Posts Tagged ‘axis of’

After celebrating its tenth anniversary of championing the best in both established and undiscovered Northern Irish music in 2010, this year the Live4ever Ezine was ecstatic to return to the Eagle’s Rock summit for the leading independent festival in the land, Glasgowbury.

It may not be anything to do with either Glasgow, Scotland or indeed the Pyramid Stage, but as far as having a real festival experience with an original ethos that’s entirely unique, the ‘small but MASSIVE’ bash is neck and neck with Glasto. Couple that with a simply unrivalled mountaintop setting that acts as a nativity scene for what is essentially Christmas for the country’s yearly music gathering, and you’re left with an atmosphere that can’t be described, it just has to be experienced.

Yes, there has been an entire month’s worth of material to update you all on – but first, and truly with some delirious sense of need, last weekend’s Pigstock Music Festival needs to be highlighted. A special case being only my second year in attendance, and having had the pleasure of witnessing Pigstock solidify not into the foundations of some weekend jaunt in a field but (pardon the food reference, we’ll get to that) a Christmas dinner with all of the (in this case, pork, and lots of it) trimmings.

A few names immediately spring to mind when thinking of home town performances of the dizzyingly colossal variety. Muse brought the coast of Devon to a standstill with their Seaside Rendezvous. Oasis pencilled in a gathering of sixty thousand at the ground of their beloved Manchester City and last year Snow Patrol‘s umpteenth homecoming was the single highest-attended concert Northern Ireland had ever seen. But all of those are hard to compare to a Belfast gig from And So I Watch You From Afar.

Small But Massive…

Read it again. That’s Glasgowbury. Not to be confused with Michael Eavis’ Worthy Farm extravaganza – this is Glasgowbury, and it’s got nothing to do with anything in Scotland. Glasgowbury is Northern Ireland’s premier independent festival which showcases almost universally home-grown talent.

As the brainchild of Irish singer-songwriter Paddy Glasgow (now the name makes sense!) the non-profit event has gone from strength to strength. Starting in his back garden with a hundred people in attendance, this year it shouted “Happy tenth birthday!” from the top of the Sperrin mountains to thousands of music lovers.