Hothouse Flowers are still in full musical bloom

Groove Tube with Cian O’Connell

The inaugural Galway Folk Festival takes place from June 15 to 19 across Monroe’s Tavern and McBride’s, and headlining on the Saturday of the showcase – alongside the likes of Lorraine Nash, the Frank & Walters and Aoife Scott – are Irish folk-rock icons Hothouse Flowers.

Authors of the most successful debut album the country has produced in 1988’s People, the group have been performing together for 37 years. With the advent of post-pandemic live music, though, pop-up festivals like this one feel as precious and surreal as any.

Hothouse Flowers has always revolved around childhood friends Liam Ó Maonlaí and Fiachna Ó Braonáin. The pair boast lasting legacies as songwriters and, in Fiachna’s case, as an esteemed national broadcaster.

Galway represents one of a number of dates to come for the band over summer and, with other headliners across the weekend including Emma Langford, Villagers and Andy Irvine & Dónal Lunny, the folk festival is very primed to be a strong exhibition for the city.

“There’s lots going on in the coming weeks,” Fiachna explained last week. “It’s kicking off tonight really, [in Sandyford House]. March was busy as well with a lot of the gigs that had been deferred from 2020 in London, Belgrade and around the country.

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.

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