Another hectic weekend

The Arts Festival started over the weekend, and the town is full of tourists, artists and exhibitions. Not that I’ve had a chance to go check out anything just yet, this weekend was another hectic one for all the KilkennyMusic staff. I did see some street performers yesterday (pictured above), you can’t see it but the pole he’s limbo dancing under was actually on fire!?

Daw was on the road once again with Itchy Trigger Finger playing two gigs on Saturday, the first in Carlow and then in Clonmel that night. That left Boo in charge of the sound for the Aftermath and Kickstart in Cleeres. As we set up the gear and got everything ready for the gig, Boo treated myself and Ken to the greatest improvised performance of all time! With Rage Against the Machine’s “Know your Enemy” blasting out of the speakers he jumped on stage and let rip. With his hood up he “rocked da mic” as Zach de la Rocha, then he quickly pulled the hood down to give his Maynard impression for the bridge before busting out an air guitar solo and some air bass. It was hilarious, and the Chief caught the whole thing on video so it should be appearing on KilkennyMusicTV very soon.

The following gig was just as energetic, a small crowd in attendance but that didn’t stop both the acts from giving it 100%. First up were Willie and Nathalie from Kickstart, for their second appearance with KKM, they played the 2nd One Take Sessions with us back in November. A solid set of their own original material, you can catch them next Sunday at the 4th Heat of this years Battle of the Bands and you can check out my pics in their new KilkennyMusic gallery.

Next up were Mullingar alternative/new wave indie rockers, the Aftermath. I’m really beginning to wonder what they’re putting in the water in Mullingar!? We’ve had several bands down over the last few months, ranging from different genres and styles but no matter what, they’re always at the top of their game. The lads have had two Top 20 singles over the last two years and have been working their asses off touring the country building a huge fanbase. Everyone got a free copy of their latest single “All I want is for you to be happy” and I have to admit it’s damn catchy. I’d expect to be hearing more about these guys in the coming months and hopefully we’ll be having them back in Kilkenny soon. You can check out my shots of the lads in action here and I’m sticking them on my ‘Oss237 Recommends’ list aswell so check them out.

Sunday morning was another crazy meeting for the Devious Theatre committee. “To do” list’s are slowly but surely getting smaller as everything gets finalised for next weeks Irish Premiere of Trey Parker’s Cannibal the Musical. We’ll be running the show every night this week making sure it’s ready and I can’t wait for the opening night next Wednesday.

Sunday afternoon was the 3rd Heat of this years Battle of the Bands competition, with 3 more acts (Desecration, Bad Mothers Union, Caboose) taking to the stage to compete. Once again there was fine performances all round and once again it’s great to see the wide variety of band styles in Kilkenny. It’s definitely not going to be easy for us to judge the competition this year and with one more heat to come it’s still anybody’s guess as to who will make it through to the final. As always the photos from the 3rd Heat are now up in the KilkennyMusic Galleries so swing by and check them out.