Latest news with #TheLightningSeeds
BBC News
04-07-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Stendhal: Twelve-year-old DJ Fionn ready to mix it up at festival
At just 12 years old, DJ Fionn says he is more than ready to perform at one of Northern Ireland's biggest independent music and arts O'Kane's passion for DJing began at just two years old after his dad gave him his first set of young musician has already turned heads with his talent on the turntables in his hometown of Limavady, and is now preparing for his biggest gig to is on the line-up at this year's Stendhal Festival in County Londonderry, joining The Lightning Seeds, Brit Award–winning singer-songwriter Kate Nash, Joshua Burnside, and one of Fionn's DJ idols, Mark McCabe. From school halls to Stendhal "My dad has always done a bit of DJing, so I grew up with it, and I used to watch YouTube videos of DJs when I was younger, and that's where it just started for me," Fionn told BBC News NI."Like my dad, I like all sorts of music, a bit of everything, but mostly I like to listen to things like house and techno and that's the genre of music I play."Fionn said one of his first "official gigs" was at Termoncanice Primary School when he performed at his school assembly hall as part of a Christmas event in front of all his classmates and teachers. He said performing at Stendhal will be his biggest performance yet and he cannot wait to take to the stage in front of a large crowd. "I have most of the set finished already, I am just tweaking the last few things for it," he said with a big smile. Fionn said that he and his family always loved going to Stendhal, and being on the billing was a real "pinch yourself" moment. Parents only told after application sent After coming across an advert on social media, the 12-year-old put his name forward to be a part of the festival line-up "I applied more in hope than anything else," he admitted. And he only told his parents, Andy and Kerry O'Kane, after he had submitted the application. Fionn said they are incredibly supportive of his DJing, provided it doesn't interfere with his schoolwork. As well as being very excited to perform his own set, he is also really looking forward to seeing Irish DJ and producer Mark McCabe take to the Stendahl stage."I really like his music, especially Maniac 2000, it's a massive tune." What is Stendhal? Now in its 15th year, Stendhal Festival, is an annual event featuring music, comedy, dance, poetry, workshops and family-friendly name is a reference to Stendhal syndrome - a psychological condition resulting in dizziness experienced by people exposed to things of great festival, which runs from 4 to 6 July, is taking place at Ballymully Cottage Farm in Roe Valley, outside festival bill this year also includes comedian Ed Byrne, country singer Lisa McHugh, and electronic group The Orb .DJ Fionn will be performing on Friday 4 July on the Woolly Woodland stage, and you can see a full line-up of all the acts performing at this year's Stendhal Festival here. A number of BBC Radio Ulster programmes will be broadcasting from the festival, including a special programme with Vinny and Cate, Your Place and Mine with Eve Blair, and Sunday with Anna Curran.
BBC News
13-02-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
'Worse places to live: David Baddiel opens new show in Chester
Author and comedian David Baddiel is "thankful" the stars aligned when his producers told him where his new musical's opening night would comedian is not unfamiliar with the city of Chester, especially the theatre that will host the world premier of The Parent Agency, based on his children's book of the same comedian has graced the stage at The Storyhouse many times and says he is thrilled he will be able to showcase his newest creation on February 15 in the "most beautiful space".Baddiel, who is temporarily living in Chester for the show's run, jokes there are "worse places to live" and says it is a place he actually wants to go out and explore. "I am quite enjoying living in Chester, it's lovely," he said. "There are worse places to spend your time and I have spent my time in some of those worst places."I really like the theatre and I really like the atmosphere around it." Baddiel said the family theatre was "trying to do really great things".He said the theatre was accessible and fun, "and the show is that too so it felt like a good place for it".The 60-year-old is known for his past comedy partnerships with Frank Skinner which saw him star on the football anthem "Three Lions", co-written and performed with The Lightning Seeds. His new musical, based on the first children's book he wrote, with music provided by Dan Gillespie Sells, centres around 11-year-old Barry Bennet who hates his name and wishes for better parents. The show follows his journey as he makes his wish and finds himself whisked away to an alternate universe. Baddiel said the idea for the book came from his son, Ezra, who at the age of eight asked why Harry Potter did not run away from The Dursleys and try and find some better parents."I thought that's an interesting idea, a very child idea that if you're a bit frustrated and annoyed with your parents you can find someone else," Baddiel said."It suits a musical, there are points in that story where you can feel the characters have got no choice but to burst into song." David Baddiel's Dream Dinner Party He said as a children's writer he still "channels the 11-year-old" inside him."I think that's true of all adults. "I can remember when I was 11, my mate had nicer food, a slightly nicer house, his parents bought him more stuff, and I wanted to live there." Baddiel hopes the Parent Agency can one day reach global audiences as he joked "then London and Broadway, there I've said it, it started in Chester"."You always hope the stuff you do is going to be a success," he added. Additional reporting by Roger Johnson Listen to the best of BBC Radio Merseyside on Sounds and follow BBC Merseyside on Facebook, X, and Instagram and watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer.
