• Belfast Photo Festival 2015

    May 7, 2015 - By 

    Presenting one of the leading International Festivals of photography in the UK and the Visual Arts Festival of Northern Ireland, Belfast Photo Festival will return to the city from June 4-30 with an extraordinarily varied programme. With a whole host of exhibitions, workshops, masterclasses, talks, tours, screenings and portfolio reviews on the cards over the four weeks, the festival – which has been two years in the making – will include work by major international photographers alongside Northern Ireland’s finest photographic talent. Highlights from this year’s outing for the festival include To Camera, a group exhibition at the Golden Thread Gallery,…

  • Festival of Fools 2015

    May 1, 2015 - By 

    Nothing short of an annual Belfast Bank Holiday institution, Festival of Fools returns this weekend with 120 free comedy street shows, including clowns from Spain, acrobats from Australia and Tanzania, not to mention a whole array of Northern Irish performers. Running from Friday, May 1 until Monday, May 4, approximately 40 acts per day will speckle the streets with an array of the brilliant and bizarre performances. Go here to check out the full schedule for the festival.

  • Festival Preview: Indiependence

    April 23, 2015 - By 

    Cork’s major entry on the national festival calendar (and therefore the most important), Indiependence has established itself as one of the major festivals of the summer, typically by serving up diverse, quality line-ups in a relatively intimate setting, limiting admissions to 5,000, amid the fields of Deer Farm in Mitchelstown, the festival’s home since moving out from the town square way back (early iterations of the festival featured headline sets from Coolio and Dannii Minogue, among others, before it truly hit its stride as a camping weekender). This year’s announcements so far have been nothing short of quality, with Ash,…

  • Life Festival

    April 22, 2015 - By 

    Now in its tenth year, the Life Festival takes place at Mullingar’s Belvedere House & Gardens on the weekend of May 29-31. Headlining is hip-hop icon NAS, performing his out-and-out masterpiece, Illmatic. Also on the bill are the likes of: Squarepusher, Siriusmodeselektor, Eats Everything, The Underachievers, a live set from Gold Panda, Ben Klock, Jurassic 5’s Nu-Mark, Optimo, Sunil Sharpe, Motor City Drum Ensemble, Pantha Du Prince, Skream, Ten Walls, Ratking, Derrick Carter, The Magician, Maceo Plex, Kölsch, Robert Hood, Alle Farben, Oneman, Luke Vibert, Jasper James, High Contrast, Ben UFO, Ame, and many more. Tickets, priced at €145, are available from the Life Festival.

  • BARE in the Woods

    April 17, 2015 - By 

    June is traditionally a stacked month in terms of live excursions around the country, but following its acclaimed debut last year, one-day festival B.A.R.E. in the Woods looks set to stake its place in the Irish festival calendar with an-already impressive line-out of music, and a brand-new comedy stage in the woods of Garrynahinch, Co. Laois. The music line-up is an exciting one to say the least, headlined by returning UK hip-hop legend Roots Manuva. The brutally-honest South Londoner is renowned for his multi-layered lyrics and rich vein of cultural references throughout his music, delivered in his inimitable style, a…

  • Festival Preview: Belfast Film Festival 2015

    April 12, 2015 - By 

    Time to dig out your best sitting-down trousers, as the Belfast Film Festival returns for its fifteenth year. With over one hundred films in ten days, it’s part celebration, part endurance test. Opening night duties fall to local legend Mark Cousins (pictured), premiering his I Am Belfast, a dream-like exploration of the city’s identity and history that promises to go beyond across-the-barricade clichés (Cousins’ meditation on D. H. Lawrence, 6 Desires, is also being screened). At the tail-end of the programme is Stephen Fingleton’s post-collapse drama The Survivalist, with Martin McCann as a loner living off the land amongst the…

  • Festival Preview: Folkfest

    April 9, 2015 - By 

    Last month saw the announcement of Folkfest, a brand-new festival out of Killarney boasting a varied line-up of contemporary, traditional and alternative folk, happening in the INEC from July 24th to 26th. Hitting a cross-section between modern, “destination” festival and folk weekender, the INEC plays host to four stages over the course of three days, and Folkfest boasts a hugely diverse line-up to satisfy the most eclectic of folk connoisseurs. On top of a Main Stage and a Ballroom stage that will house the headliners and old faves, the Acoustic Club stage plays host to intimate, contemporary performances from, among…

  • Vantastival @ Bellurgan Park, Co. Louth

    April 3, 2015 - By 

    When they say Vantastival is one of the Irish festival circuit’s best-kept secrets, it’s not some line they’re feeding you. A family-run event, over the past six years, Bellurgan Park, Co.Louth-based fest has been built up completely from scratch, “a totally unique, brazenly independent event and the only one of its kind in Ireland”, and its sixth annual instalment, running from May 1st to 3rd, is looking like a cracker. Headlined this year by reunited Welsh rap-rockers Goldie Lookin’ Chain, and Irish indie-pop veterans Delorentos, the multiple-award nominated fest also places the spotlight on a diverse range of Irish bands…

  • Distorted Perspectives Festival

    March 25, 2015 - By 

    An altogether stellar celebration of modern experimental psych music, art and film, Distorted Perspectives will return to Letterkenny’s Regional Culture Centre this Spring with a thoroughly impressive line-up. Set to take place across Thursday April 30-Sunday May 3, the festival will boast established acts including Ulrich Schanuss and Moon Duo (above), as well as some of the country’s finest psych, electronic, noise-pop and acoustic acts including Autumns, Clanns, Documenta, Nyt Bloomer and Robyn G Shiels. Check out the poster below for full line-up and where to buy tickets.

  • Forbidden Fruit 2015

    March 25, 2015 - By 

    Probably the finest hip-hop and electronic-oriented festival bill we’ll see on the island this year, Forbidden Fruit returns to the Royal Hospital Kilmainham on the weekend from Friday, May 29 – Sunday, May 31. Some of the highlights announced thus far are: Friday – The hugely successful Fatboy Slim, the immensely talented The Wire & Luther actor Idris Elba, who’s been carving out a credible name for himself as an electronic & hip-hop artist between and during jobs, incredibly talented American-Chilean musician Nicolas Jaar & Disciples Saturday – seminal NYC hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan, Jamie XX, Earl Sweatshirt, a three-hour set from Mr Scruff, Mount Kimbie, a DJ set from Groove Armada, Joey Bada$$, Tensnake, Ejeca, Damian Lazarus and the Booka Brass Band. Sunday…