Acts for inaugural Lakelands Sessions in Mullingar named

Some of Ireland’s favourite music acts will grace Mullingar with their presence on Friday 29th April next. The Academic, Gavin James, The Blizzards and Ellen Sleator have been announced for the debut Lakelands Sessions festival, which will take place in Blackhall, Mullingar.

Forming in their early teens, The Academic are Craig Fitzgerald, Dean Gavin and brothers Matt and Stephen Murtagh, the band have seen an incredible rise since forming, emerging as one of the most exciting live acts on the music scene.

Those early years of grind and graft have only gone to make The Academic one of the most in demand acts around. From their humble beginnings playing local battle of the bands competitions in Rochfortbridge, the Mick Jagger approved four piece have gone on to sell out tours and shows across the world, graced the main stages at some of the world’s biggest music festivals and released a multi-platinum selling album that reached No.1 in the charts.

The Academic’s lead singer, Craig Fitzgerald said “We are so excited to be back playing live music again. We were just about to go out on our biggest ever international tour and then everything just came to a standstill. It’s been a really tough time for everybody but we are so happy that live music is back. We recently played the main stage at Reading & Leeds in the UK to 70,000 people, it was an unbelievable feeling to be back on stage doing what we love. We are so excited for next year and especially excited to be coming back to play our biggest hometown show in April for the Lakeland Sessions. It’s going to be the biggest gig the town has seen in years and we are so excited to have some of our good friends on the bill as well.’’

Irish singer-songwriter Gavin James has come a long way from his early days busking on Grafton Street. His international touring has resulted in 250,000 ticket sales for his headline shows across the world, including two nights at Dublin’s 13,000 capacity 3Arena.

From previous hits such as ‘Always’ and ‘Nervous’ to his more recent releases ‘Sober’ and ‘Man on the Moon’, Gavin’s talents have been embraced by countless big names. He has played shows with Niall Horan, Ed Sheeran and Sam Smith, as well as his own sold-out world tour which started in 2019 and ended with a sold out 3Arena Dublin show, one of the last shows in Ireland before the lock down. Since then he released his ‘Boxes’ EP which went to number 1 in the Irish album and airplay charts last year. Most recently Gavin has released his brand new single ‘Greatest Hits’. Which is already getting radio airplay around the world including Brazil, Switzerland, Portugal, Belgium, France, Germany, Japan, and already Top 10 at radio in Ireland and now added to BBC 2 playlist in the UK.

Music lovers will also be treated to performances from special guests and hometown legends, The Blizzards. The Blizzards are hugely popular throughout the country, but their hometown gigs are ones not to miss. If there were any doubts that the Blizzards return was a definitive one, they've shattered them all. Between an 11 date sold out Back to Basics tour (where they returned to all of the Irish cities in which they originally built their following), an all-time high of Spotify plays, and brand new single 'Show Me The Science', the Mullingar five-piece have made it clear - they're here to stay.

Rounding off this excellent line-up is Ellen Sleator. One of the most exciting and talked about emerging talents in Ireland. Ellen’s debut single ‘Paradise in a Cage’, has been making waves since its release during the Summer. The 21 year-old from Mullingar wrote, produced and performed the single - which got its first radio play on Today FM, with Fergal D’Arcy.

Thomas Nally, event manager, Westmeath Bachelor Festival, said: ‘’We are really excited to announce this stellar lineup for the midlands, with further acts to be announced for Saturday April 29th and Sunday May 1st. The location of the gig is a great one, as Mullingar is smack bang in the middle of the country, making it an attractive and accessible location for music lovers from right across the island. We look forward to welcoming you all for the May Bank Holiday Weekend, 2022.’’

Visit westmeathbachelorfestival.ie for full details and to buy tickets.