Anglo&Celtic magazine May 2024

Welcome to the May 2024 edition of Anglo&Celtic magazine. You can read or download the magazine above. It is free to download but please consider making a donation to support us.

This edition features wall to wall festivals – our cover story is the Australian Celtic Festival in Glen Innes, we also feature the National Celtic Folk Festival, Berry Celtic Festival, Bonnie Wingham Scottish Festival, Trentham Spudfest, Robertson Potato Festival and Beltane or Bealtaine, the ancient festival that celebrates the start of summer.

We are lucky to have so many British and Irish bands touring Australia. It’s a feast these days compared to when I first came to this country from Ireland in 1999. This edition features Niall Horan, Peter Hook & The Light, SKIDS, The Animals, Englebert Humperdinck, Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells and The Irish Tenors, among others.  

However, as you may have heard, several festivals have been cancelled this year. And the live music scene is struggling with sluggish ticket sales. No surprise, of course, we are all feeling the squeeze of inflation. 

Many of the community events featured in this magazine are free or have affordable ticket prices. So the opportunities are still there to get out and make the most of life. 

And, of course, this magazine is free too, with affordable and flexible advertising rates. You can book ads right here on this website.

Brittany in France will be celebrating St Yves’ Day this month. There will be pipe bands, Celtic dancing, songs, and partying.

It’s astonishing to look at the photographs from the celebrations in the Anglo and Celtic nations of their national days and see how much we all have in common. Our cultures, while different, all share celebrations around the changing of the seasons, and many similar traditions. This would come as no surprise to many Australians, who see us as a small collection of islands far, far away. Afterall, the UK and Ireland could fit into Australia 31.4 times, with room left over. 

I went to see The Human League in Brisbane in March. The audience was a mix of mostly English people, with plenty of Scots, Welsh and Irish too. Lots from northern England, unsurprisingly because the band are from Sheffield. Everyone was chatting, singing and dancing. It had the same buzzing atmosphere that was also at The Happy Mondays and Morrissey tours recently. I look forward to the next time, at the Peter Hook & The Light tour. Mancunians really know how to party!

Another great event coming up on May 11th is the Brit and Irish Party at Tea Gardens in Bondi Junction. Swanned and Lost & Found are bringing 200 Brits and Irish together for a sesh. Swanned is a British and Irish app helping expats find mates and dates. Lost & Found Sydney runs events and meet ups.

If you have a story you’d like featured in this magazine, get in touch by email to editor@angloandceltic.com.