It is believed that The Voice favourite, and local lad Conor Quinn, will play at next month’s iconic Festival of Fires at Uishneach.
He will join Graham Dowling - who is to open the main stage with his band Icon on Fire - and headliner Bressie in what will be a triumph for Mullingar music on Saturday, May 5.
At the moment, there is even an outside possibility that another local boy making good - One Direction’s Niall Horan - might make an appearance on the hill, he is expected to be in Ireland on that weekend.
Conor Quinn cannot be confirmed for the festival as he currently has contractual ties to The Voice.
However, the Advertiser has it on good authority that he will take to the stage either early on with his co-competitor Graham or with programme mentor Bressie, who will play to his biggest audience yet as a solo performer a little later in the evening.
With the popular RTÉ 1 talent show coming to a conclusion the week before the festival, it is quite a possibility that Conor Quinn could be appearing as winner of the show.
“With the kids under 12 going free, it’s a great chance for the families to get to see the stars up close,” said the source.
Other local Westmeath acts just added to the bill include Arrow in the Sky, as well as The Egg and Spoons, The Aftermath, Sircles (ex-Blizzards ), and Pete Doran.
Also, in the wake of their superb reunion at the ‘Three Cheers for Cani’ weekend at The Stables a few months back, Jimmy Broder will be joined by his former bandmates from Different World, the great Noel and Declan O’Farrell.
Also appearing at what is Ireland’s oldest festival will be Hothouse Flowers, Kila, Royseven, Donal Lunny & Friends, The Kilfenora Ceili Band, Preacher’s Son, Touch the Earth, and some very special guests, including Johnny Fean from Horslips and Nick Turner from Hawkwind.
Uisneach will be illuminated with pageantry and parades, with all festival-goers participants in a unique Bealtaine fire ceremony featuring a dazzling night-time parade devised by the award-winning Luxe performance group.
Tickets are also on sale locally at €39.50 - without the Ticketmaster charges - in Mullingar (John Daly’s, Foxes Fruit and Veg, The Stables, Days Bazaar, and Rochforts ), Loughnavalley (Foxes ), Ballinea (Foxes ), Rosemount (Kellys ), Moate (Egans ), Castletown Geoghegan (Claffeys ), Ballymore (Cunninghams ), Rathconrath (Gunnings ), Horseleap (Ryans ), and Athlone (Music World, Golden Island ).
With 5,000 expected on the Hill of Uisneach for the iconic occasion, and a history stretching back thousands of years, the one-of-a-kind event culminates with an unmissable night-time ceremonial parade which will lead all festivalgoers to the summit of Uisneach where signal Bealtaine fires will be lit.
In turn, over 100 fires will be sparked nationwide as the flame is passed to all 21 counties visible from the summit.
This is a non VIP event, with no branding, no sponsorship, no VIP enclosures or anything similar. Every festivalgoer is a participant in a one-of-a-kind event which is proudly independent and non-commercial.
