Posts Tagged daire bracken
cleveland irish fest 2011
what would a cleveland irish fest be without rain? once again, we will not know. sporting a VERY good lineup this year, the cleveland irish fest was once again hot as could be, but a very enjoyable time nonetheless. regulars like seven nations (performing for the 12th consecutive time at CCIF) and the INCREDIBLE eileen ivers & immigrant soul featuring tommy mcdonnell wowed the crowds, along with recent adds to the regular schedule such as the incredible diver sisters known as the screaming orphans, and the always energetic band, scythian!
new to the cleveland festivities this year were the band slide, fronted by the whirlwind known as daire bracken, the fantastic mickey finns out of new york city, and the kreelers, a great band from the motor city!
for the rest of the photos, click HERE
milwaukee irish fest 2010
after having been to the dublin irish fest in dublin, ohio (which gets over 105,000 people over 3 days) one would have THOUGHT i would have bee semi-prepared for the size and scope of the milwaukee irish fest! guess again! this festival is THE largest irish fest in the WORLD, reaching numbers of 200,000 over 4 days!
the festival is very nice as all of the stages are isolated from each other (so music doesn’t spill over) and very weel organized! but those are not what draw so many to this event. it is THE AMAZING lineup of musicians! this year the line-up ran from the different drums of ireland (which i missed and regretted having done soafter what i heard!), gaelic storm (who ALWAYS pake the stage they play), scythian (who RETIRED the famous pink sweater), the screaming orphans (ALWAYS great fun to see), the amazing band slide, along with some new ones to me including the red hot chili pipers (yes, you read that right – NOT peppers).
the hotel party was especially good, and can’t wait for the 2011 version! for more of the photos, look HERE
pittsburgh irish fest 2009
trying to find the pittsburgh irish fest was not quite as easy as it had been in the past, but after heading east out of town, through a neighborhood, across the river, and behind a costco and other shopping, we finally found it. it did not help that the city of pittsburgh is preparing for the G20 summit in a couple of weeks, so there was a bit of construction. once we got there, we found they have a nice little setup there (except for a 25-minute wait TO GET TICKETS!). after we got in, the place was laid out nicely with the main stages on opposite ends and the main stage having picnic tables around and a lawn to sit on.
gaelic storm, always fun, was the first band we got to see, and of course picked on the browns (although there were a lot of clevelanders there). over to the other stage we went to catch scythian get the whole tent up and moving. then back to the main stage to catch the great sounds of slide.
slide was just such a GREAT combination of musicianship, energy (provided mostly by the whirling dervish known as daire bracken), very nice vocals by a 22-year old dave curley, and some great soundwork by a very nice chloe nagle (who has the greatest accent that even sally said she could listen to for a long while).
for more pictures from the day, find them HERE