vinyl LP. This will be the first time these records have been released in Europe.

For Handsome Family fans these records are a must. Odessa reveals the early style of the band and Milk & Scissors illustrates how their songwriting transformed after Rennie began writing lyrics. On their spring 2021 tour they plan to play selected gems from these new/old records.

Doors 7:30pm | Unreserved Seating

Covid protocol – CQAF small venues*

Current conditions of entry are:

·Temperature check on arrival at the venue.

·Please wear a mask while queuing for indoor events and if you have to leave your seat to move around the venue. No masks necessary when seated.

·Visitors to the venues will be allocated seats as per their booking. (Please email us if there’s someone you’d like to sit with.

·1m physical distancing in line with government guideline.

·Please do not come to the event if you’re displaying any of the symptoms of Covid 19. Email us at info@cqaf.com and we’ll happily refund your tickets.

We hope you enjoy the festival. We will review these conditions of entry if COVID-19 guidelines are updated prior to the event.

* This applies to The Black Box, Oh Yeah Music Centre, The Sunflower, Deer’s Head Music Hall, The American Bar, Ulster Sports Club, 1st Presbyterian Church, The Dark Horse

Edward Carson’s Last Stand

Posted on 29th October 202019th November 2020 by site_admin

In his acclaimed one-man show Edward Carson’s Last Stand, Paddy 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

Alison Spittle

Posted on 22nd October 202019th November 2020 by site_admin

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

Matt McGinn & Guests – Lessons of War

Posted on 30th January 202021st December 2020 by site_admin

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

Gift Voucher

Posted on 5th September 201931st January 2020 by site_admin

If you would like to share the pleasure of OTL and CQAF events with family or a friend, simply buy a gift voucher here and the recipient will be sent a voucher code to enter when purchasing show tickets from our website.

It couldn’t be simpler, will bring much enjoyment and will contribute to the ongoing sustainability of the festival.

Category: CQAF2020 Earlybird