25 August 2022
By Tom Collins
tom@TheCork.ie
Pictured Karen Underwood and Laoise Leahy.
The Soul Fest launch party kicked off at The Poor Relation on Thursday 25th August to begin the festivities which include two headline concerts from Laoise Leahy and Karen Underwood at City Hall, a live soul train and a block party on Cornmarket Street over the course of the weekend.
Picture: Alison Miles /OSM PHOTO
Pictured Karen Underwood and Laoise Leahy.
Picture: Alison Miles /OSM PHOTO
Pictured Sinéad Dunphy, Festival Director; Mary Watson, Festival Manager; Luke Connolly, Eric Coogan and Aidan Cotter, Heineken Ireland.
The Soul Fest launch party kicked off at The Poor Relation on Thursday 25th August to begin the festivities which include two headline concerts from Laoise Leahy and Karen Underwood at City Hall, a live soul train and a block party on Cornmarket Street over the course of the weekend.
Picture: Alison Miles /OSM PHOTO
Eric Collins and Leah McGannon, The Poor Relation Cork.
The Soul Fest launch party kicked off at The Poor Relation on Thursday 25th August to begin the festivities which include two headline concerts from Laoise Leahy and Karen Underwood at City Hall, a live soul train and a block party on Cornmarket Street over the course of the weekend.
Picture: Alison Miles /OSM PHOTO
Sinéad Dunphy, Festival Director and Mary Watson, Festival Manager leaning into the weekend at the launch of the Soul Fest launch party held on Thursday 25th August to kick off the festivities.
Picture: Alison Miles /OSM PHOTO
Sian Horn, The Club and Jill Hamilton, Atlantic Social Cobh. The Soul Fest launch party kicked off at The Poor Relation on Thursday 25th August to begin the festivities which include two headline concerts from Laoise Leahy and Karen Underwood at City Hall, a live soul train and a block party on Cornmarket Street over the course of the weekend.
Picture: Alison Miles /OSM PHOTO
Pictured Sinéad Dunphy, Festival Director and Tom Dominic McHale, Blackrock, Cork.
Picture: Alison Miles /OSM PHOTO
Soul Fest, Ireland’s only soul music festival returns August 26th – 28th with a jam-packed programme of soul, funk, food, drinks and entertainment taking over the city of Cork to see our summer out with a bang! With headline concerts in city hall and around 20 venues taking part across the city, as well as a live Soul Train, a Block party and pop up performances, Cork is in for a treat!
Eventi Management, led by acclaimed Festival Director Sinéad Dunphy brings Soul Fest and Cork’s own soul back to full throttle in association with Island’s Edge and with support from Cork Heritage Pub Trail, Cork’s Red FM and Cork City Council. Ms. Dunphy spoke with much enthusiasm of the festival, saying “ This is the ultimate party festival – and we want the people of Cork to come get their groove on with us, both day and night. Soul Fest has something for everyone and we want this Festival to be enjoyed by as many as possible, ensuring this Festival is made in Cork, made for the people of Cork and will always keep Cork city at its heart, we can think of nowhere else that has such Pure Soul!!”
As a pre-opener to the Festival, a soul selection taster event will be held at the Poor Relation on Thursday evening with some surprise guests getting everyone in the mood for the weekend ahead. The Festival officially kicks off on Friday 26th August with a live soul train grooving its way through the streets of Cork for all to enjoy. So, get your best moves ready to join this troop of groovemeisters as they rile bystanders of the People’s Republic with the finest moves, party-hearty enthusiasm and soulful mischief.
On Friday evening Laoise Leahy will kick off all things live and soulful with her big band in Cork City Hall bringing the majestic venue back to its groovier life, not seen since before the pandemic. Laoise’s rich tones will have ticketholders entranced while unveiling her highly anticipated album. The evening with Laoise will be opened by a new and upcoming soul songstress on the Cork music scene Briony O’Toole, who’s tipped to be one to watch in the coming months on her emerging rise as a soul and jazz vocalist. Briony who originally trained under Laoise at MTU Cork School of Music is set for a bright future.
With such strong talent leading the charge for the weekend, Soul Fest is set up for a weekend of incredible experiences, and with a busy trail of pubs and venues on the programme, we’re only reassured of this fact. Soul Fest 2022 is brought to you by Eventi Management and in association with Island’s Edge and with both companies keen to deliver on the ultimate social experience in all that they do, over 20 venues are taking part in the Soul Fest trail, promising, groovy tunes, soulful food and drinks along with the very best that Cork has to offer. Details of all participating venues can be found on the soulfestcork.com website to make sure you don’t miss out!
With support from Cork Heritage Pub Trail, Saturday kicks off with a soulful brewery tasting tour at Rising Sons brewery with an accompanying special soul food bites on offer at the local brewery – booking is required and can be done so through the soulfestcork.com website. Throughout Saturday we’ll see more groovy tunes and pop events across numerous venues around the city before heading to Cork City Hall for Chicago-born, Soul-diva Karen Underwood and band taking to the stage. With such high acclaim following Karen Underwood, Saturday night of Soul Fest is already a winner for the festival circuit and Cork itself.
And if that all of that wasn’t enough the Sunday of the Festival is set alight with a much-anticipated Block Party on Cornmarket Street with the funkiest, grooviest and soul-shaking bands on the scene taking to the stage throughout the day from 1pm… Although Festival organisers are keeping a lid on the full line-up for the day, Festival Director Sinéad Dunphy told us we can expect the very best of tunes from some incredible bands including The Art Crimes Band, Cosmic Funk, Quangodelic, The Papa Zitas and many more… this is a block party you’ll want to be at…
To close out the Festival, Crane Lane Theatre will host a Festival Wrap Party til late in the popular live music venue making sure that the Festival goes out with a soulful bang with even more live music on offer from 8pm!
For more details on participating venues, and tickets for Cork City Hall concerts, visit www.soulfestcork.com or check out @soulfestcork across social media.
Soul Fest is brought to you by Eventi Management in association with Island’s Edge and supported by Cork Heritage Pub Trail, Cork City Council and Cork’s Redfm.