• KnockanStockan 2016

    March 1, 2016 - By 

    Having expanding to three days due to demand, annual Wicklow independent music and arts festival KnockanStockan will return to Blessington Lakes across the weekend of July 22-24 for its tenth anniversary outing. Calling it a “celebration of the last 10 years of Irish music”, this year’s festival will also play host to special ‘Honorary Guests’ that won’t be identified until they take to stage. Bettine McMahon from the festival said, “We really want the element of a birthday surprise at this years festival, so our lineup is under lock and key right now, even most of the crew don’t know…

  • Belsonic Reveal First Acts, New Location

    February 26, 2016 - By 

    Attributing it to a higher demand for tickets in recent years, it’s been announced that Belfast multi-night festival Belsonic will relocate to the Titanic Building for its 9th outing this June. Launched at Katy Daly’s last night, Foals (frontman Yannis Philippakis, pictured) Biffy Clyro and Faithless were amongst the first headliners revealed to play the festival, taking place two months prior to its usual August slow. See below for the full line-up as it stands. Tickets for Belsonic 2016 go on sale on Friday, March 4 at 9am, priced from £29.50 (and booking fee).

  • Caribou, Cat Power and more for Castlepalooza

    February 25, 2016 - By 

    Marking its tenth anniversary, Castlepalooza will return to Charleville Castle, Tullamore in Co. Offaly from July 1 to July 3 this year. With more acts to be revealed in the coming weeks, Caribou, Jurassic 5, Cat Power, Villagers, Romare, Colm Mac Con Iomaire and Cork’s The Altered Hours are amongst the first acts announced to play the annual summer festival. See below for the first announcement in full. Tickets for Castlepalooza 2016 are priced at €134 and €115 (without camping) and go on sale this Monday.

  • First acts announced for Body & Soul

    February 24, 2016 - By 

    Easily their most eclectic first announcement to date, Body & Soul have announced the first acts set to play their return to Westmeath’s Ballinlough Castle from June 17-19. With some of the very best Irish acts accounted for in the form of EMBRZ, Rusangano Family, Talos and Forrests, the big-hitters this year (so far) are Santigold, St. Germain, Mercury Rev, Wolf Parade, Floating Points, Badbadnotgood, Junior Boys and Mark Kozelek’s Sun Kil Moon. Tier 4 & 5 tickets for Body & Soul are available to buy here.

  • F_Festival 2016

    February 17, 2016 - By 

    A new, free multifaceted platform aimed at generating visibility and equality for women in the arts, the inaugural F_Festival will inhabit various iconic Dublin venues with an eclectic spectrum of female artists across March 12-13. With the main focus of the festival being art, film, spoken word, comedy and discussions, its main objective is to “highlight inequality within the arts community with a showcase from some of Ireland’s brightest female talent” in venues including Hangar, The Grand Social, Wigwam, Film Base, The Back Loft, Sweeney’s and The Gallery of Photos. Will full line-up information to be released, keep an eye on…

  • NI Science Festival 2016

    February 15, 2016 - By 

    Is there anything more satisfying than flicking through a freshly-printed, beautifully designed festival programme bursting with every shade of varyingly mind-expanding and curiousity-sating event? Having recently had that very same experience checking out the programme for this year’s forthcoming NI Science Festival we swiftly discovered that the short (and long) answer to that is no. Set to return to various venues across the North of the country from February 18-28, the festival will be divided into many day and night events. During the day the festival will present a range of workshops, talks and interactive activities for young people, parents and schools. In the…

  • First Acts Revealed for Forbidden Fruit

    February 9, 2016 - By 

    Tame Impala, Jungle and Underworld are amongst the first acts announced to play this year’s Forbidden Fruit. Set to return to Dublin’s Royal Hospital Kilmainham during the June Bank Holiday of June 3-5, Flume, Groove Armada, Kiasmos and Battles also feature amongst the first wave of acts to be confirmed. With many more acts set to be announced, check out the current line-up below. Tickets go on sale tomorrow (Wednesday, February 10) at 9am.

  • First Acts Announced for Life Festival

    February 5, 2016 - By 

    One of the strongest first Irish festival announcements we’ve seen in some time, Life Festival revealed today that Paul Kalkbrenner, 2manydjs, Mano Le Tough, John Talabot, Blawan and Joy Orbison are amongst the acts set to make an appearance at Westmeath’s Belvedere House from May 27-29.With a limited number of early bird tickets on sale now, Jeff Mills, Ben Klock, Cyril Hahn, Martyn, Bicep, Jamie Jones and Sunil Sharpe are also amongst the first wave of acts to play the festival’s X1 outing. Go to the Life festival website for full information

  • Townlands Carnival Unveil First Line-up

    February 4, 2016 - By 

    With Irish summer festival announcements creeping up all over the place recently, Co. Cork’s Townlands Carnival have revealed their first string of confirmed acts. Set to return to Macroom from July 8-10, Damien Dempsey, Jerry Fish (pictured), R.S.A.G, Daithi, Talos, Saint Sister, The Altered Hours and the Eskies are amongst the first names to be announced. With quite a few more acts to be unveiled, check out the current line-up below and go here to buy tickets.

  • Women’s Work Festival set for Belfast

    January 14, 2016 - By 

    It’s been revealed that DJ and broadcasting legend Annie Nightingale will kick off the inaugural Women’s Work Festival at Belfast’s Oh Yeah Music Centre on March 4. Set to celebrate great female talent with a series of gigs and showcase events across the five days. It will also provide practical advice, support and spark conversations and debate on the issues surrounding women in music and the wider creative sector. Women’s Work Festival organiser, Charlotte Dryden said: “We want to celebrate great female talent, but also to use the Festival as an opportunity to really talk about and explore a variety of issues…