Celtic festival Archives - Sliotar - Celtic music from Ireland

Sliotar Tour Update 3

August 1, 2018 by sliotar

Celtic festival, Celtic music, Lughnasad, Patreon, Prazdniny v Telci, Sliotar

Wow! What a tour. I am back in the Sliotar headquarters (my small 3 square meter home office) sipping coffee and looking back of the whirlwind that was this summers tour. It is time for the final Sliotar Tour Update 3 from this summers tour.

Lughnasad

Last when I left you I was just about to head to the festival grounds of the Lughnasad in Nasavrky. It turned out to be a fantastic weekend! The show at the Lughnasad was the only show on the tour that we got some rain. But it did not stop you guys dancing the night away with us at this wonderful Celtic festival. We loved it so much! And once again it was you guys, the audience who made the show for us. We cannot wait for the next time we get to play at this beautiful festival again.

Wonderful thank you to all the organisers at the Lughnasad; you guys made us feel so special. And when we feel special, we play special shows 😉

Prazdniny V Telci

Speaking of special, after Lugnasad it was time to head for Telc. Since the very first time we arrived through the gates of Telc with our old tour bus, Prazdniny V Telci has had a special place in our hearts. In Telc, time stands still, and you forget about the worries of the rest of the world. Milan, his family and all the organisers, run a fantastic festival, which is hard to capture in words. You got to be there, feel it and take it all in. Our show ran into the late hours of Sunday night until we sang the last notes of “I’m not ready.” It was somehow perfect, “I’m not ready to leave it all behind just yet” somehow captured how we felt. The tour had been special, having the new album made it even more special, and you guys made it the best!

Thank you!

Thank you to Karel and everybody at the Zach’s pub, the incredible team of organizers at the Keltska Noc, everyone at the Vagon Klub, and even more so Hakka Muggies for making it happen, all the organizers at the Kurim Castle, the kick-ass team at Lughnasad and our extended family at the Prazdniny V Telci. All of you worked so hard, and we are always in gratitude to you and your work. And last but not least, you guys. If you don’t come to the shows, there will be no more shows. It is hard to put an accurate number on it, but we estimated around 4000 of you guys came to see us during the two weeks. It makes us humble and grateful. We can only hope we lived up to your expectations.

Should we ask for your help?

Now as I sit here and write this, I am looking at the workload ahead of me. We need to set up the webshop for the new album, and the website needs some updating. I have hours upon hours of video material to go through, and hundreds of photos to edit. We are getting ready to gear up for the 2019 tour booking, which is going to take a lot of the next three months. I need to make some music videos for the new album tracks… I think I need more coffee.

In fact, it is starting to feel like we would need a few helping hands to support us to get everything done. But as you might understand based on the size of my small home office, this would require office space, and all of this would add up to a lot more expenses. I have a good understanding of WordPress and can make some nice websites. But having an expert help us would make our site so much better. I also love editing videos; the only limitation is the hours in a day. Mailing CD’s, making T-Shirts, social media… and some booking help would always be welcomed.

As you can see from the above, having a team like that, would not be the cheapest operation, but it would help us grow Sliotar and help us create new opportunities for more tours and more content. So I am asking you guys should we ask for your help? And would you be willing to help us? Maybe we could set up a Patreon campaign? If you don’t know what Patreon is, watch this video.

And I am not trying to make a sad swan song here. The fact is, we barely break even from the tours. I know it looks from the outside when you see us on a big stage that we must be doing well. The truth is, we all need to have other projects and jobs to pay rent and eat. That is why it took us six years to make a new album. I know we are going deep here, but I would like to know if you guys think this would be a good idea. So let us know in the Facebook, Twitter and Instagram comments what you think about it? Would you be willing to help us? Or do you think this is a silly idea and we are asking for too much?

That’s all for now. We look forward to hearing your thoughts. Don’t forget to keep it Celtic!

J.P. from Sliotar

Sliotar 2017 Summer tour

September 11, 2017 by sliotar

Celtic festival, Celtic music, Keltska noc, Keltska Noc Celtic festival, Sliotar, Sliotar 2017 Summer tour, Sliotar Celtic music, Sliotar clan, Sliotar newsletter, Tour documentary, Vagon Club, Zach's pub

As previous Sliotar tours go Sliotar 2017 Summer tour around some of the Celtic and folk festivals in Europe was a short one. At the same time, it feels like Sliotar found their fire once again. The response we got from you guys was amazing. Also as a band, we seemed to be more focused and playing particularly well this year.

Follow our Journey

All of the above is why we now have some great plan for 2017. If you would like to follow this journey and even be a part of it, do us a big favor and join our news letter HERE. We will be explaining to you guys very soon all the details of our plan and how you guys can help us. But let’s just say 2018 is going to be a big year for Sliotar and you do not want to miss it.

Sliotar 2017 Summer tour video

Many of you might have seen this already, but here is a short video from the Sliotar 2017 Summers tour. First of all, we hope you guys like it, but also if you know a festival, event, venue or something else where you’d want to see us next year, share it with them. Sliotar is just a humble band, but our strength is in our followers, and that means you. Together we can spread the word far and wide! You can also watch the video on YouTube HERE

Thank you for lighting up the Moravian night

August 6, 2017 by sliotar

Celtic festival, Hakka Muggies, Keltska noc, Keltska Noc Celtic festival, Moravia, Moravian night, Sliotar, Sliotar Celtic music, Vagon Club, Zach's pub

This summers Sliotar tour was a short, but a great one. We got to play some of our favourite celtic and folk festivals, and even some new ones. Coming back from a tour can be a confusing time for artists. Even after a short tour you are looking forward to seeing your loved ones, but a big part of you don’t want the tour to end. At the same time as soon as you get back from a tour there is a lot of work that needs to be done. The festival season is a great time for us to get new visual material, photos and video. We have been busy collecting all of the material. This task was even more important for Sliotar this year as we have some great plans, but more on those really soon.

As the dust of the tour settles here in Dublin, we would like to take the time to thank the people who helped us make this summer’s tour so great. We’d like to thank all of the wonderful crew behind the Keltska Noc festival for lighting up the starlight Moravian nights year after year and taking such a great care of us. Once again big thanks to Vagon Club for having us and for the wonderful Hakka Muggies for once again organising the night and sharing the stage with us. Zach’s pub in Plzen has become a special place for us. We have had some wild shows in the courtyard with people dancing the night away. This time the weather was not on our side and we ended up playing inside the pub. If any of you know Zach’s pub, you know there is not too much room inside. But that made for a fantastic intimate night, while the rain washed the night away outside. Thank you Karel and all the staff at Zach’s pub once again. Sliotar and Kurim have a long history. We have been playing at the Celtic party night in the courtyard of the old schoolhouse. This time the wonderful Clan Hannigan shared the stage with us. You can read a review

of the show HERE. Bit thank you to all the organisers once again. To our delight we also got an unscheduled show last minute at the Lughnasad in Nasavrky. It was great to see a brand new festival and boy what a festival it was! Big thank you to all the organisers, it was really pleasure to meet you and we hope to see you next year. And then there is Telc. Prázdniny v Telci is a festival that runs over two weeks, and you never want to leave. It is

hard to imagine a nicer way to finish the tour. Telc is a special place and for us to get to play at the courtyard of t

he castle is something we feel very privileged about. Thank you to Milan and the Kolář familyand all the organisers or a such a wonderful weekend. Last but not least Tomas Somr, our hard working manager. Without his continued hard work we would not be doing today what we do.

But beyond anything else, thank you to everyone of you who came to see us during the 2017 summer tour. Sliotar show is nothing without the audience. It is like two way street, we bring our energy to the stage, but we also need your energy to make it a great night. And you guys brought the energy night after night. Thank you!

On the last day of our tour we had a meeting about Sliotar’s plans for the next year, and I can tell you there are some exciting times ahead. If you’d like to be part of our journey, please do sign up to our newsletter HERE.

J.P. from Sliotar

Keltska Noc Celtic festival 2017

July 24, 2017 by sliotar

Celtic community, Celtic festival, Celtic music, Keltska noc, Keltska Noc Celtic festival, Sliotar, Sliotar Celtic music

Keltska Noc celtic festival is the biggest Celtic festival in the Czech Republic. They are becoming fast an important feature in the European Celtic music scene. Last Saturday we performed our 15th show at this wonderful festival. It is always a special show for us as a band. I still remember back in 2002 while we were playing a small local festival in Denmark. We met a blond haired saxophone player who always seemed to have a smile on his face. We made a friend that summer night, and little did we know that our paths would always be twined.

Those of you who have been at the Keltska Noc festival, you probably already guessed that I am talking about Tomas Somr. Tomas is someone we all call a good friend. He painstakingly has built the festival from a small idea to a globally recognised event. With the festival growing, the team around the festival has grown as well. And we feel lucky and honoured to call most of that hardworking team our friends as well. You guys know who you are and I would just like to let you know Sliotar really appreciates everything you guys do!

For those of you who were wondering, yes the power did go at the end of our 2017 show at the Keltska Noc. The thing about festivals is that there is an allocated time slot for every act. And we were only about one minute away from the end of our set. For us to continue after the power got sorted would have taken time away from all of the performers after us, and that would have not been fair. Sliotar considers the musicians, dancers and all the other acts on the European celtic music scene as a community, which we are very proud to be part of. It was us and the organisers who mutually agreed that it was best for us to stop at that point. We hope you guys understand and still enjoyed the show, we had great time! Thank you to Bobbie Šafranováfor the photos from our show!

J.P. from Sliotar

celtic-festival

Sliotar Tour Update 3

Lughnasad

Prazdniny V Telci

Thank you!

Should we ask for your help?

Sliotar 2017 Summer tour

Follow our Journey

Sliotar 2017 Summer tour video

Thank you for lighting up the Moravian night

Keltska Noc Celtic festival 2017