Singer Emmet Cahill will be at the Irish Center this week.
The big event of the week is the appearance of singer Emmet Cahill who, at 24, is a three-year veteran of the Irish supergroup Celtic Thunder, at Philadelphia’s Irish Center on Wednesday, one stop on his first solo tour of the US. He promises this will be a concert for all ages—with a little comedy thrown in. He’s actually very funny. We know. We talked to him. Read our interview.
But there’s another big story—the annual Memorial Day Irish Festival on Moday at Canstatter’s Club in the Northeast, featuring Derek Warfield and the Young Wolfetones, the Sean Fleming Band, the Bogside Rogues, and the Fitzpatrick Irish dancers. Expect dance and rebel music, kids activities, great food and drink.
Also on Wednesday, The Script, a band from Dublin, will be playing The Electric Factory in Philadelphia. Frontman Danny O’Donoghue was a coach on The Voice UK Seasons 1 and 2 before leaving the show in order to focus more on the band and their 2014 tour.
On Friday, Irish country singer T.R. Dallas will appear at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Newtown Square. Wear your dancing shoes.
Looking ahead, the annual AOH Notre Dame Div.1 Irish Festival starts on June 5 and runs for three days. On June 6, there’s a full immersion course in Irish language at the Irish Center. You can learn to say more than “erin go bragh” and “slainte.” Then on June 7, it’s the free Irish Festival on Penn’s Landing, with headliners Blackthorn, Jamison, and the Bogside Rogues, plenty of vendors and food. Consider getting tested for Tay-Sachs while you’re there. Albert Einstein Medical Center is running a study to determine the prevalence of the Tay-Sachs gene among the Irish population. There have been three cases of the inherited disease, which kills babies, in the Philadelphia area, all in Irish-American families.
On May 30 and 31, the Penn Mutual Collegiate Rugby Championships take place at PPL Park in Chester. They’re going the festival route–there will be food trucks, a beer garden, and music, including Jamison Celtic Rock and The John Byrne Band.
Also, look for “Fergie’s Beach,” the pop-up beer garden next to Fergie’s Pub on Sansom Street this summer. Word is there are plans to do away with the parking lot next to the popular watering hole on Sansom Street in Philly and put up a tower (of the apartment not the castle variety). In the summer, Fergie’s owner Fergus Carey turns the lot into an outdoor eating area. We don’t know what the developers are going to call their apartment project. For now, everyone is calling it Fergie’s Tower. Might we also suggest Fawlty Towers?
Check our calendar for details on these events and more.
