Belfast Music Tourism Launch with The Answer, The Lowly Knights & Gary Lightbody’s Mum

June 23, 2010 No Comments

Last week, MLM were down at the Oh Yeah Centre, witnessing the launch of Belfast’s Music Tourism initiatives with entertainment in the form of a Lowly Knights acoustic set and The Answer…

Words By: Matt Wheavil  Photography: Peter Stuart

The Oh Yeah Centre is a great place if you’re into music in any shape or form. In fact, get down there now if you haven’t already and check out their nostalgic little exhibition of Northern Ireland’s Music Scene.

The exhibition is one of the first new initiatives for music tourism in Belfast.

In essence, it showcases the history of Northern Ireland’s music scene from the 1900s to the present day, brimming with wonderful, nearly forgotten stories, photographs, quotes and best of all, vintage guitar relics from the likes of The Undertones, ASH and Snow Patrol.

Had this been the only music tourism initiative Belfast was working on, I woud have already felt impressed, but there’s more:

A new Belfast Rock ‘n’ Roll Bus Tour, which will take tourists around the venues and alternative hot spots of Belfast, providing a visual reference of the city’s rich musical history i.e. which band did what, when and where.

There’s one reason alone why this is a great idea – have you ever invited your friend or girlfriend from somewhere else in the UK to Belfast and sat wondering what to do before thinking ‘bugger it, we’ll go on the tour bus?’

Now you’ll probably feel just a bit better about yourself uttering the words, “want to check out the rock ‘n’ roll bus tour instead?”

Or is that just me?

There’s also a new website – http://www.belfastmusic.org/ , which includes a Belfast gig guide and finally, the Belfast Music iPhone app – it’s free and includes a handy map, so you’ll never get lost, even when you’ve had a drink too many.

So with all that information thrown at you now, try to keep your head intact – here’s how the launch night went:

Proceedings began rather formerly with some important Belfast folk making speeches, including the Lord Mayor of Belfast, Pat Convery, and Oh Yeah Chief Executive (and former NME deputy editor), Stuart Bailie. Here’s the highlights:

John D’arcy Snr – Chairman of the Oh Yeah Centre

“It’s a real pleasure for the Oh Yeah music centre to launch Northern Ireland’s music tourism initiatives… many of you were here 3 years ago when we had our first open day… a huge warehouse coming down with dust, no space but lots of ideas, particularly from the music community, lots of enthusiasm and passion to take forward the Northern Ireland Music Industry.

3 years on we have terrific partnerships with people like Belfast City Council. We have seen bands grow and develop, we have seen businesses start – we’re now very proud to have this building – a tremendous space for Northern Ireland’s musicians.

Northern Irish bands are making a tremendous impact, locally, nationally, and globally and if you were lucky enough to be at Ward Park you can see the potential that this small part of the world has.”

Councillor Pat Convery – Lord Mayor of Belfast

“The launch of our Music tourism initiatives celebrates our youthful heritage. It has been a remarkable 10 years for Belfast. Ours is a city that has truly risen from the ashes.

We have an ever growing number of visitors – last year over 9 million visitors, a staggering 30% increase on 2008 figures.

Music and musicians, solo artists and bands are often someone’s first introduction to the unique appeals of our country we are aiming to capitalize on this.

Music is a key part of our cultural offering and foreign and domestic tourists now spend in excess of £100 million on cultural and recreational events in Northern Ireland each year. Belfast Music receives high international praise and our latest generation of musicians are playing a crucial role in revitalizing the city.

Our city is now lit up throughout the year with a fantastic packed calendar of events – every night of the week our venues are busy with local bands, DJs, traditional musicians, orchestras, jazz players and song writers. Increasingly this is an art form that is defining the new mood in Belfast and our new initiatives aim to profile and promote Belfast as the birthplace of great music.”

Stuart Bailie – Oh Yeah Centre Chief Executive

“We’ve had both the French Government and San Diego Executive coming to us for advice on how to set up a music centre, which is kind of hilarious, given that six months ago this was in my mind a phenomenal idea, which has only just started to come together.”

Now it was the turn of some of Northern ireland’s finest musicians to entertain us.

I unfortunately missed most of The Lowly Knight’s set but for a good reason -  it turned out I had unknowingly sat at the table of Gary Lightbody’s parents. Once the Belfast Music tourism speeches were over I asked, what looked to me like two ordinary elderly folks, who they were  – “we’re Gary Lightbody’s Mum and Dad.”

I decided this was too good an opportunity not to pose a question of some sort and the only one I remember asking probably verged on the offensive. Luckily for me, Lyn Lightbody had a sense of humour:

“So, apparently Gary said he made a bad noise for six years?”

“Yes, but mostly in the basement and sometimes we had to stomp our feet to let him know”

Fantastic, I thought. Any guitarist will have been there in their teens, and to have heard that Gary’s family was no different from mine warmed me to her instantly.

Before parting ways, I discovered the word she liked to describe her son most with was ‘humble’ and that Gary’s forthcoming solo project includes a couple of REM tracks.

A little surprised at the conversation I’d just had, I realised music was playing in the background – The Lowly Knights! Luckily, I caught the last two songs of a five track acoustic set – ‘This Other Boy’ and ‘Devotion.’

The band’s instruments consisted of a double bass, tambourine, guitar and basic drum kit. Even with an unplugged rig, the Knights somehow managed to produce a huge sound that went far beyond the term ‘acoustic.’

The rhythm section pulsated with an infectious beat, carrying an upbeat Celtic vibe that had some audience members dancing and others nodding appreciatively.

The enthusiasm and passion present in the band’s performance made it impossible not to shake a few limbs in response.

‘Devotion’ made for a fantastic closer, with what sounded like a xylophone threading beautiful melody through what was ultimately a percussive delight for the ears. Who said acoustic sets have to be stripped down and minimalist?

My brief encounter with the Lowly Knights left me refreshed and ready for some classic rock from The Answer. At least that’s what I thought.

Within five minutes, they’d set up and had enough hair and swagger to suggest they’d been transported from the glory days of 1970s hard rock.

Their sound was straight out of AC/DC’s book too – never mind the old spinal tap joke of turning the amp to 11. The Answer were turned to 12.5, blowing not only my eardrums from their sockets but the roof off the Oh Yeah Centre.

As much as I feared for my hearing, I loved every minute of their performance – thick and heavy ballsy distortion, stage presence oozing charisma and sick guitar solos.

The crowd enjoyed every minute of the band’s set, (highlights being the raw attitude of ‘Under the Sky’ and riveting guitar licks of ‘Come Follow Me’), sharing their relentless enthusiasm by throwing plenty of rock ‘n’ roll hand shapes and head banging en mass.

If you want a nostalgic throwback to the live ecstasy of AC/DC, Thin Lizzy, Led Zeppelin or the old Guns ‘n’ Roses, these guys have ‘answered’ the call. Thumping good hair rock.

Failing that, check out the Oh Yeah Centre for a nostalgia fix.

All images above are subject to Copyright terms which are as follows:
(C) Peter Stuart  – All Rights Reserved. If any person wishes to use this content for publication, they must request permission from Peter Stuart, who can be reached by contacting: photography@musiclinkni.com

Reviews