No one, and I mean no one, goes to TribFest to be cool. After all, it's hard to look cool dancing to the music of Joe Dolan, ABBA, Tom Jones, Cher or Queen, well, maybe Queen, but... No, people go to TribFest to party, to listen to great music and most of all, to have fun. Fun, that's the most important part of a festival, and it was in abundance this year! The festival was a three day affair this time out and, for the first time, kicked off with a night dedicated to hard rock and metal, featuring IE/DC (AC/DC), Live Lizzy (Thin Lizzy), Whiplash (Metallica) , Guns Reloaded (Guns n' Roses), and Legendary (Bon Jovi). Was it loud? Yes, yes it was. Did it rock? Most certainly! Were the leather clad crowd entertained? Most definitely. What a way to kick off TribFest! Live Lizzy Whiplash Legendary Guns Reloaded IE/DC Night two of TribFest was a much more relaxed affair with sets from Mairead Rooney (Shania Twain), The Classic Beatles (The Beatles), Will Power (Joe Dolan)
It's the end of the year, time to work my way through all the live gigs I've been to in the last 12 months, pick my best gigs, festivals, songs and so on... Seven, SEVEN, gigs I got to this year. Yes yes, I know there are others that didn't even get to one, but when 2019 had in excess of 50 gigs, well, you can see why I'm frustrated. Enough complaining though, time to get to the 2020 MJs! First up is Best Irish Single . There were a lot of contenders this year, but for me, Cold Blue Light by Kynsy edged them all out. Next up is Best Irish Album . Again there were many contenders, but for me, All The Leaves Are Falling by Nealo was the best. Irish hip-hop is coming of age! Best Irish Gig is next. This gig would win any year! It was Denise Chaila in Dolans , Limerick. Amazing night. I've listed to the Irish Music Industry Podcast since it launched and find it both entertaining and informative. This year though, they produced two specials this year that deep