Battle of The Bands 2024 kicks off on Sunday in Kilkenny

This coming Sunday sees the return of the Battle Of The Bands after over 15 years since the last contest took place in the old Zoo Club on Parliament Street.

The new venue is upstairs at Hacketts Bar, Irish Town, and will feature eight local bands who will battle for the top prize of recording time at Crossroads Studios.

Following the Zoo Reunion held just before last Christmas, where organiser Andrew McGuinness put out a call to local venues to open up their doors and ‘give young musicians a chance’, Tommy Hackett volunteered his venue for the cause. The upstairs room will be a non alcoholic venue for the events which will include two heats and a final, kicking off on Sunday with the first four bands.

Speaking to the Kilkenny People, Andrew McGuinness said, “its pretty surreal to be back in the driving seat of the Battle of the Bands after over a decade and a half. A lot of things have changed in terms of how to advertise gigs and what young people are into but one thing has not changed and I don’t think ever will and that’s the need for a venue for young musicians to showcase their talents and to have that musical social outlet they can enjoy with their friends. I hope we can provide that.”

“It will be hard to reproduce what we had all those years ago in the Zoo Club but I will certainly do my best to make it happen. It was a period in Kilkenny that we all look back on fondly, I have fantastic memories of it and to this day I still get stopped by people who want to share a memory of that time. The important thing here is to provide young musicians with that stage so they can get up there in front of a crowd and show us all what they have been doing in their sheds, garages or bedrooms,” said Andrew.

The four bands taking part in Heat 1 are Infrared, Don Monte, The Donnys and Adam Nolan. Each band will be judged using the same points based scheme that was used 15 years ago. Four bands will get through to the finals. Points will be awarded for ‘musical ability’, ‘stage presence’, ‘crowd reaction’, ‘originality’, and ‘overall performance’.

Local sponsors include Crossroads Recording Studios, Broderick’s Music Warehouse and Essaness Music.

Doors will open on Sunday at 2pm. Entry is limited as this is likely to be a sell out so it will be based on first come first served. Entry is €10 and cash only will be accepted on the door for now but plans are in place to introduce a ticketed system in the future.