Arts festival is on track for a record breaking year

The Galway International Arts Festival is on track for a record-breaking year with tickets flying out the door for practically all the music and theatre shows.

As the annual arts and music extravaganza enters its second week, crowds have thronged the streets in hot, humid conditions for all the free events, including the spectacular Dragonus and the acrobatic circus show Hallali.

There are a small number of tickets left for the opera Orfeo on Wednesday and standing only tickets for A Night at the Proms with the RTE Concert Orchestra in the Big Top on Saturday.

Matinee tickets for the John Mahoney drama Chapatti are still available for Friday and Saturday with seats still left for drag queen Panti.

A number of the Róisín Dubh gigs and the Silent Disco at the Big Top on Saturday evening are also still on sale.

Theatre lovers who missed out on tickets for the sold-out Cillian Murphy epic Ballyturk are advised to turn up early at the Black Box to avail of last minute returns, revealed artistic director Paul Fahy.

“Ticket sales are well up on last year certainly. Until the tills are finally rung up we can’t say it definitively but we’re looking at a record-breaking year.

“People are really engaging and attendances have been very strong at all the exhibitions and street shows. Everything is going great as we head into the final furlong.”

He urged people not to miss the Slovenian free show, The Invasion, which takes to Shop Street and High Street this Friday and Saturday.