Local acts The Whileaways and Darragh O’Dea will be among the support acts for the Big Top concerts at this year’s Arts Festival.

Pillow Queens, Soda Blonde, Hermitage Green, Somebody’s Child and Louis Baker will also be playing support. The headline acts this year are Fat Freddy’s Drop, The Saw Doctors, The Coronas, Pavement, Kaiser Chiefs, Bell X1 and KETTAMA.

New Zealand soul musician and singer-songwriter Louis Baker will support his countrymen Fat Freddy’s Drop on Thursday, July 20. Fat Freddy’s Drop combine techno, house, soul, dub, reggae, funk rhythm and blues and they have built a sizeable fanbase at home and internationally.

Tuam’s finest, the Saw Doctors, will take to the Big Top on Friday, July 21, with support from Headford-based songwriting trio The Whileaways, while Tuam singer-songwriter Darragh O’Dea will precede them on Saturday, July 29. The Saw Doctors haven’t performed at the festival since 2004 and their two shows for this year’s event sold out within minutes of tickets going on sale.

Noelie McDonnell, Noriana Kennedy and Nicola Joyce of the Whileaways each bring their distinctive singing style to the band, with their voices combining to build richly layered harmonies. Meanwhile, Darragh O’Dea’s lyrics are rich in stories, capturing the joy and transience of life.

The Coronas, one of Ireland’s most popular live acts, return to the Big Top on Saturday, July 22. Their support will be Dublin indie-rock/pop’s Somebody’s Child, whose self-titled debut album was released in February.

For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.

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