{"id":665489,"date":"2026-10-26T03:38:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T03:38:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/665489\/"},"modified":"2026-10-26T03:38:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T03:38:12","slug":"brewing-up-a-storm-with-a-heady-feed-of-cool-jazz-at-corks-buzzy-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/665489\/","title":{"rendered":"Brewing up a storm with a heady feed of cool jazz at Cork’s buzzy festival"},"content":{"rendered":"

The old standard Stormy Weather got more than one outing at this year\u2019s Guinness Cork Jazz Festival, but despite Storm Boelo, there was no sign of \u201cgloom and misery everywhere\u201d.<\/p>\n

On the contrary, the city centre was swinging despite the weather, with record crowds taking to the streets and bars to celebrate the 48th edition of Ireland\u2019s oldest single-site music festival.<\/p>\n

The population of the city almost doubled for the weekend, with 100,000 jazz revellers flocking to Leeside.<\/p>\n

The pavements were thronged, even if some of those footpaths also had to accommodate the odd car left in what the guards from d\u2019Unbelievables might have called \u201ca state of complete and utter abandonmentness\u201d.<\/p>\n

On Sunday afternoon in town, it was easy to believe the statistic touted by organisers, that the festival is now worth almost \u20ac1m per operating hour to the greater Cork economy <\/a>during its five-day run.<\/p>\n

Purists might still raise an eyebrow at the notion that the likes of Boney M or the Boomtown Rats could be crow-barred into the definition of jazz, but that fight was lost a long time ago.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Boomtown Rats performing in Cork City Hall. Picture:\u00a0 Darragh Kane<\/p>\n

Besides, any lingering purists who were outside the old Ulster Bank on Patrick\u2019s St would not have begrudged the rapping presence of Cork superstars The Buskin\u2019 Boys, who are part of the Kabin Crew, as they belted out one banging ‘choon’ after the other.<\/p>\n

And if it was a more traditional sound you craved, the Mardi Gras sounds of the brass band outside the City Library could have transported you to New Orleans in a joyous minute.<\/p>\n

For councillor Damian Boylan, his first jazz festival as the city’s mayor, was a real triumph.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe buzz around town was amazing,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople have dressed up, queued to get into venues and danced until the early hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo me it looks like this could be the best Guinness Jazz Festival ever. Credit to all of those involved in such a wonderful event, especially festival chair Fiona Collins.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"MuireannMuireann Bradley performing in St Lukes. Picture: Darragh Kane<\/p>\n

In the Long Valley pub, the sandwiches and the pints were going down well, and proprietor Peadar Moynihan said the weekend had been one of the best festivals yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite the bad weather on Saturday, everyone made the most of it, there was no hassle, and a brilliant turn-out,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Paul Montgomery, owner of Clancy\u2019s Bar, said the festival had been \u201can amazing success\u201d this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were long lines of queues outside every single bar in the city, and as far as I\u2019m aware, there was no trouble at all, just everyone out having a good time,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a huge boost to the city, and it\u2019s just such a positive thing to see.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"LukeLuke Thomas & The Swing Cats performing in the Everyman. Picture: Darragh Kane<\/p>\n

At the B\u00f3\u2019s Burgers stand on Patrick St, Casey felt the weekend was a little quieter than previous festivals, but she felt there was \u201cstill a good buzz and a good atmosphere around\u201d.<\/p>\n

In Koto on Carey\u2019s Lane, proprietor Jeff Safar agreed about the buzz and said his restaurant had been very busy all weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a good jazz festival, even if the weather did put a bit of a dampener on it on Saturday evening. But it definitely picked up after that, and it\u2019s always a very positive weekend in town,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\"TBL8TBL8 performing a set on Oliver Plunkett St.<\/p>\n

Despite the Stormy Weather, this year’s Cork Jazz Festival got to walk in the sun once more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The old standard Stormy Weather got more than one outing at this year\u2019s Guinness Cork Jazz Festival, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":665490,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[79,57577,93,61,60],"class_list":["post-665489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-cork-news","tag-cork-jazz-festival","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=665489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/665489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/665490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=665489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=665489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=665489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}