If you prefer not to wait in long lines to storm into a bustling department store this Black Friday, there's an alternative, more musical, more Irish way to spend the evening.

On Friday, November 28, 2014, The Irish Cultural Center Hudson Valley will hold their first annual Black Friday Feile Concert from 6:00 to 11:00 PM at the Andy Murphy Midtown Neighborhood Center, 467 Broadway, Kingston. Doors open at 5:30 PM, tickets may be purchased at the door.

Performers include Ulster County AOH Pipe and Drum Band, Wild Irish Roses, The Ruffians, Kilrush and the concert’s headliner: one of the world’s foremost Celtic rock bands, Hair Of The Dog.

Hair Of The Dog has performed in clubs and concert venues in many American cities including Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Port St. Lucie, Danbury, Hartford, New York and Buffalo. They regularly headline or co-headline at Celtic Festivals such as The Irish 2000 Music and Arts Festival, The Great American Irish Festival, The East Durham Irish Festival and The Capital District Scottish Games. They also tour Ireland frequently.

In 2008, Daily Freeman writer, David Malachowski wrote, “Hair Of The Dog plays with a cohesive oneness that most bands never get... a regional music treasure." Each band playing has roots in either upstate New York or Kingston directly.

This family-friendly music event aims to bring people together to enjoy Irish music. Proceeds from this event will go towards the building of The Irish Cultural Center in downtown Kingston.

Says ICCHV president Robert Carey, “The Irish Cultural Center is for the young and the old; this concert is especially enticing for the young.”

The Irish Cultural Center will be built on land formerly occupied by the headquarters of the D&H Canal Corporation -- the site where, for decades, waves of Irish, German, Polish, and Italian immigrants walked up Company Hill Path to the Pay Master’s Office to collect their weekly wages. Though demolished in 1936, the Renaissance Revival-style building that once stood on the site inspires the exterior design of the new center; a fifteen-thousand square foot building overlooking the historic Rondout Creek with classroom, performance, and retail space on three floors.

“We think of the center as a mini university open to the entire Hudson Valley - a place for anyone interested in Irish culture and history to experience – and celebrate – the best in traditional and contemporary Irish music, dance, literature, crafts, and sports,” Carey said.

The city of Kingston – New York State’s first capital – is located ninety miles north of New York City and sixty miles south of Albany. Downtown Kingston – the site of the proposed new Irish Cultural Center Hudson Valley – is an artist community labeled by Business Week online as one of "America's best places for artists” and is home to a large number of art galleries. The city holds many festivals in the neighborhood – also known as The Rondout -- including the Music in the Park Series, the Artists Soapbox Derby, and numerous other waterfront events.

Click here to purchase tickets. 

The mission of Irish Cultural Center Hudson Valley is to preserve and promote Irish arts, culture and history for a new generation. For more information, visit the website or call 845 389-4673.