Day two at When Next We Meet was a sold out affair and catered ideally to the people who wanted a chilled out bank holiday Saturday. The sun was absolutely baking down on Raheen House and the drinks and chat were in full flow when I arrived. There wasn’t a hay bale nor a bench on which to perch available in front of either stage. As the afternoon drew into the evening the crowds packed in for an evening of top class local and national acts.
Eve Whelan who was wearing both the artist and volunteering hats during the festival kicked off the main stage entertainment. This local girl packed a punch with her vocal and songwriting prowess as she drew from her own catalogue and used the time in between to give the audience a feel for the places these songs came from. This proved to draw great reactions from the crowd that had gathered intently at the barrier to watch her set. A lovely nod to the culture of this festival was the reactions of the volunteers to the performances throughout the weekend who showed such rapturous support for all the acts, which of course was even more magnified when it was one of their own on stage. My only complaint of Eve’s set was that it wasn’t longer, the set time absolutely flew and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Eve’s next upcoming show will be in Cyprus Avenue in Cork on June 5th.
Roisin el Cherif was next on the main stage and she performed a great range of ballads notably dedicating a song to artist Moya Brennan who passed away earlier this year. During her set she also announced that she will be releasing album in Oct working having worked on it the last 4 years featuring new music older music and noted that she was really excited to be sharing it soon. Roisin closed out her set with a cover of crowd pleaser Running up that Hill by Kate Bush before thanking the organisers of the festival and announcing she will be featuring in the lineup for Hibernacle Fest in Orlagh House this July.
The Wran were next on and were something else entirely. Tightest of vocal harmonies matched with a driving alt trad vibe to the instrumental components of their set made for a performance to marvel on. Afterwards I found out these Waterford lads were brothers which explained the tightness of the harmonies, no one ever does this better than family groups. They had the crowd go from swaying to full-blown dancing in circles around the pit. Very enjoyable performance.
Susan O’Neill and Mick Flannery closed out the night in pure class fashion and there wasn’t a spare inch to move in across the main stage field as fans of all ages craned their necks to catch a glimpse of these two legends in action. A very enjoyable end to a great day two of When Next We Meet.
Eve Whelan photos:
Roisin el Cherif photos:
The Wran photos:
Susan O’Neill and Mick Flannery photos:
Photos & Words – Lisa Hamilton @lisahamiltonphotography