Saturday, 27th August dawned bright and clear and promised  warm and dry weather for the opening day of Pairc Festival, Birmingham's new celebration of Irish music and culture.  It was with excitement and enthusiasm  that I set out to cover the event for WhatsOn U.K.

Saturday's programme began with Lampa, who provided a very enjoyable programme of traditional and contemporary songs, played in a lively, upbeat manner. They were followed by the ever popular Father Teds, who continued the vein of upbeat music and entertaining humour. Hermitage Green changed the style somewhat, with their folk rock sound, incorporating a variety of instruments and Beaga also brought a distinctive sound and more humorous stories.

The principal acts for the day were Imelda May and the Hothouse Flowers, who took  to the stage as dusk fell over the venue.  This lifelong admirer of the band had managed to get himself to the front centre of the stage in time and the Flowers delivered an excellent set, bringing in various styles of music and of course, performing their classic "Don't Go," a personal all time favourite (it was great to have the microphone pointed in my direction and to be able to join in on a couple of choruses). 

Fresh from her apperarance as singer Aubrey Flynn in the new Fisherman's Friends movie (in which she gave a superb performance) and clad all in black, Imelda May showed her powerful stage presence and her ability to interpret songs from different musical genres in a dynamic and effective way. This brought a fitting climax to what had been a superb day of music on the mainstage.

As well as this great entertainment, there were other aspects of culture covered, including Irish dancing, pipes and drums , traditional sessions and a very interesting talk by Professor Carl Chinn MBE on the contribution made by Irish immigrants to the city of Birmingham.  He introduced himself as a "Protestant Brummie" and was assured by this Northern Irish Protestant that he wasn't the only non Irish Catholic present( I hasten to add that both us were made to feel very comfortable and very welcome)

All in all, it was a wonderful day, which was very well organised and ran like clockwork. Thanks and congratulations are due to those who conceived and ran the programme, which continued on Sunday. For reasons of religious conviction and responsibility, I wasn't able to be present, but with acts like Nathan Carter, Finbar Furey, the Dublin Legends, the Sharon Shannon Trio, the Kilkennys, On The Sesh and Bang On The Ear, I am assured that it was another great day's entertainment, with an even bigger crowd than on the Saturday. Dates have already been set for August 2023 and this is something to which I look forward with relish.