Kiama’s Folk By The Sea to pay tribute to The Pogues, Simon & Garfunkel and Lucinda Williams

Kiama’s annual Folk By The Sea will see tribute paid to some of the genres best-loved artists, including The Pogues, Simon & Garfunkel and Lucinda Williams from 20-22 September.

The 10th festival will see “the Balkan Baritone” Mikelangelo, aka Michael Simic, pay homage to the late Shane MacGowan, lead singer and songwriter of Irish band The Pogues, famous for fusing traditional Irish music with punk.

Meanwhile, Kiama singer Penny Hartgerink will perform songs by American blues and roots legend Lucinda Williams, and The Carefree Road Band, which has strong Kiama roots, will perform a Simon & Garfunkel tribute show, marking almost 60 years since the American folk duo stormed to the top of the Billboard Top 100 music charts with The Sound of Silence.

The Carefree Road Band guitarist and singer John Tubridy said they had already begun rehearsing for the festival, with their Simon & Garfunkel repertoire including classics such as Bridge Over Troubled Water, Cecelia and I Am A Rock.

John said the nine-piece band, formed in 2014, had members born in five countries – Australia, Austria, Belgium, England and Ireland – but all shared a common love of Simon & Garfunkel songs.

“We write our own songs but over the past few years have performed tribute concerts featuring the songs of Peter Paul and Mary, Woodstock 60 Years On, Tom Paxton and now Simon and Garfunkel,” John said.

“We want to be entertaining and it is challenging to perform songs which are known and loved by so many people.

“The early songs of Simon and Garfunkel are iconic for a generation and still relevant today.

“Given the musicianship in our band, we try to give the songs of Paul Simon authenticity, fun and excitement. With flute, violin, guitar, keyboard, bass, banjo and drums, we bring a full sound to all the songs.”

While some members no longer live in the Kiama municipality, the former Gerringong resident said they always enjoyed performing at Folk by the Sea due to it being “home”.

“Over the years we have developed a good reputation for performing enjoyable concerts of songs known and loved by locals,” he said.

“With many festivals around Australia being cancelled, we are so fortunate that this one is still continuing with the support of so many volunteers.”

Meanwhile, Mikelangelo will perform four shows over the weekend, which will include him joining a festival all-star band performing their Fairytale of Shane MacGowan show on the main stage at the Kiama Pavilion on the Saturday night.

MacGowan died last November, but his legend lives on through such classics as Fairytale of New York, A Rainy Night In Soho and Rock’n’Roll Paddy.

Festival director Neil McCann said with a packed festival program featuring 44 acts and about 100 shows at nine venues, programming multiple shows for many of the acts gave audiences the chance to see as many performers as possible over the weekend.

He said that included Canberra-based diplomat turned folk singer Fred Smith and his band performing three shows, Indigenous violin maestro Eric Avery/Murrawuy performing twice and powerhouse vocalist Kelly Brouhaha performing three times, including hosting the traditional Sirens of the Sea concert to showcase some of the festival’s female singers.

“It really gives people options. With nine venues, there will inevitably be clashes between popular acts,” Neil said.

“However, with many of the artists doing more than one show, it gives people a chance to really plan their festival experience, so they don’t miss the acts they really want to see.”

He said there was even an option of just buying a Saturday pass, which would give punters the chance to see most of the headline acts.

“This is aimed at those who don’t have the time to commit for the whole weekend, or perhaps haven’t visited our festival before and want to see what all the fuss is about,” he said.

Folk By The Sea from 20-22 September will be based at the Kiama Showground and nearby venues on Friday night, Saturday and Sunday until 4:30 pm, when it moves to the Kiama Bowling Club for a finale concert hosted by Nick Rheinberger and Tia Wilson, and featuring the Carefree Road Band, Fiddledance, The Go Twos and The Groove.

Visit the website for ticket information and the full festival line-up.