Culture Night Delight

Everyone I've spoken to had fun with the Culture Night shenanigans in Belfast's Cathedral Quarter. It was like a Friday night factored by ten, with huge crowds, canny events, smiling faces and a genuine sense of discovery. The city is learning how to market itself and the citizens are responding to a sense of occasion. Each venue was marked out by balloons and doorway dioramas. Vacant lots were transformed and freshly lit. There were some traffic havoc, but that was understandable And somehow the weather seemed to be conspiring with the date. Everything seemed right.

It was the second resounding night in a row. Thursday was an event called Melting Pot at the Pavilion in Belfast, where a collection of decent souls were rocking against racism. I'm increasingly fond of the Pocket Billiards, revived and prepering to put out an excellent album. And from Enniskillen, we had Momma's Slippers, pugnacious punk rockers of the teenage variety. They like their Rancid and their Ramones and singer Ant is precocious in the best ways..