Published: Wednesday, 10th March, 2010 4:59pm

More acts added to music festival line-up

Further acts have been added to the line-up of this summer's Athlone Music Festival.

The inaugural event, which takes place at Athlone Town Stadium on Saturday July 31 and Sunday August 1, will be headlined by Sharon Shannon, Shane MacGowan and Mundy.

The Undertones and Hazel O'Connor are other big-name artists who are scheduled to perform at the festival.

Last week, additional acts were added to the line-up. One of the groups, Creamy Goodness, is the brainchild of a Moate songwriter/producer and arranger, Eamon Cooke. With a degree in jazz performance under his belt, Eamon put together this group which performs in a soul/funk and jazz style.In addition to Creamy Goodness, Longford rock act Deep Speed, which won the Longford's Got Talent contest in 2008, has been added to the festival schedule.Other acts from the midlands which are due to perform at the event are Athlone's The Fabulous Bonker Boys and Tullamore's Hogan.

English-based bands The Wireless, Two Spot Gobi and Mad Dog Mcrea will also appear along with Liam Byrne, a Christy Moore tribute act.

In all, over 26 music, comedy and cabaret acts are expected to perform under two big tops at the festival.

Tickets for the festival are now available on ticketmaster.ie and from now until the end of March they will be offered at a special early bird rate of €50 for a two-day ticket. They are due to be made available soon at various retail outlets in the midlands. Organiser Ultan Moran told the Westmeath Independent that tenders are also being invited from the local business community for catering and trade stalls at the festival.

Further details about the event are available on its website: www.athlonemusicfestival.com