Latest news with #CianDucrot
The Irish Sun
10 hours ago
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
‘Gutted' say revellers as popular Irish summer festival with major artists ‘taking a break'
FANS have been left "gutted" as the popular seaside festival has announced it will not be returning this summer. 5 The festival has grown from a few hundred people to selling out to 5,000 right on the beach front Credit: 5 Festival-goers came from all over to enjoy the waves and music Credit: 5 Crowds enjoyed artists like Bastille, The Coronas and many more Credit: The festival that started in 2008 is "taking a break" this year. In a post on Facebook, organisers said: "Sorry for having been so quiet on here. "But we have some news. Sea Sessions is taking a break in 2025. The crew are working away on exciting plans and hope to be back to you with more information soon. READ MORE ON TRAVEL "Thanks for your support, the good wishes and all the messages." Many lovers of Sea Sessions flooded the comments with their disappointment at the recent news. One fan said: "Gutted, but hopefully bigger and better in 2026." Another echoed: "Lots of festivals taking a break & waiting for a turn around in trends. Most read in Beach "The bottom line is people don't have the same amount of disposable income with the high living costs in this country….. and it's only getting worse by the year. "I've seen the changes in trends in the bar & venue the last 4/5 years… scary…." Waterpark to have Wave Festival this summer Organiser Ray O'Donoghue has formally stepped down from his role with the Donegal-based Sea Sessions Surf and Music Festival. He has told the public that he is taking time to dedicate himself full-time to supporting and developing Dublin's night-time culture. He said: "Sea Sessions has been a huge part of that journey, and I've loved seeing it grow into one of the country's best-loved festivals. "But now, I feel the time is right to focus fully on my role with Dublin City Council. "I'm excited to play a part in reimagining how the city comes alive after dark - with safer, more inclusive, accessible, and vibrant options for everyone." Over the years, the popular surf and music event has hosted many famous artists. With last year's line-up including Cian Ducrot, Johnny Marr, Jazzy, Jake Bugg, Amble, Kingfishr, Jerry Fish and Lea Hart. In 2012, The Coronas, one of Ireland's biggest bands of recent years, saw a packed out Main Stage tent. Even the president was in attendance as he enjoyed the music among the huge crowds. Artists like Bastille, Tinie Tempah and even Dizzee Rascal have all taken to the Donegal stage over the last few years. Fans shouldn't be too worried as the 5 The festival is a blend of good music and surfing Credit: 5 Sea sessions is a famous music and surf festival in Bundoran, Donegal Credit:
Sunday World
18-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Sunday World
Grammy winning Irish musician Cian Ducrot says girlfriend is his ‘rock'
Cian Ducrot says his partner Sofia Jane is the inspiration for his songs Grammy winning Irish musician Cian Ducrot admits his girlfriend has been his 'rock' for the past five years. And the Cork singer admits many of his best-selling songs are about Sofia Jane Cunningham, a fitness coach from Eastbourne in England. The couple live in London and Sofia regularly shares her workouts on social media, as well as holidays and events with Cian. 'I met Sofia very early on in the pandemic and we have been together almost five years and she is definitely my rock and my muse,' Cian (27) tells the Sunday World. Sofia Jane and Cian have been together for years 'A lot of the music that I write is about her and inspired by her and the feelings that I have for her. She has taught me so much about life and she reminds me constantly to be grateful, and to take things in. 'She is very much my other half in all of this and we travel the world together, and she loves music.' Cian's track All For You was regularly used on Love Island in 2022, bringing the Douglas star to a whole new audience. Crowned 'When I was in boarding school I watched a bit [of Love Island] with some friends for fun and then I kind of didn't watch it at all,' he recalls. 'Then I randomly decided to watch it that year, when my song on it, which was very kind of random. 'To my surprise, the one night I wasn't watching it, because I was out for dinner with my friends, I leave dinner and my phone is blowing up with 'oh my God your song was on Love Island' It's crazy, very mad.' Cian Ducrot with the Grammy he won for co-writing Saturn Cian's first album Victory featured not only All For You but also I'll Be Waiting, while his upcoming album Little Dreaming will be released in July. The hitmaker nabbed a Grammy for his contribution in co-writing SZA's song Saturn, which was crowned Best R&B Song, while earlier this year he also sang the Irish and French national anthems prior to the Ireland/France game in Dublin's Aviva stadium. Cian's dad is French and his mum is Irish. Tonight Cian can be seen on Virgin Media's Secret Headliner, where a couple of hundred people were invited to a gig, not knowing who the artist was until they walked out on stage. 'I knew there would be people there that would be hopefully excited to see me and surprised, and then I knew that there was obviously people who didn't know who they were going to see and probably weren't fans of mine,' he reflects. 'And maybe have never been to a show before and possibly would have never have come to a show or even bought tickets to come to see me. 'It was a really exciting thing again to hopefully be able to win them over and give a show that these new fans maybe would be able to enjoy, and I think that's really exciting to try and win people over, it adds another element to the gig.' Sofia Jane Cian was inundated with requests for support acts and gave the slot to rising Sligo singer Paddy Keyes. 'Paddy just had this thing that stood out to me, that made me feel something and it was kind of that instinct and gut feeling where I just felt it,' he says. Cian was also picked as the headline act for the New Year's Eve celebrations in Dublin Castle to ring in 2025, and his success in recent years is a far cry from his appearance on BBC's The Voice nine years ago when none of the four judges turned for him. 'The Voice was one of those early moments for me where I was kind of up on a high and I fell down from a high... that has happened many, many, many times since, maybe less publicly than something like The Voice,' he reveals. 'We only learn from our failures anyway, so I think if you're just successful all the time you'll never get anywhere.'
Irish Examiner
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Win tickets to Cian Ducrot at Live At The Marquee, plus VIP Lounge access, an overnight stay and a chauffeur-driven transfer
As a valued Irish Examiner subscriber, we're excited to offer you an exclusive chance to win a Live At The Marquee VIP experience. The competition prize includes a pair of tickets to see Cian Ducrot at the Cork venue on Sunday July 20, and VIP Lounge access. You will also win a luxury night away on the same evening, where you will stay at the award-winning Montenotte Hotel, enjoying a pre-concert dinner for two in their Panorama Restaurant and breakfast the next morning. And to top it off, you will be taken to the Marquee courtesy of Michael Turtle Chauffeur Services, and dropped back to the Montenotte following the show. This is exclusive subscriber content. Already a subscriber? Sign in Subscribe to access all of the Irish Examiner. Annual €120€60 Best value Monthly €10€4 / month Unlimited access. Subscriber content. Daily ePaper. Additional benefits.
Irish Daily Mirror
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Daily Mirror
Cian Ducrot - Secret Gig: It's brilliant, where is it on, how to catch it
Cian Ducrot fans are in for a huge TV treat this weekend. The Cork-born Grammy winning Ducrot, one of the biggest-selling Irish singer-songwriters of all time was filmed 'live' at a secret Irish location earlier this year. The gig features his smash hits singles 'I'll be Waiting' and 'All For You' from his first album Victory. The show also highlights songs from his forthcoming album Little Dreaming, set to be released in early July. It has been a hectic 18 months shooting from near obscurity to stardom for Ducrot, his hit singles triggering appearances at big name festivals worldwide. Moving from busking to headline shows, he has wowed 70,000 people at Electric Picnic, played all across the UK including Wembley, Europe, USA and Canada. But don't be fooled, he grins, if you think a record deal and one album makes it is as simple as just walking out in front of a waiting, adoring and loving crowd - you'll be waiting. Because this Grammy Award winner admits has had his fair share of highs and lows on tour this last while but the important thing is to keep smiling - if you can't laugh it would kill you! "You learn so much in terms of adapting to venues, performance space, audience reactions, kind of facing up to nerves, playing for people who maybe don't really care. "There is a lot of difficult situations when you tour and when you play shows and festivals that not a lot of people think about. "A lot of people see, okay, there's an artist, they've had a successful album or successful songs and have all the touring and it all looks amazing. "But everyone knows social media isn't real life and everyone knows that, yet we forget. "Everybody probably thinks we're all out there having the best time ever but I talk to my artist friends and I'd say how was your festival run, and how was that show, it looked amazing? "And they are, like, it was the worst thing ever, nobody cared or everyone was so loud, everyone went to watch a different artist or whatever and it's not like the easiest thing to face up to." What doesn't kill you makes you stronger! "I was in Scotland last year and put up on stage at the same time as the biggest Scottish artist of the year who is playing on another stage. "You might as well go play in your kitchen to your mum - there's nobody there and you just have to perform like there are, whatever, 10,000 people there and these things are very difficult and they happen constantly throughout your career. "It doesn't matter you might be huge in Europe or big in America or big in Australia and then you'll go to some random place and people may just have never heard of you and you have to face up to it." Still, it helped to have busked, it is a good grounding. "Busking is definitely something that kind of helps you get through awkward situations and I'd recommend all young artists use it as a learning tool. "For a long time, I thought everybody busked, it was one of those things that I thought that every artist I met did when I moved here to London but I soon realised that it wasn't actually that common. "A lot of them obviously have and a lot of the artists that I look up to, especially in Ireland, it's really part of the culture or as a singer-songwriter. "I remember when I had success with All For You and it was the first kind of successful song that I had, and it was still very early on in the song's life, it had kinda just come out and was starting to be successful. Ireland was slow to come around too, there was on time at a non-camping festival. "I was playing at 12 noon in the afternoon and there was eight people in a venue tent that was meant to be filled with, like, 20,000 people. "I remember running out on the stage pretending like there were thousands of people. I just made a joke about it, because there was nothing I could do. "I started the whole set with 'I'll be Waiting and there was nobody there, nobody even knew the song, it wasn't even out at that point. "And then I finished it off with All For You and there were probably 10 people in the tent including my manager and three people from the record label and that was it. "My manager and I, we got on the flight home, and we were laughing and I got to the airport and the girl at the check-in desk was like, 'Oh, aren't you playing at Forbidden Fruit Festival?' and I'm 'Yeah, I played this morning at 12am'. "But I was thinking it's 12pm and I'm heading home and it was like, nobody even knew that it was on, no one was even there, it was raining." You have to just face it, laugh it off, put it down as paying your dues. "Then a couple of months later, I played on the main stage of Electric Picnic in front of 70,000 people and so you kind of just have to be, hopefully it's not gonna be like this forever and things do change. "But those things, some of it doesn't matter, I could play 70,000 people at Electric Picnic or 20,000 in St Anne's Park and I could still go somewhere else and there might not be anyone show up or and these are things that I think busking gives you courage and helps you realise. "Like you'll be singing your heart out on the street and one person comes up to you and they say 'that's the most amazing thing I've ever heard 'Your voice is so beautiful, please sing at my wedding...' and others might walk past you and tell you to shut up! "So it's just opinions are so different and busking does really help you realise that, help with you shaking it off." Cian Ducrot features in Virgin Media Television's brand-new three-part music series, The Secret Headliner, which kicks off at 8pm Sunday on Virgin Media Play and Virgin Media One.
The Irish Sun
09-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
I've had horrendous times with 8 people in tent for thousands before huge change weeks later, breakout Irish star says
IRISH pop star Cian Ducrot has called on the music industry to keep smaller concert venues open. The singer's career skyrocketed after his song All For You trended on Advertisement 3 Cian Ducrot's career skyrocketed after his song All For You trended on TikTok Credit: Redferns 3 His rise in popularity led to a spot touring with Ed Sheeran Credit: Getty It led to a spot touring with But he still remembers playing small shows when no one knew who he was. He said: 'They're probably the most important venues that we have, those smaller venues. The big moment of many artists' careers is getting to play those venues for the first time. 'When you first play the bigger venues, it's obviously special. But they aren't your first shows. Advertisement Read more in Showbiz 'The moment where your life begins to change is at those smaller venues, because suddenly you can fill a room. Maybe you can fill it one night or a few nights, or you're doing a whole tour of rooms that size. 'I think without them, it would be detrimental to artists' careers and it wouldn't allow us to develop such great live music.' Cian is part of a new It shows music fans going to a small venue in Ireland with no idea who will be performing, while each headliner gets to choose a support act from the thousands who applied. Advertisement Most Read in The Irish Sun Latest Latest Cian said the small venue and surprise elements were a huge pull for him to be involved. He added: 'I love the idea of going back to a small, intimate venue and playing for people who didn't know what they were going to. I like the idea of surprises, so I think it just made a lot of sense. 'Ed Sheeran lookalike replaces ring girl on Chris Eubank Jr vs Conor Benn undercard' 'And I loved the idea, choosing a support act. And I loved the excitement behind it and the mystery and stuff. And that for me was definitely a big reason to do it just for the fun of it, really.' And the Advertisement He said people can assume that they have had big crowds, and sell out shows, when it can be hugely different. He said: 'I've had some horrendous situations, where you're in, I don't know, you're in 'And these things are very difficult and they happen constantly throughout your career. It doesn't matter. You might be huge in 'ALL FOR YOU' SUCCESS 'And I believe that busking is definitely something that kind of helps you get through that. And I remember when I had success with All For You and it was the first kind of successful song that I had and it was still very early on in the song's life. Advertisement 'And it kind of just come out and it was starting to be successful and I was booked for a festival in Ireland and I was playing at 12 in the afternoon and it was a non-camping festival. 'And there was like eight people in a tent that was meant to be filled with like 20,000 people. And I remember singing, I started the whole set with I'll Be Waiting and there was nobody there. 'Nobody even knew the song, it wasn't even out at that point. And then I finished it off with All For You and there was probably like 10 people in the tent including my manager, three people from a record label. And that was it. And I remember running out on the stage pretending like there was thousands of people. 'I just made a joke about it because there was nothing I could do. And my manager and I, we got on the flight home and we were laughing and I got to the airport and the girl at the check-in desk was like, 'Oh, aren't you playing at Forbidden Fruit Festival?' Advertisement 'And I was like, 'Yeah, I played this morning at 12pm and I'm heading home.' 'NO ONE THERE' 'Nobody even knew that it was on. No one was even there. It was raining. They were all outside of the festival. "And it was one of those things where I was like, well, it kind of just builds you and you have to just face it and laugh it off. And a couple of months later, I played on the main stage at Electric Picnic and there was like 70,000 people. 'And so you kind of just have to be like, you know, hopefully it's not going to be like this forever. Advertisement "Things do change, but those things, it doesn't matter. You know, I could play 70,000 people at Cian Ducrot features in Virgin Media Television's brand-new three-part music series, The Secret Headliner, which kicks off at 8pm on Sunday on Virgin Media Play and Virgin Media One. 3 Cian is part of a new Virgin Media show starting this weekend Credit: Getty
