Secret Belfast Meets

We had our second event on Saturday down at the Craftworkshop, probably one of the most insane spaces Belfast has seen in a while. It is full of local craft, has it’s own hair saloon, there’s cups of tea (which I accidentally served up for free), our local proprietress Emma Gilles and on Saturday a mish-mash of every sort of person you would expect to find in Belfast.

Belfast Samba Band started banging out their music at 1pm, stopping the crowds in their tracks from the outset. The Belfast Bus Tour got an extra treat that afternoon, as did the hoards of people that gathered round to listen to the beats. Thankfully the Belfast weather wasn’t true to form and we managed to stand outside without getting drenched, it was like taking a day trip to Brazil. That was the first time I heard the Samba band and I think I'll head down to Pigstock just to hear them again.

Jason Clarke and his band started up at 2pm and created a very different vibe. He has sold out gigs before and supported Paulo Nutini so he looked pretty relaxed doing what he did and that rubbed of on the crowd. He played for an hour and easily held the attention of the crowd for the duration. The groupies started shouting out requests and I could have easily listened on for another hour. For anyone that missed him live he is playing the Limelight on June 24^th.

Our DJ, Kitch, finished of the afternoon while the rest of us chatted and I stayed well clear of the tea making machine. The Craftworkshop dealer tried to flog on a mini Moped – guaranteed to go otherwise your money back. He didn’t succeed this time, but if you fancy it head down to 29 Wellington Place.

Great time...I hope it’s the first of many. Big thanks to Jason, the Samba Band, Emma, Kitch and everyone else who chipped in.

Joel