Over four nights, beginning in winter 2023 and ending in spring 2024, An Táin Arts Centre and The Spirit Store are collaborating to bring you COLLIDE, a series of late night events in which an eclectic mix of Irish musicians will take to the stage of The Spirit Store, Dundalk’s premiere music venue, with support from the best local talent the North East has to offer and produced by an Táin Arts Centre.

Audiences will be wowed by performances from The Bonk, The Altered Hours, John Blek and David Kitt and Joshua Burnside, with support from Clara Tracey, Alice Robinson and Sophie Coyle. Performances are on 14th December, 8th February, 7th March and 28th March.

14th December 2023 |  Doors at 9:30pm, show starts at 10pm | The Bonk with support from Clara Tracey 

The Bonk is an experimental music project led by songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Philip Christie. Taking elliptical rhythms and repetitive ritualistic wordplay as a framework, the group uses improvisation to explore the fringes of traditional forms. Their lives shows have become increasingly in demand “The Bonk are one of Ireland’s most interesting and experimental outfits today” – The Thin Air . The Bonk will be supported by Clara Tracey, Fermanagh Born songstress who cut her teeth performing jazz in Parisian cafes and released her debut album Black Forest in 2022 to great critical acclaim.

8th February 2024 | Doors at 9:30pm, show starts at 10pm | The Altered Hours with support from Alice Robinson 

The Altered Hours are a Cork based rock band whose music explores vast psychedelic spaces, immediate post-punk tones, repetitive rhythms and propelling structures Over the past few years the 5 piece have been headlining tours in the UK & Europe, creating what some journalists have described as a ‘cult-like’ status. The Altered Hour will be supported by local singer songwriter Alice Robinson who creates lyrical vocabularies which critically explore themes of inequality and resistance. Her vocal style drifts, often uneasily, between an intimate tenderness and passionate wrath.

7th March 2024 | Doors at 9:30pm, show starts at 10pm | John Blek and David Kitt Double Bill 

Cork City born and bred singer-songwriter John Blek’s latest album ‘Until the River’s Run Dry” recorded in 2022, is his most substantial and sophisticated record to date. The soaring strings often evoke a Spektor-esq sound, chamber pop backing vocals full of indie spirit paired with a blend of electronic and acoustic drums lead us into a new sonic realm but the heart of the record is Blek’s profound and poetic alt-folk song-writing.

David Kitt is a genre-bending Irish musician and producer. He has announced his ninth studio album ‘Idiot Check’ set for release on 31 March 2023 via RE:WARM. A unique and sincere songwriter with an expert ability to meld inspirations, eras and sounds, Kitt’s music glimmers with a sense of timelessness well-earned after over twenty years immersed in music. Set to land next Spring, his ninth studio album ‘Idiot Check’ sees the artist tap into a diverse range of influences once more, emerging as an ambient and atmospheric record that puts an eclectic experimental spin on traditional folk music.

28th March 2024 | Doors at 9:30pm, show starts at 10pm | Joshua Burnside with support from Sophie Coyle 

Joshua Burnside is an experimental folk songwriter, singer and producer. He takes influence from alternative electronica and Irish traditional song heritages, chopping and blending them with a mixture of found sounds, world music and unorthodox production methods. “Joshua Burnside is the best songwriter in Ireland right now, and probably beyond” – Phil Taggart, Sirius XM “He creates a world and lets us live in it for a while… He’s like going to the theatre” – Mark Radcliffe, BBC Radio 2. Joshua Burnside will be supported on the night by Galway native, Dundalk Based singer-songwriter Sophie Coyle. Sophie Coyle delivers stories carved in her own lore, conjured by her own unique lyrical dynamism. Following up her critically acclaimed first album, she launches her second album “Cuentista” with a nationwide tour in April 2024.

COLLIDE is a late-night collaboration, produced by An Táin Arts Centre in association with The Spirit Store, supported by the Late-Night Events Programme from the Arts Council of Ireland in partnership with Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sports and Media.

Season ticket for all four gigs €50 (plus €1.50 booking per ticket)

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