BellX1 join Galway Arts Festival Line-up

Galway International Arts Festival and Róisín Dubh have announced the return of Bell X1 to the Galway International Arts Festival in 2019. The Irish rock band, who played a sold-out gig at the festival in 2016 following one of the most memorable concerts in festival history in 2011, will play the Heineken Big Top on Friday 19th July.
 
Bell X1 are one of Ireland’s most popular bands, second only to U2 in terms of radio play and, according to Billboard, the second biggest live performers.  The band has also ticked off every possible album type on the list, from the big major label Flash Harry recording session in London town, to the experimental, to the DIY.  
 
They’ve done albums as a five-piece, as a four piece and as a three piece. They’ve mixed up their harmonic and melodic bittersweet leanings with scratchy electronic signals to see what would happen.
 
That experimentation has been recognized and rewarded, with four of their albums nominated for the Choice Music Prize for Irish Album of the Year and three debuting at #1 on the Irish Album Charts.
 
Following a hugely successful 2015 that included a sell-out acoustic tour of Ireland, and playing support to Ed Sheeran at Croke Park, the band returned to the studio to record their 7th album.
 
2016’s Arms is a Bell X1 album in name and breeding, but which sounds like nothing else in their canon. The depth and width, the colours and shades, are familiar, but there’s a new space and sense to the songs which speaks volumes about what the band have achieved.
In what is sure to be one of the best live gigs of the festival, the crowd can expect to hear hits from their canon of critically-acclaimed albums, which include ‘Rocky Took a Lover’, ‘The Great Defector’, ‘The End is Nigh’ and ‘Flame’ amongst others.
 
Bell X1 will play the Heineken Big Top as part of Galway International Arts Festival 2019 on Friday 19 July. Tickets for Bell X1 go on sale on Friday 7 December 2018 at 9am, priced at €35, from www.giaf.ie and roisindubh.net.
 
Galway International Arts Festival 2019 takes place from 15-28 July 2019, with more acts set to be announced in the coming weeks. GIAF recently announced that Indie rock band Two Door Cinema Club will play the Heineken Big Top on Friday 26 July.
 
Galway International Arts Festival would like to acknowledge the support of its principal funding agencies the Arts Council and Fáilte Ireland, its Drinks Partner Heineken and Education Partner NUI Galway.