Top Irish acts ready for Oldcastle's 11th Le Cheile festival

Republic of Loose, Cathy Davey and The Blizzards are just some of the acts playing the 11th Le Cheile festival this August bank holiday weekend in Oldcastle. Mullingar indie band The Blizzards take central stage at Creans on Friday night, 1st August on the The Phantom 105.2 Stage. The Blizzard"s 2006 debut album, "A Public Display of Affection", re-entered the charts in 2007 where it remained in the Top 50 for eighteen weeks. Earlier this year saw them win Best Live Performance category for their Oxegen 2007 performance at the Meteor Awards. The band is hard at work making their as yet untitled second album, working again with legendary US producer Michael Beinhorn. Support on the night is by The Flaws, and Cowboy X. Saturday 2nd August 2nd sees Creans has another incredible line up with The Republic of Loose headlining at Creans. Their 2004 debut album "This is the Tomb of the Juice" saw them emerge as one of the most exciting live acts in the country, quickly garnering a sizable and loyal fan base. Mesmerising live performances led to tour support with The Zutons, Scissor Sisters, Alabama 3, Fun Lovin" Criminals, Snow Patrol, as well as festival appearances at Glastonbury, T in the park, The Fleadh, and Oxegen. Singles such as "Comeback Girl" and "You Know It" were massive radio hits. The second album "AAAGH!" entered the Irish charts at number two to critical acclaim while their latest album "VOL IV: Johnny Pyro And The Dance Of Evil" has been hailed by Hot Press as 'another excellent album from one of the best bands in the country'. Supporting The Republic of Loose on the night are Robotnik and Simon Fagan. Also on Saturday night catch Damien Dempsey in Caffrey"s Red Room where he performs tracks from his new album, "The Rocky Road" , which features guest performers John Sheahan and Barney McKenna of The Dubliners and Sharon Shannon. Following on his Best Irish Male awards at the 2006 and 2007 Meteors he was back on the Meteor podium in 2008 to collect best Folk/Traditional prize. Sunday night sees Cathy Davey, winner of best Irish female at the 2008 Irish Meteor awards, 2007 album "Tales of Silversleeve". The mercurial singer/songwriter of dreamtime pop music, was destined to create little else but art and music. She has not, she maintains, the memory for doing anything else. What she means is that from an early age she was unable (or, possibly, unwilling) to enter into conventional modes of expression. Although her parents are creative types (her mother is a sculptor, her father a musician/composer), it"s likely you won"t find Cathy egoistically extolling the virtues of the artiste"s life. Such a carry-on was sucked out of her many years ago due to her dyslexia and more recently by her hard won common sense. Supporting Cathy Davey will be the Navan four-piece rock outfit The Dolldrums and The Kinetics. The festival also has an arts programme, which opened last night (Tuesday) when Peter Fallon and Thabi Madide hosted a literary evening in the library. Caffrey"s Red Room will be the venue on Friday night for comedy with "The Craic" at 8pm while the art exhibition, "A Womb of One"s Own", opens that evening in the library at 7.30pm, followed by a traditional music session in the Fincourt with Pat Tierney and Friends. Sunday"s programme will open with a Meath Arts Group exhibiton in the Masonic Hall from 2pm, while The Craic II will perform in Caffrey"s Red Room at 8pm, an hour after street entertainment with Paul Gleeson, Seamus McJuggler, Rivendell fire and drums and other artists gets going at The Square. For programme updates check out www.myspace.com/lecheile or www.bebo.com/Le-Cheile-2008.