Dermot Kennedy plans global Irish music festival
Dublin singer-songwriter Dermot Kennedy has announced the launch of a brand new global Irish music festival, Misneach.
The 32-year-old is planning the annual celebration of Ireland’s musical heritage to coincide with the St Patrick’s Day, with the first edition set for March 2025.
Misneach, which means ‘Courage’ in Gaelic, will be held next March across two cities with strong Irish links: Sydney, Australia on 16 March and Boston, US on 18-19 March. The twin festivals promise to focus on Irish music through lineups curated by Kennedy in partnership with Ireland Music Week.
“For so many years now I have watched the St Patrick’s Day celebrations in so many different cities with a massive sense of pride,” says CAA-represented Kennedy. “I’ve always been so moved by the way Irish history and culture is celebrated all over the world. But I’ve also had the feeling that, for a country so rich in culture, I didn’t see it being represented fully in these events worldwide and I wondered, could we change that?
“With this inaugural year we hope to begin an annual tradition that will enrich the St Patrick’s day celebrations around the world with music and the arts, by showcasing some of the best new and established Irish musical talent, as well as musical talent of the Irish diaspora.
“I’ve been lucky enough to feel the love that the world has for Ireland and its music, and I’m so excited to be starting something very special”
“We will also be giving back to the communities in Ireland and the host cities. I’ve been lucky enough to feel the love that the world has for Ireland and its music, and I’m so excited to be starting something very special.”
Kennedy revealed the plans for the festival during an appearance yesterday (2 October) at Ireland Music Week in Dublin.
Featuring contemporary and traditional Irish artists, as well as participants from all over the world representing the Irish diaspora, the first edition of Misneach will see Kennedy and other major artists playing headline shows, as well as higlighting emerging local artists.
Kennedy has chosen the rising talent to be sponsored by Culture Ireland, in partnership with Ireland Music Week, with Big Love, Cliffords and Fynch selected to take part.
In Boston, a Misneach showcase at Brighton Music Hall will be held on 18 March before Kennedy headlines a multi-artist bill at the city’s TD Garden the following day. The Sydney edition will be a full outdoor festival on 16 March following the city’s official St Patrick’s Day parade. The full festival lineup will be announced shortly.
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MSG launches Natalie Portman-curated film festival
Boston Calling Events, the promoter of Massachusetts festival Boston Calling, has announced plans for its first film festival, to be held in the run-up to the 2018 event.
Boston Calling Film Festival, curated by Oscar-winning actress Natalie Portman, will take place from Tuesday 22 to Thursday 24 May at the Brattle Theatre (235-cap.) in Cambridge, Mass., and showcase a series of films that “explore similar themes told from the perspective of either male or female directors”, including Lolita, Diary of a Teenage Girl, the Exorcist and I Am Not a Witch.
Portman will additionally curate and host a series of “special programming”, details of which are still to be announced, in the Boston Calling Music Festival’s indoor arena throughout the weekend of 25–27 May.
“I’m so excited to show films that I love that explore the female gaze,” says Portman (pictured). “I don’t think there is anything inherently different between male and female artists, but these are examples of great works of art in which similar storylines have female tropes that play out quite differently depending on who is telling the story.
Portman will additionally curate and host a series of special programming in the music festival’s indoor arena
“I’m looking forward to sharing these with an audience and hearing their reactions. It makes it an even more special opportunity to watch these incredible films on the big screen at one of my favourite movie theatres.”
Boston Calling Events is jointly owned by Crash Line Productions and Madison Square Garden Company, the latter of which acquired a controlling interest in the company June 2016.
Now in its ninth year, Boston Calling Music Festival will take place for the second consecutive year at the Harvard Athletic Complex in Allston, Boston, on 25–27 May 2018. Headliners are Eminem, the Killers and Jack White.
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Live Nation pre-sues fake Coldplay merch sellers
Live Nation’s merchandising division has filed lawsuits in Boston against unnamed companies and individuals it believes will infringe on Coldplay’s trademarks when the band perform at the Gillette Stadium this Friday.
The litigation is an attempt by Live Nation Merchandise to persuade those who counterfeit and sell band t-shirts, posters and other merch to refrain from doing so at the 4 August gig in the city.
“This complaint will be amended when their true names and capacities are ascertained.”
The corporation has filed papers against John Does 1-100, Jane Does 1-100 and XYZ Company, stating that the true names of those who infringe on the band’s rights will become public knowledge once they are identified in the vicinity of the concert. Those accused of hawking the fake goods are being sued “under fictitious names because their true names and capacities are unknown at this time,” states the company in court papers. “This complaint will be amended when their true names and capacities are ascertained.”
Live Nation is seeking monetary damages as well as the destruction of all infringing merchandise, according to the lawsuit. It notes that as the promoter of the band’s A Head Full of Dreams tour, it has the exclusive right to use Coldplay’s trademarks “in the vicinity of the group’s concerts on the group’s present North American concert tour,” hinting that similar court papers could be filed across the continent as the 23-date stadium tour rolls out over the next ten weeks.
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Music Works International makes three hires
Music Works International (MWI), a Massachusetts-based jazz, R&B and world music agency, has made new appointments in its booking, sales and marketing teams.
Anngelle Wood, the organiser and host of Boston’s Rock & Roll Rumble and a DJ at classic rock station 100.7 WZLX, joins MWI’s marketing team, while Amanda Slaybaugh, most recently a junior booking agent with Madison House in Colorado, joins as an agent.
Mitchel Campbell, a recent music business graduate from the University of Hartford, rounds out the trio of hires, becoming an assistant in the agency’s sales team.
“We are excited that MWI’s growth affords us the opportunity to build our staff and bring more industry professionals into the fold,” comments director Katherine McVicker, a veteran IMN agent who founded MWI in 2014. “We are focused on taking the company to the next level.
“We are excited that MWI’s growth affords us the opportunity to build our staff and bring more industry professionals into the fold”
“We look forward to expanding our market reach and creating new networks of promoters in South America, Asia, Africa and the Pacific rim, as well as growing our roster of artists and special projects.”
MWI has over the past year added several new acts to its roster, including jazz pianists Monty Alexander and Aaron Diehl and Bokanté, the new world-music led by Snarky Puppy’s Michael League.
“While Aaron is seen as a jazz artist, he is also an acclaimed classical pianist who recently performed with the New York Philharmonic,” says MWI’s marketing director, David Greenberg. “And in other genres, there’s Bokanté, a band with three members of Snarky Puppy that really grooves deep in the world genre, Monty Alexander’s Harlem Kingston Express, a reggae/ska/jazz double trio, and Richard Bona’s Mandekan Cubano. These acts have opened MWI up to a new level of promoters and range of territories.”
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