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)
This has been a long time coming. My first gig in two years with absolutely no Covid Restrictions attached. No special seating, no mask mandate (though I still wore mine), no Vaccine Cert required, no leaving by 8:00pm... It was a glorious night in Whelan's!
So, who was playing? Well, it was Cat Dowling. I'd seen Cat play late last year in Vicar Street and thought she was fantastic. Then she released her album 'Animals' in November '21 and it was my album of the year, so I was really looking forward to this gig.
I wasn't disappointed. From start to end, the show was electric. Cat is a fantastic performer, never staying still,always throwing shapes and boy oh boy can she sing!
Anyway, enough fanboying, check out the photos below:
One Morning in August played support on the night. I'd been chatting with them on Twitter all the way through the pandemic, so it was great to finally meet in person. Even though frontman John had a dodgy, non Covid related, chest infection, they put on a great show and I'm looking forward to seeing them again.
Check out their photos below.