For most of my life, I have been a tad interested in (some would say obsessed with) sport and I have to acknowledge the arts isn’t an area with which I have the same familiarity.

In recent years I have become a bit more engaged on that side of life having been invited a in 2012 to join the board of Sligo Live, the folk, root & indie music festival held in Sligo and its environs annually on the October holiday weekend. The more I see, the more I believe that Sligo really has something very strong and unique in music . Music can mark it out as a place. Music the potential to underpin a mini economy different to anything else happening in Ireland… or further afield for that matter.

Two weeks ago, a number of different parts of my Sligo came together which illustrated the point again, brilliantly.

Every year the family takes a few days out to go to Sligo visit the extended relatives and take in the best of what the area has to offer.  In planning our few days I discovered the Summer Festival and more specifically the plan to have one of Kieran Quinn‘s Theme nights in the Stephen St Car park. I’ve known Kieran since his student days in Dublin 15 years ago. To most of us then he was a footballer who played the piano but unlike the rest of us, for him the other hobby was the ‘real thing’… we should have copped actually when people started asking where we were staying the night before a match so they could get to hear Kieran do a few tunes on the Resident’s Lounge piano… football was different then too!

The legend of Kieran’s Theme nights has already traveled well and who wouldn’t want to get a piece of the format that has wowed the Hawkswell, the Model and the then Velvet Rooms over recent years – catch the unique Sligo take on Billy Joel’s ‘She’s always a woman to me’ below for a prime example.

 

Well the open air ‘Stadium Anthems’ didn’t disappoint. It wasn’t any one thing but rather the combination of all of the things. Each song is performed by a guest singer – from country legend Sandy Kelly through The Voice’s Kelesa Mulcahy to old Sligo rock heads like Barry Brennan and Eoin Troy to the cultured tones of tenor James Nelson and the powerful voice of Vanessa Sleater – with the backing of the Theme Nights Choir and a musical ensemble of about a dozen giving voice and backing to classic anthems from Queen, David Bowie, Snow Patrol, Madonna, Bon Jovi etc.

The big takeaway is that this is all local talent getting an opportunity to perform and develop in front of a big crowd on a local stage. It is a serious asset to the community and something that can be harnessed in a positive way for each of the social, health and economic benefits of the region. It is sustainable because of the great work of people like Kieran but also organisations like Comhaltas and schools like Niamh Crowley’s Academy of Music.

Long may it continue.