Galway International Arts Festival and Róisín Dubh are delighted to add three more names to this summer’s 2019 Heineken Big Top line-up.
Saint Sister, who made waves with their 2018 debut album Shape of Silence, will open for Bell X1 Friday 19 July. On Saturday 20 July, breakthrough band Wild Youth will open for The Academic. On the closing weekend of the Festival, two-time Choice Award nominee Daithí, together with his live band, will open for ORBITAL 27 July.
Since forming in 2014, Saint Sister have quickly established themselves as a phenomenal live band with performances at Glastonbury, Electric Picnic and Latitude and support slots with The National, Lisa Hannigan and Hozier. Nominated for three Choice Music Prizes, the duo from the North of Ireland were voted ‘Best Irish Act’ by The Irish Times readers in 2016. In a review of their latest release Shape of Silence, The Irish Times praised their ‘sharp observational lyrics’ and called the album ‘a subtle but observant insight into broken Ireland.’
Described by Clash Magazine as 'Bursting with colour and precocious potential’ rising indie-pop act Wild Youth burst onto the scene last year with their contagious hit 'Can't Move On'. They followed this with their debut EP 'The Last Goodbye' which incredibly reached number five on the Irish Album Chart and led to a sold-out Irish tour, including their own show in Dublin's Olympia Theatre. With their latest single 'Making Me Dance' already looking like one of the year’s pop hits, a performance at London's Royal Albert Hall under their belts and shows with Mumford & Sons to come, Wild Youth are certainly living up to their moniker as 2019's one to watch.
Daithí returns to Galway International Arts Festival with a full band, last seen closing out Body & Soul at Electric Picnic. For his GIAF19 performance he will be joined for part of the set by Bell X1’s Paul Noonan, Sinead White and Elaine Mai ahead of what’s sure to be an extraordinary live show from the legendary ORBITAL. Known for singles like ‘Chameleon Life’ and the 2015 viral hit ‘Mary Keanes Introduction’, Daithí’s most recent release, ‘Take the Wheel’ (featuring Paul Noonan), was praised as ‘both elegiac and epic’ by The Irish Times and ‘perhaps his finest song to date’ by The Galway Advertiser.
Tickets to see The Academic with support from Wild Youth can be purchased here. Tickets to see ORBITAL with support from Daithí (live band) can be purchased here. Tickets to see Bell X1 with support from Saint Sister can be purchased here.
Galway International Arts Festival 2019 takes place from 15-28 July 2019. Details of the first announcements can be found here. The full programme will be released in May.
Galway International Arts Festival would like to acknowledge the support of its principal funding agencies the Arts Council and Fáilte Ireland, its Drinks Partner Heineken® and Education Partner NUI Galway.
