Entertainment
Delorentos’ star in the ascendant as they play Westport
The Groove Tube with Jimi McDonnell – tribunegroove@live.ie
Delorentos play the Westport Festival of Music & Food this weekend, part of a stellar line-up that includes Elvis Costello, Christy Moore, Martha Wainwright, The Waterboys and The Stunning. The Dublin based band will be headlining the Róisín Dubh stage on Sunday.
It’s been a great year for Delorentos – singles from their third album Little Sparks have been getting extensive airplay and in March they won the Choice Music Prize. How does the band feel after scooping the Irish music industry’s most prestigious prize?
“Well, I guess it was a big shock,” says singer and guitarist Rónán Yourell. “You never expect these sorts of things. Particularly the Choice Awards – of any honour you could receive, to be nominated is brilliant. And it’s a great night, so we were just buzzing to be there.”
“It was a mad one, because we had to fly over to the States four or five hours after the show ended. So it never really sunk in! “
Winning the Choice Prize has also led to producers around the country wanting more of Delorentos.
“We’re working on album number four at the moment and, other than doing some festivals in Europe, we had contemplated it being a quiet enough summer,” says Rónán. “But we’ve just been inundated with requests to come play here, there and everywhere. Some of them, like Westport, we’ve never done before. We couldn’t say no!”
The first two Delorentos albums contained some gems (Stop and S.E.C.R.E.T., in particular) but with Little Sparks, their popularity has soared. Why has this album made such a connection with people?
“I can only say this from our perspective, but I think our songwriting has jumped up a level,” Rónán says. “I think everybody focused more on their own writing, expressing their own ideas and feeling, and I think that comes across in the songs. I think it’s a really honest collection of songs.
“A lot of the subject matter is very personal, and people relate to that,” he adds. “If I think of music I like – on one hand, anything with a beat I go crazy for, but the songs that stay with you, for me, are the ones that you can connect with.”
Their headline slot at the Róisín Dubh stage marks Delorentos’ debut appearance at the Westport Festival. What has their experience of the festival scene been like?
“We’ve had all sorts of funny ones. From changing in what would be like bathrooms, to great days kicking football with the Arctic Monkeys. It’s from one extreme to the other, week on week. I guess you wouldn’t have it any other way; it is a mad existence.”
Last year, Delorentos played the Benicassim festival near Valencia in Spain, sharing the bill with acts like New Order and The Stone Roses.
“We’ve played that festival twice over the past couple of years,” says Rónán. “In comparison to Oxegen and things over the years, where the weather’s terrible, when the weather’s nice people hang around a lot more. I got to meet some of my heroes – Julian Casablancas [from The Strokes] and Noel Gallagher last year.”
There’s a great clip on YouTube of Delorentos playing Bullet in a Gun on a street in Madrid. Spain seems to be taking to the Dublin band, and they’re looking to increase their following throughout Europe.
For more read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
Folk duo Niall Teague and Pádraic Joyce are launching their new album What Will We Be, a blend of folk, Americana and acoustic music, this Friday, May 19, at 8pm in An Taibhdhearc.
The success of their well-received 2020 release Taobh le Taobh, as well as recent successes at the Pan Celtic and Oireachtas Song Contests, spurred the duo on to record this new album which represents many years of collaboration and musical development.
It features Niall and Pádraic on vocals, harmonies, and acoustic guitars, Maidhc Ó hÉanaigh on double bass and Neil Fitzgibbon on fiddle. The catchy title track, What Will We Be, features contributions from percussionist Jim Higgins (The Stunning, Christy Moore, Paul Brady) and haunting, driving melodies on vocals, guitar, and fiddle.
Themes of love and hope are woven through Come Away with Me which features interplay between piano and fiddle as well as rich vocal harmonies.
People, places, and broken dreams are celebrated and lamented on Martin and Tom, Guitar Gold, Memories of You and Achill Island. The influence of David Henry Thoreau’s novel Walden features on the tracks Simple and Wise and Walden, with the beauty of nature, escape and simple pleasures at their core.
The album moves from minimalistic folk ballads such as Galway Ghost to swirling, string-laden arrangements on the song Neptune, both of which are influenced by maritime tales from Galway. Much of the work on this album was supported by the Arts Council, including work with musical arranger Eoin Corcoran and the string ensemble Treo.
The album will be launched this Friday, May 19, at 8pm in an Taibhdhearc. Tickets €22, plus booking fee at Eventbrite.ie.
Dunmore is the place to be this weekend for lovers of traditional music, as the Galway County Fleadh will take place there from this Friday, May 19, to Sunday, May 23.
It is 10 years since Dunmore last hosted a fleadh and the local Comhaltas branch, which has re-formed since Covid, is looking forward to facilitating this gathering of music, song, dance and craic.
The official Opening Concert will take place in Dunmore Town Hall this Friday at 8pm with the acclaimed Mulcahy family from Limerick. Mick, Louise and Michelle are well known throughout the country, thanks to their live performances, television appearances and numerous CDs. They were the winners of the TG4 Gradam Ceoil Grúpa Ceoil Award for 2023. Tickets for their concert can be purchased on the door and a great night of music is promised.
Two days of competitions will kick off this Saturday at the town’s Community School, with more than 1,500 competitors taking part. Participants will be hoping to qualify for the Connacht Fleadh 2023, which will be held in Ballina, County Mayo, from June 23 to July 2.
Competitions for those aged Under 10, Under 12 and Under 15 will be held in a large variety of instruments on Saturday, as well as in singing and Comhrá Gaeilge. Sunday’s competitions will be for the Under 18 and Over 18 ages groups, as well as in dancing.
On both days a large entry is expected for Grúpaí Cheoil and Céilí Band competitions across all age groups.
Seventeen Comhaltas branches from across Galway will have participants in this weekend’s competitions, which will result in a large number of visitors to the Dunmore area.
Members of the public are welcome to attend the competitions, which offer a great opportunity to hear and see the talent on display. There will be sessions in local pubs over the weekend as well and everybody is welcome to attend these.
For more information on the County Fleadh, go to www.galwaycomhaltas.ie.
Music for Galway’s concert with renowned Swiss pianist Cédric Pescia which had been due to take place on April 27 but which had to be deferred, will now take place next Tuesday, May 23, at 8pm, in the Emily Anderson Concert Hall at the University of Galway.
This concert of German classics with Bach at its core, will brings the Bach element of Music for Galway’s 41st season to an end.
This world-class pianist who won the famous Gina Bachauer International Artists Piano Competition, has a repertoire that spans many eras from baroque to contemporary and he is widely known for his elaborate programmes. Cédric Pescia describes music as ‘language and movement at the same time’.
Audiences will have a chance to experience his soft, clear touch as he performs a programme for solo piano that will include classics such as Schumann’s popular Waldszenen (Forest Scenes), a suite of nine short pieces, and the penultimate of Beethoven’s piano sonatas, No. 31. These pieces will be interspersed with French Suites by Bach.
■ Ticket for Cédric Pescia’s concert are available at www.musicforgalway.ie, or by phone 091 705962 and on the door on the night. They cost €20/€18. The price for fulltime students of all ages is €6 while MfG Friends can avail of the friends’ rate of €16.
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
