Jim Carrollon music

Artists still rolling up for summer shows

Just when you thought there was absolutely no room left for anyone else on the Irish summer festival bandwagon, along come 50 Cent, Elton John and Sister Sledge looking to get onboard.

Fiddy and Elton are the latest additions to the Live at the Marquee season in Cork. It is probably the only summer fest on the planet where you will find Slayer, Antony & The Johnsons and Duran Duran on the same run as Cascada, Christy Moore and Podge & Rodge. They really do things differently in Cork.

Meanwhile, Sister Sledge are the headliners at Castle Palooza, the festival at Charleville Castle in Co Offaly which features not just Irish and international stars, but also flushing loos as a festival attraction. Irish talent appearing at this one includes the excellent Fight Like Apes, The Chapters and Prison Love.

All these new additions indicate that there is still a considerable appetite amongst Irish music fans for live music in the open air or under canvas, no matter how many new shows are added. While criticisms about high ticket prices have been aired (whines as regular and predictable as students moaning about the holding of elections on a Thursday), they have not impacted hugely on attendances, if the number of sold-out shows is any bellwether of the seasonal trends.

It's interesting to compare the Irish situation with the British festival experience. Across the Irish Sea, over 450 events will take place this summer. Aside from the main headline-grabbers and hugely commercial events such as Glastonbury, Reading/Leeds and V, there are now dozens and dozens of more esoteric and smaller-scale festivals on the calendar.

A piece in the Observer newspaper profiled such potentially fascinating gatherings as the Underage Festival (aimed exclusively at under-18s), the End of the Road festival, Tapestry Goes West, Sunrise Celebration and the Secret Garden Party.

There would most certainly be a warm welcome in many quarters over here for similar smaller, specialised and non-commercial festivals to join the ranks of Oxegen and Electric Picnic. While the likes of Life, Day Of Darkness and the excellent Mantua tick all the right boxes in this regard, there is still probably room for more would-be festival chiefs to have a go. Maybe next summer?

The end - with Immediate effect

The announcement by The Immediate at the Trinity Ball last week that they were calling it a day took most observers by surprise.

The band released their debut album, In Towers & Clouds, last summer and it received huge critical acclaim, promising sales and a Choice Music Prize nomination.

It was expected that the band would spend 2007 consolidating their support base at home and, having secured record label support in France, Australia and Germany, touring abroad.

But it was not to be. The band's farewell statement cited "existential differences" - certainly the first time an Irish act has used that reason for a split. The break-up is said to be amicable, with some members keener to pursue other projects.

The band do, however, leave us with one last tune. As a parting gift, a new track, Mist Above the Mind, is currently streaming at myspace.com/ theimmediate.

Getting ready to Cane it in the Big Apple

On The Record's New York readers can be amongst the first to catch new work by Galway's Cane 141 this week.

The Michael Smalle-fronted group have collaborated with artist Róisín Coyle on a music and visual installation called Lost At Sea which "explores the concept of the beauty and struggle of the sea and the individual's response to it".

To coincide with the exhibition, Cane 141 will be releasing the Lost At Sea album, the follow-up to their well-received 2005 Moonpool release.

Lost At Sea opens at the Grace Space in Brooklyn today. More info at myspace.com/cane141

Un Belize-able sounds

The Garifunas are coming. The story of Garifuna culture, as told by Andy Palacio and his collective of musicians from Belize, goes back to a time of shipwrecks and slavery.

Garifuna culture arrived in central America when two slave ships sunk off the Caribbean island of St Vincent in 1635. The African survivors went on to intermingle with the natives and the Garifuna culture, mixing African and Caribbean traditions, was born.

Palacio and the Garifuna Collective, who recorded the Wátina album about this culture which still exists in pockets along central America's Caribbean coast, play Whelan's, Dublin on June 15th.

Jim Carroll's blog

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