Craic On

Plasticine Porters from Belfast

The sleep, idyllic town of Moville, on Lough Foyle in Donegal holds Ireland’s only annual festival of Beatles music.

The BeatlesFest on the Lough is now in its 9th year.

Last year, a duo from Belfast, The Plasticine Porters, comprising Eamon Jones and Peter McLaughlin, heard about it and headed north with their guitars to Moville, hoping to get the chance to play.

Said BeatlesFest organiser, Gerry McLaughlin, “they were really keen and wanted to play anywhere any time. They played in the open Mics, they played whenever one of the main acts wanted a break and they played on into the night after the main acts finished. Not only were they keen, they were good too and were really appreciated by the audience”.

BeatlesFest Gigs

So much so that Eamon and Peter have their own gigs at the festival this year “and well deserved too” said Gerry.

Eamon and Peter met in 2006 and struck up a great friendship based on their love of the Beatles and especially Paul McCartney, although they love them all.

Eamon has been playing guitar for over twenty years and taught himself guitar using his Dad’s copy of the Beatles songbook.

Eamon has been established on the singer-songwriter circuit in Belfast and Derry for the last ten years. Peter has been playing guitar for two years as a founding member of the Plasticine Porters and cites Revolver as his favourite Beatles album.

Moville BeatlesFest

Said Eamon “We heard about the Moville Beatlesfest and decided to create a Beatles tribute two piece, combining Beatles songs with the best of Beatles parody such as The Rutles and other great music acts including Flight of the Conchords and Spinal Tap”.

The Plasticine Porters were born and have been a regular fixture on the Belfast pub scene over the last 18 months.

Tony Bramwell

Appearing at the Festival will be Beatles Road Manager, Tony Bramwell, along with a host of performers. Tony was a childhood friend of Paul McCartney and George Harrison and reports on Moville’s BeatlesFest to Paul and Ringo every year.

Tony has only missed one BeatlesFest in Moville since he first came in 2010. Tony is a major player in the music industry on his own accord and is in the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland for his services to the industry.

As well as discovering James Taylor and Eva Cassidy, and being Head of Apple Films, the Beatles film company,

Tony went on to head Polydor Records which was one of the biggest record labels in the world. In his stable he had The Jam, Roxy Music, the Bee Gees and Slade amongst others.

Beatles Stories

Tony was also responsible for the music for Grease and Saturday Night Fever, getting the Bee Gees to do the songs and for five of the Bond Films, including Live and Let Die for which his old pal Paul McCartney did the music.

He will give talks and answer questions about all those whom he has met and befriended including Bob Dylan, Elvis, Bruce Springsteen and a host of others.

Said Tony, “I’m looking forward to meeting some old friends again and the friendly people of Moville. Sir Paul likes me to go to as many BeatlesFests as I can and Moville’s is the quaintest that I go to”. He’s delighted that it is growing each year.

Come Together Night

The BeatlesFest on the Lough takes place over 4 days in Moville starting on Thursday on Come Together Night in Annie’s Bar and ending on Sunday with Hello, Goodbye Night.

Pubs involved are Rosatos, Annie’s Bar, The Clock, Caiseal Mara Hotel, Redcastle Hotel and the Sean Ti.

In between there is It’s Getting Better Night on Friday and a Hard Days’s Night on Saturday with Here Comes the Sun afternoon (hopefully) on Saturday and Strawberry Fields afternoon on Sunday – and it’s all free.

Organisers are asking Beatles fans to come in Sixties Gear. If you missed the Sixties, Moville is the place to be this weekend.

To see the Programme of Events click on BeatlesFest Programme