The Fleadh in Belfast. People, people everywhere…

One of the things I did get wrong about the Fleadh was that I thought there would be an issue with venues being too dispersed across the city centre. The other day I was thinking that it would probably make more sense confining it all to the Cathedral Quarter but I admit to being wrong about this. There are people, people everywhere.

Last night I was in the city centre and there were people everywhere I went. It was absolutely insane. Crowds at City Hall, then we went around towards Custom House Square. There were crowds of people at Donegal Place. There were massive crowds outside White’s Tavern. Custom House Square was completely full. Walking through the Cathedral Quarter, it was absolutely rammed. There were queues to get into the new pop-up bars.

Walking past Kelly’s, there were queues to get into that square. There were queues to get into the new electric light station venue. There were massive crowds outside Madden’s. It was just utterly astounding, the amount of people who were in Belfast last night. I think it will probably end up that it will be the biggest amount of people ever in Belfast city centre, certainly that I can ever remember, and it will probably be even busier this weekend.

There has been a view over the past few years that city centres are dead. People just want to sit in the house on their devices with no human contact and order everything in but Fleadh shows that this is wrong. There is an intrinsic need for human connection, to get out there and celebrate life and community.

We need to build on the success of the Fleadh to make our towns and cities more people-friendly and walkable, to have more festivals and celebrations. If you are living your life through the medium of the internet and social media, it’s easy to conclude that the world is utterly despairing at the moment but the Fleadh shows that there is goodness out there. Music and culture and the arts show what the true meaning of living is.

We are more than the playthings of billionaire tech corporations whose every emotion is controlled by algorithms. Joy is an act of resistance. We can celebrate life, and we can celebrate it together.

Brian O'Neill

Managing Editor of Slugger O’Toole. I help to manage Slugger by taking care of the site as well as running our live events. My background is in business, marketing and IT. My politics tend towards middle-of-the-road pragmatism; I am not a member of any political party. When not stuck in front of a screen, I am a parkrun Run Director.