Sean Taylor headlines Blues night launching Irish Festival

Manchester Irish Festival stages Blues night to launch two week Festival

This years Manchester Irish Festival is staging a special opening night concert sponsored by Guinness dedicated to Ireland’s Blues favourites such as Van Morrison, Rory Gallagher, Thin Lizzy and Bob Dylan.

The night takes place on Friday 5 March in the first floor acoustic room of M19 Bar & venue in Levenshulme village. It is part of a two week Tradfest which takes place in the area described by the media as ‘County Levenshulme’ because it is home to the biggest Irish community outside of London. The Tradfest will see close to one hundred musicians, singers and dancers staging numerous gigs and music workshops in the area until Sunday 21 March.

Headlining the opening night is the North London based Blues singer songwriter ‘Sean Taylor’ whose Irish roots stem from Navan in County Meath.

The talented artist who is also an accomplished multi instrumentalist will be showcasing songs from his soon to be released album called ‘Walk with Me’ which is currently being recorded in Dublin in Trevor Hutchinson’s studio(producer of Lúnasa and The Waterboys).

When asked about how he felt about opening up the two week tradfest in Levenshulme Sean replied “I’m really looking forward to my visit to Levenshulme and the m19 bar for the opening night of the Festival for this special Blues gig. It will be great to take a break from recording and try out some of my songs live at the gig, it will be great to get some feedback for the songs before they are released later in the year.”

Sean is currently managed by Stuart Ongley who also manages the award winning Irish singer Eleanor McEvoy. The new album features performances from musicians who have recorded and toured with the likes of Damien Rice, The Frames, Van Morrison and others. The Legendary slide player, BJ Cole himself appears on one track.

The media have compared the singer songwriter to the likes of John Martyn, Tom Waits and Bob Dylan. He has appeared at all the major festivals all over Europe during the last year, which included an appearance at Glastonbury. His music is being championed by the likes of Ian McMillan on BBC Radio 3, Bob Harris on BBC Radio 2 & Tom Robinson on BBC 6 Music. He has also been showcased on the cult ‘House of Mercy’ and ‘Raven N Blues shows’.

The night will also feature the award winning Liverpool singer songwriter Gerry Murphy whose Irish roots stem from Roscommon. The winner of the PRS John Lennon award for his lyrics to the Irish immigrant song ‘Sweet Liberty’, the accomplished singer songwriter is much revered for his Bob Dylan influenced music. As well as being an accomplished live performer, he is also an accomplished writer and actor with appearances in Coronation Street and Emmerdale, as well as a number of films.

The other support acts are the legendary Manchester based blues guitarist ‘Zacc Rogers’ a massive fan of the likes of Van Morrison , plus Ged Wilson who cites Rory Gallagher as one of his major influences and Johnny Ryder whose live performances always entice an encore and the funky blues band Midnight Mafia.

As Guinness are sponsoring the event, the tickets are just priced £3 in advance or £5 on the door. Doors open at 7.30pm, with the opening at on at 8pm.

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