CeltFest 2024

Sunday 12th May sees the return of CeltFest and we have a fantastic line up for you for 2024!!

We are very excited to have the wonderful band Govannen (https://govannen.bandcamp.com/) joining us this year who will be getting the event underway from 2pm in the covered beer garden.

They will be followed by the local band with the big sound,
Nottinghamshire Pipes and Drums, who are back in the country after some appearances in Germany recently.

Kellys Heroes (https://kellysheroes2.bandcamp.com/) will be on stage around 5.30pm to round off the day so get ready to sing and dance your way through their sets (keep your eyes open as we hope to be joined on stage by one or two special guests who may look a bit familiar!)

All music is free of charge and donations will go to Nottingham Trent University's world renowned
John Van Geest Cancer Research Foundation.

Please help us to keep music events like this going by spreading the word. See you there!


The Woodman Folk Club

While this may have been our first visit to the fantastic Woodman Folk Club that wasn’t to say that there weren’t more than a few familiar faces amongst the organisers or the audience!

Harking right back to the inimitable Furnace End Folk Festival some great stories were shared as we reacquainted ourselves with some old friends and caught up on the intervening years.

The Woodman Folk club is a warm and welcoming place with a strong support which is how they are able to put on three guest nights every month and still pack out their singers nights too and we can’t wait to get another date in the diary to go back and play for this wonderful bunch again.

Our thanks go out to our support act on the night, Velvet Green, and to Debbie and Derry and all of the team who made the night so enjoyable and us so welcome!

Fantastic little gig in Loughborough!

Another brilliant gig at The Organ Grinder in Loughborough on Sunday night!

We loved having the whole Sardinian contingent in the room for their first Kellys Heroes gig and, despite none of us speaking Italian and them having very few words of English, music has that wonderful capacity to cross language barriers and connect us all

We've had some great feedback- thanks everyone for getting in touch!

"Hi

What a splendid time we had last night at your gig! So uplifting. Because you’re all so brilliant I want to bring friends to your Quorn gig.

Thank you x"

"Hi,

What a great gig. Good to know you're still magnificent!"

"We came to see you last night (**Sunday!). It's been some time since we saw you- still amazing!

Great to hear 'I Wish I Was In England'."

A late night session with Dervish!

Some of Kellys were at the Lakeside Arts Centre a couple of weeks ago for Daoiri Farrell's concert on what we think was his first visit to Nottingham. Playing to a sold-out auditorium Daoiri began with an unusual version of “The Shamrock Shore” with additional verses new to us. He then went on with “Blackwaterside” and a lighter ballad, “Sweet Portadown”.

But it was with stunning versions of songs from the singing of Liam Weldon that he really left a mark – “One Starry Night” and the powerful, angry “Blue Tar Road” were flawless – I have to say that it was on “Via Extasia” that his real quality shone through. An unaccompanied voice with a soaring melody full of ornamentation and vivid images held everyone spellbound.

Daoiri told us that the Lakeside was his seventeenth gig in just three weeks and his last before going back to Dublin but on this appearance alone we should be seeing him back this way again very soon!

The Lakeside Arts Centre provided another amazing concert on Wednesday evening with Dervish taking to the stage and what a gig that was! Dervish haven’t been round this way since before the pandemic but they are back with a vengeance – and a new CD – “The Great Irish Songbook”.

We had the usual blistering sets of reels and jigs, barn dances, slip jigs, hornpipes and, of course, Cathy Jordan singing in both Irish and English.

Stand-out moments in the first half had to be the opening set of tunes – “Kitty, Come Down to Limerick” and the heart-rending
“Donal Og” from Cathy sung in English from a translation by Frank O’Connor. In the second half we had even more great music – including a great version of that old standard, “The Galway Shawl” which is on the new CD.

They were not allowed to leave the stage without two encores!

We were lucky to be able to host an after gig session at the Victoria Hotel in Beeston with Brian McDonagh on mandola and Tom Morrow on the fiddle after they had finished up at the Lakeside. A perfect end to a great evening – and many, many thanks
to the staff at the Vic for what was a bit of a late session.
Dervish are back on the road for gigs in Camden Town and Wiltshire over the bank holiday weekend.

What an amazing day!

So did you make it down to CeltFest on Sunday? If you did then a huge thank you for being part of such an amazing audience! We hope you had as fantastic a day (as we did!) and that you enjoyed the stunning performances of music and dance celebrating different elements of Celtic culture.

Kellys had the pleasure of opening up the day with a couple of sets and we were thrilled that our second set was with the larger line up of the band when our good friends Kate Perry (on flute and whistles) and Emmett Leneghan (on button accordion) joined us for people to hear our full six piece band flying through some jigs and reels

The young ladies of Glendarragh Academy of Irish dancing captivated everyone with their high kicks and lightening fast footwork when they took to the stage. From the youngest to the older dancers the skill shone out as did their enjoyment on dancing for us all. It's no surprise that the dance academy are celebrating their 40th anniversary this year as they continue to be successful in all arenas.

But if you want to really make a powerful entrance then you would be very hard pressed to beat the sight and the sound of Nottinghamshire Pipes and Drums who negotiated their way through the crowd and the marquee as they processed up to the stage- without missing a note or a beat!! We were excited to have them join us for this year's CeltFest hot on the heels of their multiple standing ovations as part of Andre Rieu's concert at the Motorpoint Arena last week.

With a programme of marches, jigs and reels they delighted everyone- with a very poignant moment for Kellys Heroes as a lone piper played Hector The Hero and we remembered our piper, Campbell Connet.

Our final act of the day were the very polished and highly accomplished duo Thorpe and Morrison. We had Harry and Sean play for us at CeltFest a few years ago and were delighted to invite them back again. Their musicianship is wonderful and they delighted us with some great self penned tunes and a well crafted and funny song written by Harry Thorpe about scammers but my highlight was a beautiful arrangement of Shane McGowan's song 'A Rainy Night in Soho' which Sean sang for us.

CeltFest means a great deal to us and to The Victoria Hotel as we continue to celebrate live music and to carry on holding events such as these in tribute to our dear friend, Neil Kelso.

Without Neil none of this would be possible so we raise a glass to him today on what was his birthday and remember all the good times and truly amazing gigs.

Sláinte

CeltFest 2023

Just under 3 weeks to go until CELTFEST 2023!!

Yes, you heard me right, CeltFest 2023 is approaching fast.

This year we will be holding the event on SUNDAY 14TH MAY at The Victoria Hotel, Beeston from 2pm in the covered beer garden.

All music is free of charge with donations going to Nottingham Trent University’s world renowned
John Van Geest Cancer Research Foundation.

We've got an amazing programme for you with Kellys Heroes getting the event underway from 2pm

followed by the the local band with the big sound, Nottinghamshire Pipes and Drums hot footing it from their appearance at the Motorpoint Arena concert with Andre Rieu.

The Glendarragh Academy of Irish Dancing who, like Kellys, will see the anniversary of their 40th year in 2023 will have you spellbound as their dancers whirl around the stage before the amazing

Thorpe and Morrison make a much anticipated return to CeltFest after taking the Vic by storm a few years ago!

Thorpe and Morrison-
“a spellbinding mix of old and modern, both traditional and forward looking” Bright Young Folk.

Kellys Heroes-
“where fun and footstomping meets soulful and stirring- not to be missed!” The Northern Echo.

Nottinghamshire Pipes and Drums-
“stunning performances- most recently with Andre Rieu at the Motorpoint Arena.”

Glendarragh Academy of Irish Dancing-
“40 years of promotingIrish culture through dance”

Not your typical St George's Day...

I bet none of you spent St George's Day like we did!

Okay, hands up who would've thought to book an Irish band to play in an English village for an Australian landlord celebrating Anzac day on the 23rd April Well why not!!

We took a trip down to the village of Denford in Northants, a journey we've made a few times before in the last few years, to play in a pub called The Cock Inn for a weekend of celebrations as landlord Jayme combined the pub's beer festival with his Anzac Day event and most importantly his dad, Neville's, birthday. I'm not sure Jayme could have crammed much more into just one weekend- or many more people into the pub to be honest!

To find a village pub in the heart of the midlands with so many Aussie accents in it has to be one of the strangest experiences and it takes you off guard when someone starts to speak to you and a broad Aussie dialect issues forth . You'll not find a more friendly, out going bunch with a sense of humour that takes no prisoners and we love playing for Jayme and his family, friends and pub regulars.

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Kellys Heroes, Nottinghaminfo@kellysheroes.co.uk
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