"DO YOU like good music? That sweet soul music! Just as long as it's swingin'. Oh yeah, oh yeah." So declared Arthur Conley on his classic 1967 hit, 'Sweet Soul Music', and Galway is in line for plenty of that beautiful sound next month.
Northern Soul will be heard throughout Galway city at the first Galway Bay Soul Weekender from Friday September 1 to Sunday 3. It will feature Northern Soul DJs Greg McAlinney, Steve Thomas, Keith McCafferty, Karl Mitchell, Shane Walsh, Tony Doyle, Dave Barry, Liam Evans, Paul Mulholland, Paul Grant, and Darren McDonnell.
The festival begins on Friday 1 in The Cellar Bar (9pm to 1.30am ) with pounding sixties soul and gritty ghetto grooves. Saturday 2 will see a record fair and DJs playing smooth soul in The Blue Note’s beer garden from 1pm to 5pm. From 6.30pm to 10.30pm a private chartered cruise, starting from Woodquay, with full bar and Funktion 1 Sound System, will sail Lough Corrib as the records spin.
Concluding Saturday is the festival main event, in The Loft at Seven, where, from 10pm to 2.30am, DJs will play northern soul. Expect great music, and maybe a few northern soul dance moves with iconic spins, flips, and high-kicks. The festival ends on Sunday in The Blue Note from 2pm to 12 midnight with Soulfood BBQ and Soul Sounds.
Tickets are available at billetto.ie and on the door. A weekend pass including boat cruise is €25. A weekend pass for Friday and Saturday is €12.
