
Temple House Festival 2011
Friday 10th to Sunday 12th June 2011Temple House, near Ballymote in Co Sligo, Ireland, Ireland
120 euros for 3 days, including camping
daily capacity: 5000
last updated: Thu 2nd Jun 2011
Declan O'Rourke, for me, was the highlight of the festival, and for an artist of his talent, he remains vastly underappreciated. Entrancing from his very first song 'Be Brave and Believe' from his new album 'Mag Pai Zai', he had the audience in awe of his brooding melodies. The very same song perfectly typifies O'Rourke's unique singing style of prolonging words and notes, particularly at the end of lines. His voice and the fashion of his songs might immediately prompt comparison to Rufus Wainwright, but his voice is more raw and earthy, more honest and heartfelt.
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As evident from his performance, O'Rourke is an accomplished musician, often playing a variety of instruments both live and in studio. The crowd's favourites appeared to be two hits off his 2004 album 'Since Kyabrum' 'Sarah' and 'Galileo', although I particularly enjoyed three songs of his new album, the previously mentioned 'Be Brave And Believe' together with 'A Little Something' and 'Lightning, Bird, Wind, River, Man'. Accompanying O'Rourke on stage and throughout his Irish tour was an American singer-songwriter Ari Hest, who performed one of his own songs, entitled 'Place Unknown', and played alongside O'Rourke for a few others. While difficult to judge Hest's talents based on one song, he certainly proved himself worthy of researching- a prospect I'll leave open to you.
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review by: Ferdinand Dakota
photos by: Andrew McLaughlin
Temple House Festival 2011
Friday 10th to Sunday 12th June 2011Temple House, near Ballymote in Co Sligo, Ireland, Ireland
120 euros for 3 days, including camping
daily capacity: 5000
last updated: Thu 2nd Jun 2011
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