Following a high-octane performance at the 2023 Electric Picnic, Mayo act Billow Wood return to Ireland’s biggest music and arts festival at the weekend. And the band has a much-anticipated appearance scheduled for Clare Island Folk Festival the following weekend.
The five-piece Ballina band, which crafts folk, traditional Irish and mainstream music that blends seamlessly with rich vocal harmonies and virtuoso instrumentation, will play two Electric Picnic stages at the 2024 Stradbally, Co. Laois event, the Hazelwood Stage and The Word Stage.
This follows two rare appearances on home turf this summer. First came an intimate, tour de force performance in St. Michael’s Church, Ballina in mid-June, followed by an open-air appearance on the main stage during Ballina Heritage Day a few weeks later.
Earlier in the year, Billow Wood enjoyed an opportunity to feature its music and meet like-minded people at Folk Alliance International, a major showcase event in the United States attended by some of the top people in the folk music industry.
On August 25, the group will play at the Clare Island Folk Festival in Mayo before heading off to Toggenburg, Switzerland for a show on September 7 alongside Scottish band Skerryvore.
Billow Wood is comprised of founding members Mark O’Donnell (fiddle, guitar, vocals) and Harry Lawlor (harp, guitar, vocals), together with Andy Dempsey (drums, keyboards, vocals), Emily Donoghue (mandolin, guitar, vocals) and Aodan Cronin (accordion, vocals). Former member Brid O’Donnell will perform with the band for the Electric Picnic shows.
Celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, Electric Picnic was traditionally held on the first weekend of September every year, but has moved to August for the 2024 event, running from August 16-18. The festival has already sold-out for this year.
It was once voted the Best Medium-Sized Music Festival in Europe, and has hosted some of the world’s biggest music acts over its 20-year history. Rage Against the Machine, Kraftwerk, Billie Eilish, The Strokes, The Chemical Brothers, Arctic Monkeys, The Killers and Bjork have all played there, with Calvin Harris, Kodaline, Kylie and Noah Kahan topping the bill this year.
