It’s been too long since we’ve had a gig rig installed on The Parade but that’s the plan for tomorrow as Lords Of Strut, Kilkenny Samba Band, Starlight Stage Productions Pyrotechnix, Joanna Ryde, Von Bizmark, The River Valley Band and more entertain the masses in the centre of Kilkenny from 4pm on St. Patrick’s Day. Music should be starting from 4pm with the parade itself getting underway proper from 2pm. What are the organisers calling it? Well, Twilight, of course.
The green-themed parade, which will be led by Grand Marshal Helen Caroll, will begin at MacDonagh Junction at 2pm and travel the same route as the hurler’s homecoming – down John Street, over John’s Bridge, up High Street, past the reviewing stand at the Tholsel before finishing in the Market Yard. After the parade, a music festival will take place on the new Parade, complete with a ‘Gig Rig’ and a great line up of musicians from 4pm to 7.30pm. There will also be plenty of activity at MacDonagh Junction throughout the day, including music by the St Patrick’s Brass and Reed Band from 1.30pm and the Kilkenny and District Pipe Band after the parade. There will also be singing and dancing by Starlight Stage Productions, Dancewise and the Evelyn White Irish Dancers.
Fans of Von Bizmark will get the chance to hear new single Address The Silence performed in the open, the single and new video being released next month. Busy too are The River Valley Band who will have just enough time to get their city gig done before heading to Thomastown to join in the festivities out there with a night show in the Bridgebrook Arms. From what we know in advance of the running order of tomorrow, there will be two 40-minute sets from both bands with other acts getting from 20 minutes upwards on stage.
There are plans afoot for large video projections during the gigs onto the side of the Eircom building on The Parade but we’ll be keeping our eyes fixed on the music side of things. Fingers crossed too that the weather holds up for what will be the first large scale music production in the space since its redevelopment. Hopefully, it won’t be the last.
