Tuam Sugar Beat festival organisers take a break
Music fans in North Galway will be disappointed that there will be no Sugar Beat festival in Tuam this summer – the organisers are taking time out to “recharge the batteries”.
The festival had been held in Tuam Stadium for the past two years but there will not be one this summer but the good news is that there will definitely be a concert next year.
There was an expectation that The Saw Doctors would be back on the road by the summer and that they would possibly headline this year’s Sugar Beat festival but it will be later in the year before they go touring as a group.
Founding members Davy Carton and Leo Moran are doing a number of smaller gigs together at the moment – there is no doubt that if The Saw Doctors were available, the summer gig would be a sell-out.
The music festival was mainly organised by Shane Donnellan and Rossi Sheridan from Tuam but they admitted that it was very time-consuming and they still had to get on with their own jobs at the same time.
Back in 2014 the crowds were entertained by Mundy and Damien Dempsey; The Stunning headlined last year while boy band Hometown also performed. Tuam’s only reggae band Too Much for the Whiteman also reformed for the occasion.
Shane Donnellan admitted that it was nearly a full time job; Shane is a DJ while Rossi Sheridan is a publican in Tuam.
“Our busy times are at the weekend but we were occupied from Monday to Friday with organising Sugar Beat”, he said.
He added that it was never planned to be an annual event. “Even Slane is not held every year,” he pointed out. He said that they would not have been able to keep it going year after year without a break.
“We simply need to recharge the batteries. But when it became known that there would be no Sugar Beat, a lot of music fans have expressed disappointment but they understand the reasons behind it.
“There has been a very positive reaction to the last two festivals and I have no doubt that we will be back next year,” Shane said and added that if The Saw Doctors were doing festivals next year, then they would have to give them due consideration.
The two day festival proved a major economic boost for the town with the pubs in particular benefiting from the event.
It was held in a part of Tuam Stadium that is used as a warm-up area for teams playing at the venue.