X, Yo La Tengo Join Fleadh Fest Lineup
Reunited roots-punkers X, along with folk-singer Tracy Chapman, indie rockers Yo La Tengo, singer/songwriter Roseanne Cash and others, have signed on to participate in this year's Guinness Fleadh.
These artists join an already bursting lineup for the Fleadh (the Gaelic word for festival, pronounced "flah") that includes Irish singer Sinead O'Connor, political punk-rockers Chumbawamba, Irish traditionalists the Chieftains, no-depression rockers Wilco, blues great John Lee Hooker, ex-Pogues singer Shane MacGowan and others for four June shows in New York, Chicago and San Francisco.
"The Fleadh's center point is Irish music and culture, and also they invite
bands who may have been, in their music, somehow influenced by an Irish
Diaspora," said John Reilly, spokesman for tour publicists Shore Fire Media.
This year's event will include a main stage featuring headlining artists,
along with two other music stages. A fourth area, known as the Irish Village
Stage, will play host to other Irish cultural happenings such as poetry
readings and dance recitals.
In its inaugural year in the United States last year, Fleadh drew
50,000 people to a two-day event at New York's Randall's Island. This
year, the festival returns to that site for two more days of shows on June
13 and 14, with single-day events scheduled for Chicago's Arlington
International Racecourse on June 20 and an as-yet-undetermined venue in San Francisco on June 27.
Other performers slated for one or more of this year's shows include Billy
Bragg, Nanci Griffith, John Cale, Squeeze, Richard Thompson, Los Lobos, Joe
Ely and Black 47.