Anthony Toner

Belfast City Blues Festival and Belfast Barge present Anthony Toner for a special solo show on board The Belfast Barge

It’s been a couple of years since songwriter Anthony Toner played a solo show at the Belfast Barge – memories of a mellow Saturday afternoon of songs and stories, getting away from the hustle of the city centre on Northern Ireland’s only floating venue.

The good news is – on Saturday June 27, he’s back, promising a show full of old favourites like ‘Sailortown’, ‘The Road to Fivemiletown’, ‘Cousins at Funerals’ and many more – along with stories from the road, some well-chosen cover versions and maybe even the occasional rendition of a poem from some of his favourite writers.

It’s a busy year of live shows for Anthony, who celebrated the release last year of Long Long Way, his 14th collection of original material. This year, with the support of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland, he’s working on a book-length collection of lyrics due for release in the autumn, marking 25 years of writing and recording.

In addition, he’s performing a series of shows across the UK as special guest of Scottish folk legend Barbara Dickson, and working towards an end-of-the-year run of shows in Northern Ireland in support of the lyrics collection.

As always, expect some elegant songs, a heart-filled performance, some peerless acoustic fingerstyle guitar and some entertaining between-song banter.