REMY: Whelan's Ones To Watch 2016

Live music in the capital for 2016 officially kicks off tomorrow night with iconic Dublin music venue Whelan's hosting four nights of their annual Whelan's Ones To Watch festival. With over 60 of the best up and coming acts from the four corners of Ireland converging in the one place, it promises to be one of the best showcases of independent Irish talent this year. Split over the Upstairs venue and the main stage downstairs, from 8.15pm onwards to the wee hours, roughly 15 acts will play each night from Thursday through to Sunday.

The thing I like about this festival in particular is that the bands are invited at no cost and with no strings attached (apart from to their guitars presumably, oh good lord I'll get my coat) to put themselves forward for the roster. I've come across and reviewed a lot of the bands playing, most of whom I haven't seen live before so I'm very excited about the next few nights, I'll be attending Thursday through to Saturday at least myself. Tickets are €5 for one night or €10 for all four, that's €10 to see 60 brilliant acts. I'll be skulking around in dark corners with a camera and my trusty beard, do say hello!

Here's some music from acts playing over the four nights that I am familiar with and some a little less so but looking forward to becoming familiar with, events like this are why I love doing what I do here on the blog, I'm guaranteed to witness some incredible live performances and discover music that will stay with me long after this cold and dark January!

Thursday, 14th January:

Naoise Roo opens this years Whelan's Ones To Watch, Remy's Music and Film's Album of the Year winner for 2015 for her album Lilith. (On stage: 8:15pm, Downstairs)