Harbour Lights Festival opens on the quay with three days of free music

The first chord rang out across Old Quay shortly after seven last night, and by the time the headline act took the stage the harbour arena was full. Stewards closed the main gates at 9,000 people and directed the rest towards a large screen set up beside the fish market, where a second crowd watched from the cobbles.

The Harbour Lights Festival, now in its eleventh edition, runs until tomorrow night with 42 acts across two stages. The main stage sits on the quay itself, its lighting rig visible from the far side of Greyling Bay, while a smaller acoustic tent on Harbourside hosts singer-songwriters, a brass ensemble and a children's choir. Every performance is free.

Rosalind Thorne, the festival's director, said organisers had set aside 60 per cent of the slots for musicians based in the city and the Asher Valley. "We could fill the bill with touring names every year," she said. "But people come back because they hear their neighbours' bands on a proper stage, with proper sound, in front of thousands."

Extra trams and a later finish

Wrenhaven Tram is running Line 1 every six minutes until after midnight throughout the weekend, and Bay Ferries has added a late crossing to the Saltings. The council's licence allows amplified music on the quay until eleven, half an hour later than last year, after noise complaints from Old Quay residents fell sharply once the stage was turned to face the water.

Half the people in front of me last night had known us since we played the pub on Ropewalk Lane.

That was how Nkechi Barlow, whose five-piece soul band opened the main stage, described the set. Down on the quay, stallholders reported a brisk evening. Rory Fitzgerald, who runs a seafood van near the screen, said he had sold out of chowder by half past nine and was ordering double for the rest of the weekend.

Tonight's programme leans towards folk and jazz, with a late set from a twelve-piece Afrobeat collective.

The festival costs about €310,000 to stage, with the city council covering just under half and local businesses the rest. Organisers ask visitors to bring refillable bottles; free water points are set up at both ends of the quay, and first-aid teams are stationed beside the harbour master's office.