Craic On

Belfast Duo Nail Top Slots at Annual Irish BeatlesFest

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.

Open Mics at BeatlesFest

Said BeatlesFest organiser, Gerry McLaughlin, “they were really keen and wanted to play anywhere any time.

Plasticine Porters play The Beatles in Moville

“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”.

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”.

Plasticine Porters at Moville’s BeatlesFest

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

Sixties Weekend and Sixties Gear

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

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.