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'It's about caterwauling at the top of your lungs': The pure, wholesome magic of Sing Along Social
LAST SUNDAY EVENING, hundreds of people, all displaying the effects of the previous night’s excesses, gathered in a Westmeath woodland to sing their hearts out to cheesy pop songs.
The scene was Body & Soul and the event was Sing Along Social, which bills itself as “a space to sing alongside friends and strangers”.
Aoife McElwain, the brains behind the event and the de facto conductor for the hour, stood on stage and led the sweaty masses in singalong after singalong.
People punched the air to Oops! I Did It Again. They jumped out of their skin when the beat dropped in We Found Love. And they screamed along to Home and Away’s theme song like their lives depended on it. (“Hold me in your arms, don’t let me go…”)
Nobody looked cool and nobody cared. That’s because the success of Sing Along Social hinges on people being as earnest and passionate as possible. It’s about feeling the music, man. Even if that music happens to be the Neighbours theme song.
Sing Along Social came into being in September 2015. As McElwain explains it, she was chatting with a friend at Electric Picnic about how utterly obsessed she was with Alanis Morrissette’s Jagged Little Pill as a teenager.
A few weeks later, McElwain was still stuck on the idea of hosting a Jagged Little Pill party and realised she knew others who would be interested in attending such an event.
And, lo, Sing Along Social was born.
Since that fateful night, Sing Along Social has invited music fans to sing their hearts out to iconic albums like Nevermind, Rumours, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill and Madonna’s The Immaculate Collection.
There have been events devoted to the music of Abba, Prince and David Bowie, as well as nights celebrating guilty pleasures and 90s R&B.
It now regularly attracts sellout crowds and McElwain has taken the concept to Cork, Galway and Kilkenny. It’s also fast becoming a mainstay of the Irish festival scene with McElwain hosting events at Body & Soul, Electric Picnic, The Beatyard and Ballymaloe Litfest.
Nathalie Marquez Courtney Nathalie Marquez Courtney
The success of Sing Along Social has been completely organic and accidental. McElwain says she had “literally no idea” it would catch on, but she cites the “silliness” of the event as one of the main reasons why it has resonated with people.
“The Sing Along Social gives people permission to tap into the fun of singing without any of the pressure of performance,” she says. “It doesn’t matter if you don’t even know the words or can’t sing, you can still sing along.”
If you can’t see the video, click here
For McElwain, there are too many highlights to count. There was the time hundreds of people came over the hill at Body & Soul to sing along to Man! I Feel Like A Woman. Or the time the crowd fashioned an impromptu magic carpet out of a pub rug for A Whole New World. As well as…
And isn’t that what Sing Along Social is all about? Shedding your cynicism and allowing yourself to experience the exhilaration of belting out, say, The Chain by Fleetwood Mac until you feel dizzy with delight. (McElwain cites that number as being “particularly useful when bringing strangers together”.)
Following on from their stint at last week’s Body & Soul last week, Sing Along Social is preparing to go on the road again and will appear at The Clonmel Junction Festival on 9th of July and the Galway Arts Festival on 19th of July.
There are also plans afoot for an appearance at Electric Picnic and an All-Ireland Tour in October.
In other words, it’s showing no signs of slowing down.
Amen.
To keep up with Sing Along Social, you can like them on Facebook here or follow them on Instagram here.
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chats sing along social sing your heart out