2022-07-16 Forever Young - Palmerstown House, Naas

After 30 months of a pandemic, I finally got COVID, 11 days before Forever Young Festival, where I was due to shoot! So, after COVID kicked my ass, I had to isolate for another few days, my first day of freedom being the first full day of the the festival!

Should I have went? In hindsight, probably not. I was no longer infectious, so that wasn't an issue, but I was drained, had no energy and hadn't eaten properly in 10 days. Add on to that the heatwave Ireland was experiencing and I think we can all agree, it was stupid of me to go.

In my (albeit weak) defence, it was the first time I'd got a Media Pass for that festival and I didn't want to run the risk of not getting another. Plus the lineup was superb! Artists such as Nik Kershaw, the Undertones, Tiffany, Bananarama, Paul Young, Nick Heyward and many, many more were set to play, it was going to be a trues 80s music feast!

Anyway...

There were so many highlights from the weekend, a most of the performers were absolute legends, making plenty of time for photographs and with fans, it was brilliant to see. The crowd were electric, intent on partying and having a good time. The weather was scorching, a rarity for an Irish festival.

My own personal highlight? I got to meet Tiffany, I was instantly turned into a 15 year old schoolboy again!

Some folk might look at festivals like this and wonder why you'd go. Well it's simple. Everyone knows the songs, everyone is there just to have a good time and there are no idiots looking for trouble. It's all just about having fun.

Would I do it again? Damn right I would, I loved the weekend!

Enough of the talk, lets have a look at some of the photos!

Denise from Five Star

Buster Bloodvessel from Bad Manners

Bananarama

The Blow Monkeys

Chesney Hawkes

Heather Small

Holly Johnson

Johnny Hates Jazz

Leslie Dowdall of In Tua Nua

Johnny Hates Jazz

Limahl

Nick Heyward

Nik Kershaw

Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark

Paul Young

Tiffany

Real Thing

Carol Decker of T'pau

Mark Shaw of Then Jerico

Tony Hadley of Spandau Ballet

The Undertones

Wendy James of Transvision Vamp

2022-03-26 Buskers on Grafton Street, Dublin

I took a walk around Dublin today, thought I'd check out the buskers on Grafton Street. There's a fine history of busking in Dublin, acts like Hothouse Flowers , The Frames , Rodrigo y Gabriela , Damien Rice , Paddy Casey , Kodaline and a host of others all cut their teeth on and around Grafton Street. It stands to reason that some of those busking today will be successful in the future! So, who did I get to see today? Well, check out the photos below: Zoe Clarke Allie Sherlock Paul Jenkinson

Interview with King Kong Company

Originally published 10/09/2013 on Chunk.ie So, there I was, wandering around the Electric Picnic wondering who I was going to watch next. One of the lads said he had heard good things about King Kong Company and that we should check them out, so off we headed to the Body and Soul Arena to do just that. As I mentioned in my review of the Electric Picnic, the gig was epic. I figured we just had to interview them here on CHUNK.ie, and here it is! First things first, congratulations on a storming gig at the Electric Picnic. It completely blew me away. Was this your first Picnic experience? We’ve been to many Electric Picnics over the years but just as punters, and it’s always been a great festival, so it was a fantastic experience to play at its 10 year anniversary. King Kong Company is a rather interesting name for a band, where or how did you come up with it? The name is taken from the film Taxi Driver. If you look closely, Travis Bickle is wearing a badge which says King

2023-08-26 The Playing Fields Festival - Clane GAA

It's The Playing Fields Festival time again! TPFF23, it's third outing, is back and it's the same, but a little different also. For the first time, it's not just an Irish affair. The legendary Basement Jaxx headlined the Sunday night. Also, for the first time, it's under canvas. Not a big circus type tent, a more low rise, stretched canvas affair, as per TribFest a few weeks back. Given the state of the Irish summer, it was a great decision. The final difference was that I was only there for Day Two as I'd already arranged to bring my niece to see The Vamps , and that clashed with Day One. So, along with Basement Jaxx , who else was playing Day Two of TPFF? Well, we had: The Flavours Altered Lines Diversion Raging Sons Spring Break Roisin O and CamrinWatsin I think we can agree, that's a pretty good mix of rock n' roll, party time and dance music! Even under canvas, the stage was pretty big and sounded good

IrishMJ

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