#mchughs

Cong, Co Mayo, Ireland

May 27, 2024

Northern Ireland: Belfast Food

Ireland is not necessarily known for its cuisine. However, that does not mean that we ate badly on this trip at all. While we did have quite a few toasties for lunch, here are some of our dinners. I did make it a point to try things that were different or unique to the area or at least sourced locally. Note: Many Irish restaurants have a list on the menu of where there meat, produce, bread, and…

                                BELFAST MUSIC WEEK

Last week was Belfast music week. Although I was born in Belfast, I live two hours away from there now, in Derry. So I played a total of four gigs, McHughs, the Oh Yeah Centre's Roof and The Black Box (twice), which were all super fun. I've seen a lot of my favorite artists in the Black Box so being able to play a headline show there was beyond cool. At both my Headline gigs I had amazing support from Rachael Austin and Silences at McHughs to Callum (Little Rivers) at The Black Box.    I couldn't have asked for better audience's either, at both of my Black Box gigs everyone was really respectful and quiet, this was interesting considering the second date I played there was sold out on Sunday night, when I was supporting Villagers (A band I've listened to religiously for the past two years) and although I knew, it wasn't announced that I was supporting until the night before the gig when there were no tickets left. The audience had no idea who I was, there weren't there for me, that's why it really surprised me when I began my first song and there was complete silence. Seeing Villagers play live was one of the best things I've seen this year. 

Another highlight of Belfast music week for me was Katy Daley's on the Thursday night. I got to see so many of my favorite Northern Irish bands, RunawayGo, Ryan Vail, A Plastic Rose and Rams' Pocket Radio (pictured above) who played ''Love is a Bitter thing'', my big brothers top song of 2012. Although there was trouble getting into the venue, (due to age restrictions and the fact that I look like I'm eleven) the manager eventually came to talk to us, granted me entry and offered me free juice. It was a shame I missed Katherine Phillippa and The wonder Villains though.

The best thing is that next years music week will be even bigger and better than this years, I'm already looking forward to it.