Set Sail for Sounds From a Safe Harbour 2023
Sounds From a Safe Harbour returns with Feist, Wilco, Bonny Light Horseman and more onboard for the 2023 edition of the Cork music festival.
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Sounds From a Safe Harbour 2023
Cork is a-buzz since it was announced that Sounds From A Safe Harbour would be returning to Leeside in September 2023. The fourth edition of the biennial(-ish) music festival will take place across multiple Cork venues from Thursday 7th September until Sunday 10th September. The creative vision of 37d03d director (former Cork Opera House CEO) Mary Hickson in tandem with fellow curators Bryce and Aaron Dessner of The National, Oppenheimer star Cillian Murphy, and playwright Enda Walsh, the essence of Sounds From a Safe Harbour lies within its commitment to foster creativity and collaboration, with this year’s edition seeing the return of the artist residency programme featuring over three dozen artists. This year the organisers promise an “unmissable four days of music, dance, literature, theatre, and conversation, with lots of ticketed and free events to explore.”
SFSH Headliners
Sounds From a Safe Harbour awoke from its slumber – the last festival took place in 2019 – with the unveiling of four headliner announcements. All four shows will take place at the festival’s HQ: Cork Opera House. Over the next fortnight or so we’ll be looking at the programme in total but for now, here’s a quick peak at the top slots.
Feist
Thursday night features a welcome back for Leslie Feist, the award winning, multi-million selling Canadian musician who returns to Cork Opera House having wowed the Safe Harbour crowds at the previous festival in 2019. Expect tunes from this year’s critically acclaimed album Multitudes to complement tracks from an illustrious career.
Bonny Light Horseman
Friday night belongs to U.S. folk supergroup Bonny Light Horseman. Comprised of the supreme talents of Anaïs Mitchell, Eric D. Johnson, and Josh Kaufman. As if this show could not be special enough, Bonny Light Horseman will perform with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra, conducted by Robert Ames, featuring orchestral arrangements by Bryce Dessner. A show produced by Sounds From a Safe Harbour, the show will also feature at the National Concert Hall, Dublin (14th Sept) before performing with the London Contemporary Orchestra at The Barbican, London on 15th September.
Wilco
Wilco – one of this site’s favourite ever bands – wrap up their European tour with a visit to Cork Opera House on the Friday night. Jeff Tweedy’s alt-country Chicago sextet are an explosive live force, with the current tour featuring music from 2022’s Cruel Country, the band’s twelfth studio album. New to Wilco? Check out their 1996 double-record Being There. Or debut record A.M. Or the 2004 experimental masterpiece A Ghost Is Born. Or anything really. Completing the Saturday night line-up will be Wicklow multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Anna Mieke, who featured as part of a The G-Man Presents… show back in 2018.
Lighthouse Constellations with Ye Vagabonds
As mentioned above, Sounds From a Safe Harbour places heavy importance on the creativity and collaboration integral to the festival’s intimate artist residency. Keep an eye closer to the date for announcements regarding the results of this residency which tend to sprout up at smaller stages and venues throughout the city as the weekend progresses. In collaboration with fellow Cork festival organisers Quiet Lights, Sounds From a Safe Harbour has invited Irish folk duo Ye Vagabonds to “interact and respond to the residency and host the festival finale Lighthouse Constellations at Cork Opera House.”
Sounds From a Safe Harbour Programme
The full programme as we go to digital print reads as follows.
| Date & Time | Artist | Venue |
|---|---|---|
| Thursday 7th September | ||
| 8pm | Feist | Cork Opera House |
| 10.30pm | Clinker Babbage | The Pav |
| 6.30pm | Mick Flannery | The Pav |
| Friday 8th September | ||
| 8pm | Bonny Light Horseman with RTÉ Orchestra | Cork Opera House |
| 5pm | Richard Reed Parry’s Quiet River of Dust | The Pav |
| 6pm | Indigo Sparke | Coughlan’s |
| 7pm | Max Porter presents Shy: An evening of storytelling with Feist, Elaine Howley, Shahzhad Ismaily, & Todd Dahlhoff | The Pav |
| 10pm | La Force | The Pav |
| 10.30pm | Pretty Happy and Spit | The Green Room |
| Midnight | Festival Club hosted by Sally Cinnamon with special guests | The Pav |
| Saturday 9th September | ||
| 8pm | Wilco and Anna Mieke | Cork Opera House |
| 12pm | Rónán Ó Snodaigh & Myles O’Reilly | The Pav |
| 2pm | Cormac Begley, Romain Bly, Kate Ellis & Caimin Gilmore | Live at St. Luke’s |
| 3.20pm | 20 Artists | 20 venues |
| 4pm | Caroline Rose | The Pav |
| 5pm | Molly O’Mahony | Callanan’s |
| 6pm | Kara Jackson | Coughlan’s |
| 7pm | Megan Barker presents KIT. An Evening of Storytelling & special music guests. | The Pav |
| 7pm | Anna B Savage and Brìghde Chaimbeul | Live at St. Luke’s |
| 9pm | Chimp: Crash Ensemble with Diamanda La Berge Dramm | Triskel Arts Centre |
| 10pm | Liminal Soundbath hosted by Alex Somers with special guests | Marina Market |
| 10pm | Elaine Malone and Nudy Boy Nature | The Green Room |
| Midnight | Festival Club hosted by Sally Cinnamon with special guests | The Pav |
| Sunday 10th September | ||
| 6pm | Lighthouse Constellations with Ye Vagabonds | Cork Opera House |
| 12pm | INNI X Fischersund : An Afternoon of Scent & Music | The Pav |
| 2pm | The Vernon Spring presents Earth, on a Good Day | Live at St. Luke’s |
| 4pm | Memorial | Coughlan’s |
| 5pm | Daniel Luke | River Lee Hotel |
For those who like Clashfinder, here’s a personal Sounds From a Safe Harbour timetable – https://clashfinder.com/s/sfsh23
- Sounds From a Safe Harbour 2023 takes place across various Cork venues from Thursday 7th September until Sunday 10th September.
Info and Tickets available at soundsfromasafeharbour.com
Update 28th August: Mick Flannery gig in The Pav added.
Update 7th September: 5pm pop-up shows added.
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