Four bands in Our Thursdays finale in Lavery’s, Belfast
Four emerging Irish acts from 800 hopeful bands took to the stage at Lavery’s in Belfast recently for the Guinness ‘Our Thursdays’ national showcase.
‘Maud in Cahoots’ from Dublin, ‘Reko’ from Kilkenny, ‘Dave Peyton’ from Offaly and ‘Empire Saints’ from Bray in Wicklow all played the main Arthur’s Day celebrations at St James’s Gate Brewery in Dublin, the Savoy in Cork, the Olympia Theatre in Dublin and Folan Quay in Galway respectively.
Judges present at Lavery’s included some of the industry’s top experts such as Jonny Quinn and Tom Simpson from Snow Patrol, Matt Cooke from MTV and Niall Stokes from Hot Press.
Not only did the four bands get the opportunity to take part in this unforgettable experience, they also receive studio time, a digital release from Universal and will find themselves splashed all over the cover of Hot Press magazine in a special feature.
Our Thursdays represented a new dimension to the Arthur’s Day programme which continues the philanthropic legacy of Arthur Guinness. Orla Flanagan, Brand Manager for Guinness, commented, “When we set about developing the programme, we never thought we would get such a huge response, with over 800 Irish bands taking part”.
Maud In Cahoots were chosen to play alongside Snow Patrol at St James’s Gate on the night.