There is one pact I made to myself for the post-pandemic restriction free world, and that was going to as many live events as possible. I have been heading along to gigs for as long as I can remember, but obviously there were gigs I would have missed out on sometimes too. When that outlet was gone, I knew I had to make the effort to go to as many I could when live events returned.
There are countless of gigs that I have either went to or worked at, and one festival in particular I wanted to make it back to was the Cat Laughs Comedy Festival. For anyone here outside of Ireland that may not know, the Cat Laughs festival is probably one of the best comedy weekends in Ireland. It takes place in Co. Kilkenny each year for the June Bank Holiday weekend with Irish and international comedians and comic acts coming along. It’s a real treat for any comedy fan, such as myself.
I have stayed for the weekend in Kilkenny in the past but due to other work commitments, I knew I only had the Saturday free this time around. While I would have loved to stay and soak up the full atmosphere, I was happy to be there for a few hours at least and work at a few gigs as a volunteer (which I have also done before).
While I was excited to head along to the festival again, I could also feel a little nerves as the car parked up by the venue I was volunteering in. I guess it had been 3 years since I was even at a festival, never mind working at one so it’s understandable.
However, the minute I walked in and met both the venue manager and other volunteers I could feel myself getting back into the swing of things. It also helped that I met a few people I knew and chatted with throughout the night too.
I worked on two gigs from about 7-12pm, mostly on the ticket collection and selling side of things and of course, taking part in general clean up. Me being me, I also took the opportunity to catch some live comedy when time allowed. Luckily, some of my favourite comedians were on the line up so I got to see ones that I haven’t seen in a few years, alongside acts that I got to see live for the first time that I was excited to see.
Overall, it was another great experience at the Cat Laughs Festival. It was lovely to work with the other volunteers and be a part of that team for the night (one of whom literally only lives 10 minutes down the road from me but I didn’t know!), and great to meet people I already knew again.
We all know the world has been a strange place for the past two years, and I believe it will take a while to for us to really start living as normal as possible again but just being back at this festival has made me excited to see that the festival season is well and truly back. Here is to more gigs and good times only this Summer.
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