Trying to find one word to describe Revival 2017 is very difficult but the word ‘unbelievable’ seems descriptive enough to do it justice. Its unbelievable to think how far this fledgling festival has progressed after its inauguration only last year. Its also unbelievable to imagine such an upbeat atmosphere in the packed Square of Listowel on a luminous
August evening. Well, ‘unbelievable’ was exactly what it was and the dreams of a small but progressive committee have firmly been realised. Thank you very much for that.
But what a wonderful event we witnessed in Listowel as Revival rocked into the later hours of Saturday night last. The positivity that surrounded last year’s event could surely not
have been topped but topped it was. The weather did help but I don’t think even a few showers could have dampened the spirits of the joyously eager crowd.
It certainly was a night overflowing with happy vibes, smiles, laughter and of course brilliant music. One could be forgiven for not knowing who the headline act was as both
Hermitage Green and The Blizzards put on a superb show before the arrival of The Undertones. Hermitage Green, a lesser know entity than the other two but were the perfect tonic to get this speed train out of the station. They certainly gained a lot more fans after their thrillingly engaging performance. On next, and of course everyone in the crowd knew
Bressie and The Blizzards and they certainly kept the momentum going with a lively and enthusiastic display of their old and new anthems. The crowd was well warmed up at this
stage and when The Undertones banged out some of their popular classics, there was a genuine rock festival feel in the heart of the town. At this stage we were all feeling the
‘teenage kicks’ as darkness began to descend.
I said it last year that the Revival Committee need to take a well deserved bow for their efforts but that is simply not enough this time round. As a community we should be very
thankful to them and anyone involved for making this possible. As Bressie himself said on stage ‘putting something like this together is not easy and well done to those who did”.
It just shows what working together and supporting such a positive event can achieve. We are already looking forward to next year and the possibilities that it may bring.
Photos by Liam Kelly
