SUMMER FESTIVALS

Festival season has begun with the inaugural Meteor Camden Crawl Dublin, before heading up to Donegal to pay tribute to the venerable Rory Gallagher at his Tribute Festvival at the end of May.. Cork will host its Live at the Marquee series once more starting June 7th before the eclectic delights of Forbidden Fruit, Body & Soul and Sea Sessions brings us into July. The Stone Roses kick off the Phoenix Park Gigs on 5th July. Indiependence and Castlepalooza take centre stage in late July and early August before the behemoth that is Electric Picnic begins on 31st August. Spirit of Folk, the final stop on the festival calendar this year, eases us into Autumn in late September..

Keep your eyes on this SUMMER FESTIVALS SECTION where we'll be providing festival-goers with all the latest news, views, previews and reviews (not to mention exclusive photographs and videos!) throughout Ireland's busy festival schedule. Now, who do we talk to about this weather…?

Castlepalooza E50 tickets available

As far as budget festivals go you could do worse than plump for tickets to Castlepalooza this summer. The festival has been described by The Sunday Business Post as the "best little music festival in Ireland" and by the Irish Times as a "gem of a festival lauded for its camaraderie, small size and wealth of Irish acts" again boasts a stellar line-up, which includes The Charlatans, Ghostpoet, King Charles, Jape, Donal Dineen's Parish Project, Solar Bears,...

Competition :: Win a pair of tickets to Forbidden Fruit!

Fancy winning a pair weekend passes to the Forbidden Fruit festival over the June Bank Holiday Weekend? Well, we've got you covered! All you have to do is visit our Competitions section and answer the (ridiculously...

New acts announced for Indiependence

Ten further acts have been added to the already impressive line-up for Indiependence Music and Arts Festival including The Original Rudeboys, a band who have been making some considerable waves in recent times. Indiependence continues to support local talent too, with Cork based...

Sea Sessions announce a host of new names - including Michael D. Higgins!

Several new acts have been added to the bill for this year's Sea Sessions Surf Music Festival in Donegal - including President Michael D. Higgins! The President will be arriving at the festival on Saturday June 30th and...

Erol Alkan announced as support to Justice at Live at the Marquee

Erol Alkan has been announced as special guest for Justice at the upcoming Live at the Marquee in Cork on June 7th. Recently named DJ of the Year by Mixmag, Alkan has previously played support to Madonna which led on to...

Spirit of Folk announces strong line-up for 2012 festival

The line-up for this year's Spirit of Folk festival has been made public. The three-day family-friendly festival will this year feature John Spillane, The Henry Girls, The Lost Brothers, Lisa O'Neill, as well as a range...

Electric Picnic headliners revealed

While we're still a couple of months away from a proper Electric Picnic timetable (expected late July/early August), but the good people at EP have given us a little taster of what's to come via their official Twitter account. They have revealed the Sigur Ros will be playing on...

Forbidden Fruit stage times unveiled

The stage times for the upcoming Forbidden Fruit festival in Kilmainham have been released. The festival is headlined by Leftfield, New Order, Wilco, Friendly Fires, Death Cab For Cutie and James Vincent McMorrow but also features a whole host of fantastic acts scattered among...

Editor's Thoughts :: Meteor Camden Crawl Dublin

You could almost sense the anticipation. I certainly could, anyway. It was 5.30pm on Friday and months of planning, meetings, interviews, editorial work and all manner of incidentals and had all come down to me putting up posters inside The Mercantile hoping that people would...

British Sea Power among new names for Indiependence

British Sea Power, a Foals DJ set, Horse Meat Disco and Cork house merchants Fish Go Deep have all been added to the Indiependence 2012 line-up, joining The Last Days of 1984, The Pale, Zombie Computer, Slow Motion...

New additions to Forbidden Fruit line-up

A handful of new acts have been announced on Jim Carroll's On The Record blog to appear at Forbidden Fruit over the June Bank Holiday weekend. Saturday will see DFA member (and, incidentally, my housemate's cousin) Shit Robot, Horse Meat Disco and Stay+ play, while Sunday will...