Perennial favourites set the standard for Arts Festival line-up with pop-up gig in Galway city centre
They’ve probably played every music venue in Galway and then some – but last week was still a first for perennial favourites Bell X1…their first time busking on the city’s streets, writes Éimear Stockmann
‘Busking’ might be stretching it, of course, given that there was a full PA system, a large crowd and a patently obvious reason for this performance.
And it wasn’t about collecting coins from passers-by either; this was a pop-up gig to promote their appearance in the Big Top at this summer’s Galway International Arts Festival.
The band are GIAF veterans, having played the blue tent for the first time in 2006.
Twenty years later, they will play new and old hit on Saturday, July 25, as they join the stellar musical line-up in the Fisheries Field.
“There’s a real buzz about the tent when it goes up every year”, frontman Paul Noonan says.
Lead guitarist David Geraghty adds: “Even as you approach the site from so many different angles, you see the tent. I think we all return to those childhood memories where it’s like seeing the circus tent rise up.”
Rehearsals have already started for their full-band performance. “We will be playing all the hits, ‘cause these are the first full-band shows – full-fat shows we call them – that we’ve done in a while ” Noonan says. “You know, I was just thinking we’ve never played any of the new songs full-band,” he adds.
Throughout the years, the three core members – Noonan, Geraghty and bassist Dominic Phillips – have performed in a variety of ways; electric, acoustic, and often influenced by their solo endeavours.
We broke our previous record of making an album – a ten-track album in 13 days
They were Upstate New York this spring, producing new music to be released by the end of 2026. They worked with Josh Kaufman and Dan Goodwin in Dreamland Recording Studios – “the same studio as here B52’s Love Shack was recorded,” Geraghty points out.
“It was a beautiful old Catholic Church – you’ll see it on the album cover – something out of Little House of the Prairie.”
“We broke our previous record of making an album – a ten-track album in 13 days,” Geraghty reveals; the new eleven-track album took a mere ten days.
“It was a such a lovely experience, and a very profound one for us.” Noonan says. “We lost our friend and collaborator Glenn Keating a couple of months ago, and it sort of very much in the wake of that, that we recorded.”
“It’s about all kinds of things, but everything has been heightened by his passing, and our mourning of him.
“We wanted to be very open-hearted and embracing of the immersive artistic experience, where we had these two weeks to make this record, and we had to do it in that time, so we really grasped that opportunity, and we gave of ourselves in a new way.”
“This record is more earthy, and it’s more rustic I suppose. More acoustic instruments and group singing; more traditional,” Noonan says.
“We feel very excited about bringing out the next songs. I mean, we’re not going to throw a load of new songs at the audience, but every time we put out a new album and there’s new material to share, the reaction is always amazing,” Geraghty says.
“The fans are invested in what it is we’re doing, not just the memory that we’ve created for them to certain songs. They’re forward-facing fans; the best.”
Twenty-five years into the game, the band continues to evolve and grow. The Irish band promises a powerful performance at GIAF 2026, complementing the stand-out line-up that includes the Patti Smith Quartet, Sophie Ellis-Bextor , James, The Saw Doctors, and the Flaming Lips with Mercury Rev.
Tickets are available at giaf.ie / roisindubh.net.