Country stars meet their match in Lisdoonvarna

The biggest stars of Irish country music will headline this year’s Lisdoonvarna Matchmaking Festival which takes place next month.

Mike Denver and Nathan Carter will perform for the Festival’s opening weekend on September 1 and 2, while Lisa McHugh will headline on September 8 and 9. These concerts will be in the marquee in the sports field.

That line-up follows the success of last year’s first big country music weekend in the village – which saw thousands of people flock to North Clare to see Nathan Carter and Derek Ryan.

“There’s such a huge demand for country music in Ireland at the moment that we decided to go all out and double our event to include two big country music weekends,” explains Marcus White, Managing Director of the White Hotel Group, which owns several hotels in the area.

“There’s been a huge demand for these tickets this year and we are nearly sold out. We are asking people if they still want to come, to buy tickets on ticketmaster.ie or in the Spar, Hydro or Imperial Hotels in town.”

And he warned people: “Don’t leave it to the last minute as these tickets will be gone.”

The Lisdoonvarna Matchmaking Festival runs for six weeks and attracts more than 80,000 people. According to Marcus White, the decision to add Country music has attracted a new, younger audience.

“It has rejuvenated the event and has been a massive success for Lisdoonvarna. It has really put us back on the map in a big way.”

This year’s festival is packed with entertainment, with music and dancing in all venues in Lisdoonvarna from 11am to late. The traditional dance weekends are on September 15 and 16, September 22 and 23, and September 29 and 30, Those dance weekends will see top showbands playing at the Hydro and Imperial Hotels.

These include Teddy and Cathal Barry, Outa Diesel, Blue Ridge Country, Midnight Run, Michael Sexton, PJ Murrihy, Pat Dowling and the Lisdoonvarna Showband.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.