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Young Kerry musician launches fundraiser to help her collaborate with Grammy winner

Young Kerry musician launches fundraiser to help her collaborate with Grammy winner

Lorraine, who hails from Lyreacrompane, released her first album All That I Can Be back in 2023 before releasing a deluxe edition of the same album earlier this year.
Now she hopes to get back into the studio sooner rather than later on her sophomore outing, one that she hopes to collaborate on with none other than multi-Grammy award-winning musician (14 to be exact) by the name of Ron Block, the last of which came back in 2011 when his band Alison Krauss & Union Station won the award for Best Bluegrass Album.
26-year-old Lorraine is – as well as currently touring with The Hothouse Flowers – in the midst of preparing for her Glastonbury debut on June 28 when she will take to the Acoustic Stage, playing alongside amazing acts that she has loved and admired for years such as Nick Lowe, the Hothouse Flowers, Oisin Leech, Billie Marten, Gabrielle Alpin, and The Henry Girls.
Collaborating with Ron Block on the new album will not come cheap though with Lorraine hoping that, with financial support from the public, she will be able to afford to fly to Nashville in Tennessee.
Lorraine first connected with Ron earlier this year and she said that she is 'incredibly excited' to potentially head to Nashville to 'bring these new songs to life.'
Writing on her Kickstarter fundraiser page, Lorraine had this to say:
'Streaming and the digital landscape of the music industry has made it very hard to sustain a career in music, let alone fund an album. That's why I'm asking for your support to help pay for the creation of this record. I'd be so grateful if you could contribute or share this with someone who might be in a position to do so. You can give as much or as little as you like and you can choose from any of the rewards [on the page].
Lorraine has budgeted that the entire trip will cost about €25,000 (the full breakdown of costs can be found on the Kickstarter page) and she has so far raised almost €5,000.
There are some risks involved for Lorraine in her fundraiser if she doesn't reach her target goal, she said that she won't receive a single penny.
If this fundraiser is successful I will be able to apply for my USA working visa and get to Nashville as soon as possible. I then face the challenge of raising the remaining €5000 through funding applications and gigging. Your help will break the back of the beast and make it possible for me to get started on what will be a really special record,' she said.

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Huge rapper CANCELS all of his gigs for 2025 in emotional post as he reveals secret health battle
Huge rapper CANCELS all of his gigs for 2025 in emotional post as he reveals secret health battle

The Irish Sun

time3 hours ago

  • The Irish Sun

Huge rapper CANCELS all of his gigs for 2025 in emotional post as he reveals secret health battle

ONE of Britain's biggest rappers has cancelled all upcoming gigs and any public events for the rest of the year to focus on his mental health. Advertisement 3 Rapper Bru-C has cancelled all of his gigs for 2025 Credit: Instagram 3 The rapper shared in an emotional post that he was struggling with his mental health Credit: Instagram The hip hop star said, "I was really hoping I wouldn't have to" announce his need to cancel all live shows, including his Glastonbury set, for the rest of 2025. "I'm really sorry to announce I'm going to have to cancel all my upcoming show commitments for 2025/the foreseeable future," he wrote. "Many of you know I've been struggling with mental health issues for some time now and I've tried my best to bury things and keep my life and career moving forward." Bru-C explained that what he'd been going through "has got gradually worse over the last few years and I need to take another step back to try and get back to kind of stable place in my life." Advertisement music He added that it was that "last thing" he wanted to do to let down fans but he needed to take the time to take get his life "back on track." "I know a lot of people will have spent hard earned money to come out to the shows I'm booked at, and I really am sorry for the impact of this decision will have on you all," the rapper continued. "I hope you understand I have to prioritise my own mental and physical health." Bru-C continued: "I want you to know I'm seeking the right help and support, and I take none of this for granted. I just want to be better, when that will be I don't know." Advertisement Most read in Showbiz He concluded by "sending love to anyone... who's struggling right now, don't give up." Other hip hop stars reacted to Bru-C's message with their own words of support. The 15 signs a loved one is struggling with their mental health - and how to help "Brother the tunes you have are timeless. The main stage will always be ready for you! Go well king!" wrote rapper Gardna in the comments section. DJ and musician, Example added: "Take your time man. Focus on yourself. Mad respect for this post. Hopefully it helps others. Love ya x" Advertisement Toddla T, a producer and singer commented: "we love you bro. a show is a show. they aint going anywhere .. you can enter the stage again in the future if u choose.. heal up and come back match fit just like when a baller mash up his ankle… take as long as you need." Help for mental health If you, or anyone you know, needs help dealing with mental health problems, the following organisations provide support. The following are free to contact and confidential: Samaritans, CALM (the leading movement against suicide in men) Papyrus (prevention of young suicide) Shout (for support of all mental health) Mind, Rethink Mental Illness, Heads Together, Bru-C, 33, has been recording and releasing music since 2014, notching up street anthems and boasting huge collaborations with Skepsis on 'Most High' and 'Take It Slow', 'Hide The Ting' with Darkzy & Window Kid, 'What's Going On' with Darkzy, 'Don't Wanna Know' (feat. Hadean), 'Weekend Boys' with Window Kid, Jamie Duggan & Booda, and popular drum & bass single 'Wagwarn' featuring Bassboy. The rapper released his debut album, Original Sounds, in 2019 and two years later signed with Jay-Z's record label, Def Jam. "It began in Nottingham, where I'm from around 2010, after a few years writing grime and trying to get noticed in rap battles, street battles etc," he told The Sun in 2019. Advertisement "Then when my son was born in 2012, I stepped back from the game to earn money working in a clothes shop as well as being a plasterer to help support him, before ending up even deeper into it with a career as a MC and vocalist on the rave scene and doing some events with Flex Records featuring dubstep and bassline." 3 Bru-C was due to play the Arcadia stage at Glastonbury this year Credit: Getty Advertisement

How to stage an Irish music festival: From All Together Now to Beyond the Pale
How to stage an Irish music festival: From All Together Now to Beyond the Pale

Irish Times

time11 hours ago

  • Irish Times

How to stage an Irish music festival: From All Together Now to Beyond the Pale

Tens of thousands of music fans will arrive at outdoor festivals around Ireland this summer, hauling bags stuffed with battery packs and wet wipes for a weekend camping in a field they pray stays dry. It can feel like entering a separate society. Hordes of people mill from campsite to stage to food truck; queues form for everything from toilets to patches of grass; flags and art installations dot the site as community hubs. It can be difficult to imagine the space as anything other than the makeshift city in front of you, but just a few days earlier there will have been nothing in its place. Then, almost as soon as the event ends, logistics planning for next year begins – including, if the festival is growing, how to tweak facilities to cater for more people. A small change can have a big effect. At the end of June, for example, the more than 200,000 music fans who'll descend on Worthy Farm, in southwest England, for Glastonbury will be served by the festival's own reservoir. 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The domino effect may be most significant for these gigantic international events, but attention to detail is paramount at any festival. We asked some key people to tell us how it all works. All Together Now All Together Now: Declan McKenna on the main stage. Photograph: Aiesha Wong First-year capacity of 15,000 people 2025 capacity of 30,000 people Core team of about 15 people About 700 people involved in the build and break phases 3,000-3,500 people work on-site during the live event It takes one day to put up a tented stage at ATN and several days for the main stage For All Together Now , which is set to host 30,000 attendees at Curraghmore Estate, in Co Waterford, over the August bank holiday weekend, planning for 2026 will begin in September. Details are reviewed – access routes can be revised, stages and vendors repositioned, and lighting plans refined. This is the sixth edition of ATN, and capacity has doubled since year one. The festival's core team is about 15 people, but that expands significantly as the event approaches. Up to 700 people construct the site during the build and break phase. (Most stay nearby or commute from home rather than setting up camp, but as the festival gets closer some of them move into camper-vans or tents.) For the live event, that number jumps to between 3,000 and 3,500 people, including traders, security, crew and other staff. All Together Now: Fans enjoying the festival at Curraghmore Estate, Co Waterford in 2024. Photograph: Gareth Chaney 'You get to know the land really well – how the water flows, where the sun hits, the best angles for stage placement, how to avoid sound spill and so on – and we make small improvements every year based on what we've learned,' says Helena Burns of Pod Festivals, which also oversees Forbidden Fruit and In the Meadows. With experience, she says, the organisational process has become smoother. 'Through the years we've added in new external permanent roads for better vehicle access for patrons, relocated vendor lines for better servicing, moved a major stage uphill for better ground conditions should we encounter severe weather, and more. 'While the site layout has evolved since the beginning, we haven't needed to make any major structural changes. The ATN site was designed with growth in mind, which has helped us scale up in a natural way.' All Together Now: Kiamos at the festival in 2024 A tented stage can go up in a day; a main stage takes several days. If cranes or plant machinery are required, trackway has to be laid. Tech production load-ins of sound, lighting and visual equipment happen last, taking another day or two. Logistics determine much of the site's layout, but beyond that there is a big focus on aesthetics. 'Logistics definitely play a part in the placement of installations and stages – we have to consider access, power, sight lines and safety, and so much more – but they don't dictate the creative vision,' Burns says. 'If we love an idea, we'll do everything we can to make it work.' 'We collaborate closely with artists, creative partners and sponsors to shape the festival's look and feel. Everything is installed with purpose – from colourful canopies and light installations to sculptures and projections, we're always aiming to create something new and visually exciting.' Beyond the Pale Beyond the Pale First-year capacity under 5,000 2025 capacity of 12,000 Generator-powered but doesn't use fossil fuels Green efforts are part of festival's agenda – last year only six tents were left behind In its first year at the Glendalough Estate, in Co Wicklow, in 2022, Beyond the Pale had a capacity of under 5,000. 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It's also designed in a way that the campsite is very close to the main arena. I think that's a big plus for punters. If they need to nip back to get something it's not a big hike. It's quite a compact site, and I think that really impacts how people experience it.' Beyond the Pale festival at Glendalough, Co Wicklow Providing power for thousands of people in a concentrated area is difficult, and festivals tend to require generators. In an effort to be greener, Beyond the Pale powers them with hydrotreated vegetable oil, a biofuel. It also uses as much wind-generated battery power as it can, but that's still an expensive technology. Finding a more sustainable mode of power supply and stepping away from generators are high on the agenda for the coming years, Farnon says. 'There is a real movement towards being more efficient with power, and I think there are some exciting things happening in that area. It's a big area for a festival to move in to, because it's going to make such a massive difference in terms of footprint. For most punters and festivalgoers, it's a shadow over the fun of going to a music festival.' Last year Beyond the Pale had 15 stages. The look of the site is important to sponsors as well as organisers. With Glendalough as a backdrop, the goal is to fit in to the environment. 'I think the biggest limitations are temporary structures,' Farnon says. 'They are what they are. They don't have a huge amount of variation, but going back to the functionality and the health and safety, they have the engineers' sign-off. At times you'll see something new come along.' Forest Fest Forest Fest: The Cult on stage at the Co Laois music festival in 2024. Photograph: Brian Bastick 2025 capacity of 12,000 On-site preparations begin 10 days before the festival Five stages on less than 20 acres of land Construction of festival infrastructure takes about 72 hours It takes about 10 days to prepare Emo Park, in Co Laois, for Forest Fest, where capacity matches Beyond the Pale's 12,000. Safety and security are arranged before staging crews arrive, trucking in the larger structures in the space of two or three days. Light and sound crews follow. The site is less than 20 acres, and its five stages are constructed next to each other to minimise walking for guests – Forest Fest positions itself as an event for a more mature audience. 'The focus was and remains always on the quality of the music and the quality of the product,' says Philip Meagher, the festival's founder. 'We never wanted to go to a large-scale event where that gets diluted. We've insisted that the numbers stay at a very manageable level and that all of the facilities – including parking and sites for campervans and tents and so forth – are very convenient to the venue.' Forest Fest: Dexys on stage at the Co Laois music festival in 2024. Photograph: Fionn Mulvey An older audience, Meagher says, tends to be more discerning. There is less focus on decor and more on functionality. The main logistical difficulty for Forest Fest is accessing the site, a problem that has been made much easier over the last couple of years through the building of access roads. That has aided the organisational process as well as helping attendees with additional needs. 'Thankfully the number of wheelchair users and people with accessibility issues, those numbers have been growing year on year for us,' Meagher says. 'I think the word has gone out that we're a very handy, convenient site and it's on the flat. It's all very manageable. Basically, Emo becomes the venue – the village becomes the venue. All the roads are closed off and the whole community gets behind the event and welcomes people. 'Within the venue footprint is our local national school. That facility is made available for disability-access parking. Wheelchair users are able to drive directly in to the site – they're parking up on tarmac basketball courts and they're literally one minute away from the gate in to the venue.' Forest Fest: Some of the crowd at the Co Laois music festival in 2024. Photograph: Brian Bastick Every outdoor Irish festival has to deal with the looming threat of bad weather, and 2023 was a trial for Forest Fest, when storms delayed the arrival of equipment and some camper van guests had to be moved to a site not intended for use. Since then they have doubled down on contingency plans. 'I was being blue-lighted around in the back of a Garda car to farmers in the middle of the night, looking for brown bales of hay and sand,' Meagher says. 'The local community and farmers were unbelievable the way they supported us that year. Only for that support I don't think we would have been able to keep the gates open. It was a learning curve, but I'd never want to go through it again.' Vantastival SoFFt Productions , an arts organisation and production house, has been operating across a range of events for the past five years, sparked by SoFFt Nights, a series of outdoor, socially distanced gigs that it staged during the pandemic. At the centre of a core team of five are Conor Jacob and Natasha Duffy, who each have a wealth of experience in promotion and production management. SoFFt looks after staging and production for Irish events ranging from Live at the Marquee, in Cork, to concerts at the Iveagh Gardens, in Dublin. Duffy is the business's creative director; Jacob is head of design. When we speak they're focused on Vantastival , a weekend music and camper van festival in Louth in September. Regardless of the size of the event, Jacob explains, the process is similar. 'It's really important to always try and think holistically,' he says. 'Whether it's high stakes, with a lot of gear and a lot of people, or something intimate and small, people do inherently recognise when something feels right and when it doesn't. That has to be respected.' SoFFt's work usually involves three tiers of contributors. Outside of the five central figures, any project involves enlisting the help of freelancers and vendors. Beyond that there is a local crew described as the backbone of the production, who are crucial to the physical set-up. Versatility is vital to making the business function. 'On any one job we could be employing 30 people a day,' Jacob says. SoFFt has developed a reputation for events that cater for attendees with additional needs. It has worked with South Dublin County Council on programmes designed for neurodivergent audiences, and Duffy keeps a close eye on emerging trends in the space – she mentions Coldplay's use of vibrating vests to enhance hearing-impaired fans' concert experience. 'One of the first things we did when we were running SoFFt Nights during Covid was set up two different sensory areas for people who were neurodivergent,' she says. 'We had the sensory cave, where we had a neurodivergent artist build a big soundscape, and we turned it into a decompression zone. 'We spent a lot of time marketing that. The outcome was we had a lot more people with children with autism and ADHD at the events, because they knew they were welcome and that we were dedicating time, space and money to making sure the event was inclusive and accessible.' Though they also facilitate larger events, there is something about smaller, independent festivals that ties in with SoFFt's ethos. Logistically, it becomes more possible to attend to the needs of the individual. 'When you're doing something on a smaller scale you become really invested in the audience experience,' Duffy says. 'You become really interested. When they walk on-site, what are they seeing, feeling and experiencing? What sort of interactive, immersive elements might you have? 'Your design becomes so important because it's all about the vibe. It's all about the other people. It's about creating nice nooks and crannies for people to sit around and talk. With the smaller festivals as well, they're very much about community. By the end of Vantastival everybody has met each other and built up a rapport. That's probably one of the reasons it has maintained a loyal audience.'

Lorraine Kelly shows off her real bikini body as she admits ‘I've got a belly'
Lorraine Kelly shows off her real bikini body as she admits ‘I've got a belly'

The Irish Sun

time15 hours ago

  • The Irish Sun

Lorraine Kelly shows off her real bikini body as she admits ‘I've got a belly'

LORRAINE Kelly showed off her real bikini body on her breakfast TV show. The star host was discussing the worries regarding beauty filters on photographs and how they can be used to digitally manipulate and alter how people look. 4 Lorraine Kelly showed off her real bikini body this morning Credit: Instagram 4 She was discussing beauty filters as she compared how she'd look with editing Credit: ITV Lorraine, 65, was discussing the subject with Jeremy Clarkson's daughter, Emily, who is known for her body positivity on social media. And the segment led to Lorraine showing off her own 'real' bikini body in which she admitted: "I've got a belly!" The star showed off her skin in the white two-piece snap taken as she took a dip in a swimming pool during a recent holiday getaway. In order to demonstrate just how easy it is to edit images, a side-by-side image of Lorraine's real body next to her altered bikini snap was flashed up on the screen. Read More on Lorraine Kelly The edited image heavily slimmed down the star and added more definition to her stomach area as well as a much fuller bust and smoother skin. Laughing at the changes, Lorraine squawked: "It just shows you what you can do now. "It depends on what you're using it for. They did it with me, and I looked at it, and I actually laughed! "I thought, crikey!" Most read in News TV Looking back at the unedited image, Lorraine quipped: "That's more kind of normal, I've got a belly, who hasn't?" The ITV star is no stranger to stripping off and regularly wears just a bikini for an open-water swim. Lorraine Kelly struggles to keep straight face in most bizarre interview to date In December last year, she Her wild swim came as she celebrated the success of her novel, The Island Swimmer. 4 The star has never been afraid to strip off to a bikini Credit: ITV 4 The morning TV host spoke candidly about her belly Credit: Rex

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