Compiled by Garbhan Downey
The greatest showcase on earth …
It was beyond epic. In 2013, Derry staged more than 500 major events and welcomed hundreds of thousands of visitors to the biggest celebration of music, drama, art, literature and culture ever seen on this island.
Everyone wanted to be part of it: Danny Boyle, Frank Cottrell-Boyce, Sam Shepard, Robbie Williams, Ellie Goulding, Lee Child, Carol Ann Duffy, Paul Greengrass, Chic, Status Quo, Royal Shakespeare Company, Walled City Tattoo, Other Voices, Radio 1’s Big Weekend, Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann, Lumiere, Turner Prize, and many more.
Derry’s own cultural community led the way through luminaries like the late, great Seamus Heaney, Brian Friel, Brian McGilloway, Field Day Theatre Company, The Undertones, Snow Patrol, Neil Hannon, Phil Coulter, Dana, Nadine Coyle, Bronagh Gallagher, Paul Casey, Soak, Maurice Harron, Willie Doherty and Margo Harkin.
And the people made it theirs. Countless performers of all ages, amateur and professional, contributed to the non-stop cavalcade of fun and festivals, the highlight of which was the spectacular citywide Return of Colmcille Pageant.
Undoubtedly, 2013 was the year in which Derry became the centre of the world. A year of breathless and beautiful action. A sea-change year of ceaseless and peerless culture.
Above all, as this book shows, 2013 was the year the city of legends became The LegenDerry City.
