Climb on board the Salty Dog's ship wreck!
Lurching out of the undergrowth, with leafy foliage where y-fronts once were, the Captain of the SALTY DOG digs deep into the memory bank for clues relating to the previous 11 months, and draws a complete blank.
He gives his 40-tonne sea vessel a quick check over – shakes the wobbly mast, tugs a fraying rope or two, evicts several Cosby sheep, gives it a sweep with the yard brush and a squirt of Pine Glade, hoists the sails – ta-da! The Salty Dog rises again. On reflection, it has sunk a little further into the forest floor, but so have his principles.
Climbing on board the shipwreck this year arethe Bronagh Gallagher Band, the sublime David Kitt playing all his hits, the regrouping of 60s experimental folk group Dr Strangely Strange, late night sets from wild retro-man Kormac, stick-chief RSAG, the welcome return to the boat of The Eskies, Stomptown Brass, Prison Love, Buffalo Sunn, Mongrel State, Old Hannah, The Pete Pamf Sextette, the fabulous a cappella men of The Trinitones, and The Square Pegs. The Cronins return with guests including freshly dentured Pogue Shane MacGowan and Mark Greaney (JJ72), Mick Pyro and the Blues Cartel make their nautical debut, as does Glastonbury belle Aine Cahill, Galway favorites My Fellow Sponges, Emma Lou & the Agenda, Leila Jane & the Healers, Indy music maker Gavin Glass, Afro hipsters Manden Express, the wild men of Mutefish, stomping Dundalk melodians Third Smoke, and London’s Five By Five (fronted by Jay Zieseness), singer songwriter Ross Breen, pop duo Sion Hill and Dublin 3-piece Swords, the newly formed Portside Hootenanny…. and two bumper surprise acts that are too secret to share.
Latched on to the festival like a stubborn barnacle, the Salty Dog occupies the moral low ground, provides solace for the insomniac, answers for the confounded, tonic for the parched, and music that shakes the leaves of every tree in the forest.
Full lineup:
Kormac / David Kitt / Dr Strangely Strange / RSAG / The Eskies / Pete Pamf Sextette
Bronagh Gallagher / Gavin Glass / Le Galaxie Soundsystem / Stomptown Brass / Prison Love
Mick Pyro & the Blues Cartel / The Cronins / The Square Pegs / Aine Cahill / Third Smoke
My Fellow Sponges / Ross Breen / Sion Hill / Portside Hootenanny / Swords / Mutefish
Five By Five / Buffalo Sunn / Mongrel State / Old Hannah / The Trinitones / Emma Lou & the Agenda Leila Jane & the Healers / Manden Express