Moseley Folk And Arts Festival add The Saw Doctors to this year’s bill

Moseley Folk And Arts Festival

Irish legends The Saw Doctors are the latest big-name addition to Birmingham’s Moseley Folk and Arts Festival (Friday 1 to Sunday 3 September 2023).

Starting out playing in Galway pubs, The Saw Doctors reached a wider audience after Mike Scott of The Waterboys plucked them from obscurity and asked the lads to support The Waterboys around Ireland on the Fisherman’s Blues tour in late 1988.

Quickly impressing audiences with their live show, The Saw Doctors’ second single, ‘I Useta Lover’, spent a mammoth nine weeks at number one and became Ireland’s best-selling single of all time – outselling U2 and Sinéad O’Connor.

The folk/rock act, who last visited Birmingham in 2017 for a sell-out performance at the O2 Institute, recently hit number three in the Irish Album Charts with the vinyl issue of their debut album, If This Is Rock And Roll, I Want My Old Job Back.

Headlining on Saturday, The Saw Doctors are part of a second wave line-up announcement from the Brum festival. Other artists now added include comedians Robin Ince (Sunday) and Lou Sanders (Saturday), plus Canadians Wild Rivers, the colourful Rajasthan Heritage Brass Band, 17-piece shanty group Old Time Sailors, London five-piece Tapir!, and street performers Circus Raj – with further names to be announced soon.

They join the previously announced Squeeze, Blindboy and Gwenno (Friday); Wilco, The Proclaimers and Angeline Morrison (Sunday).

John Fell, Moseley Folk and Arts Festival Manager, said: “We’re really excited to be bringing The Saw Doctors to the festival. We’ve been trying to get them over for 10 years, so we can’t wait to see them in September alongside fellow headliners Squeeze, Wilco, The Proclaimers, and more.”

Tickets are now available priced £145 (adult, weekend), £57 (adult, day), £65 (U18, weekend), £32 (U18, day) and £320 (family) – plus booking fees.

For tickets and more information, see: moseleyfolk.co.uk

Just because it pleases us – ‘I Useta Lover’ – official video: