Today, Thursday, July 24, at 1pm, Aine Bird, Caitlín Nic Gabhann and Anne Marie Grogan continue their lunchtime traditional music series at the venue.
Later this Thursday evening, join Maverick Sabre at 8pm, supported by Galway's Lallee. Born in Stoke Newington, London, and raised in County Wexford, Sabre has spent the past decade forging a socially conscious sound, bringing with him the fire of Irish folk with a hip-hop edge.
On Friday, July 25, at 1pm, enjoy a lunchtime trad performance with Caitríona Ní Cheannabhain, Mick Conneely and David Munnelly. At 8pm, A Lazarus Soul will take to the stage. The band has spent two decades building a sound that is driven by the energy of post-punk and rock while grounded in folk tradition.
The four-piece of Brian Brannigan, Joe Chester, Julie Bienvenu and Anton Hegarty are recognised for their unflinching portrayals of Irish life. At the heart of A Lazarus Soul is songwriter and vocalist Brannigan, whose personal writing shapes the band’s voice.
Nicknamed Lazarus by his mother after surviving serious illness as a child, Brannigan’s early experiences included a Spina Bifida diagnosis, major surgery, and teenage cancer. Songwriting became his way of processing trauma and navigating the world, and it’s that sense of survival, fragility and resolve that runs through the band’s music.
A Lazarus Soul see themselves primarily as a Dublin band, but their honesty and musicianship speak beyond that city’s limits. Their body of work, including albums like Graveyard of Burnt Out Cars, has earned them a loyal following. Their most recent albums, The D They Put Between the R & L and No Flowers Grow in Cement Gardens, carries stories of Dublin life with its harshness, humour, contradictions and fading past.
The band’s style has steadily sharpened into robust, driving rock and Irish folk, with the revered Christy Moore covering two of their songs. They will be supported on the night by former Ambience Affair frontman James J. Clarke.
The lunchtime treat continues on Saturday, July 16, at 1pm with Floriane Blancke on harp and Brendan O’Regan on mandolin and bouzouki.
And in a break from GIAF programming, Galway’s very own Club 30 returns on Saturday evening from 6pm to 10pm, for an evening of non-stop dancing and throwback anthems from the Eighties, Nineties and Noughties, followed by Flashback with DJ Flako.
Closing the programme on Sunday, July 27, at 8pm, is the sold-out show for Richard Thompson, a founding member of Fairport Convention and one of the most influential guitarists of his generation.
For ticket information and more see www.monroes.ie
