With the Nineties’ rave sound firmly back in vogue, organisers of Galway’s newest music festival have scored quite the coup: securing Sonique to perform on Saturday, May 2.
The award-winning artist will play a giant, tented stage to be erected at Ard na Mara pitches between Oranmore Church and Gaelscoil de Hide, right next to Oranmore town centre, for the first Momentum event over the May bank holiday weekend.
An English DJ and singer, Sonia Marina Clarke, AKA Sonique, has one of the most distinctive voices in the history of elctronic dance music, with her single ‘It Feels So Good’ topping the British charts for three weeks in 2000.
“After being blown away by her Glastonbury 2024 set, we knew that we wanted to bring her to Galway,” the Momentum organisers said. “We know that it’s going to be a special moment under The Crescendo Tent when she takes to the stage to belt out the club classic that is ‘It Feels So Good’ – which has over 150 million streams on Spotify alone.”
Sonique joins B*Witched, D:Ream, Mark McCabe, Rednex, DJ Fergal D’Arcy and the Naughty Noughties for Momentum’s Big Day Out in Galway this May, adding another major name to what is shaping up to a collage of live performances to kick off the summer.
A true pioneer of club culture, Sonique has shaped dancefloors across the world for more than three decades. As a singer, DJ and producer, she helped define the sound of late-90s and early-2000s electronic music, and remains one of the most respected and recognisable figures in the genre.
She is best known for her era-defining anthem ‘It Feels So Good’, which topped the British charts, and also broke into the US Top 10.
Sonique became a global star with her million-selling album Hear My Cry. The record also produced the hit singles ‘Sky’ and her celebrated reinterpretation of ‘I Put A Spell On You’, famously sang by Nina Simone, cementing her reputation as a singular talent capable of bridging club music, pop and powerful live performance.
Her achievements were formally recognised when she won Best British Female Artist at the Brit Awards. She also received International Hit of the Year at the Ivor Novello Awards.
Long before her solo breakthrough, Sonique was already making waves as part of the influential electronic outfit S’Express, before carving out a path that would see her become one of the first female artists to successfully combine live vocals with DJ performance on an international scale. She held prestigious residencies at iconic clubs, including Ibiza’s Cream and Manumission.
In March 2024, Sonique performed a sold-out headline show at London’s Royal Festival Hall with full band, string quartet and choir, earning critical praise, and reaffirming her status as a powerful live performer whose music continues to resonate across generations.
