Two days of great music, boutique treats and foodie deligths will kick off this weekend when the third Body & Soul festival will open its doors at Ballinlugh Castle in Westmeath. The festival has assembled its finest line-up so far, including Villagers, M83, St Vincent, SertOne, The Herbaliser and many more all converging on the festival.

We've put together a brief Body & Soul playlist below to get you in the mood for what is one of the finest small-scale festivals this country has to offer. Check it out below!

 

M83

Music fans across Ireland have been clamouring for an M83 show in this country since the release last October of Hurry Up, We're Dreaming which topped numerous end of year 'Best of' lists. No better location to see them than Body & Soul.

Spiritualized

Even though the group are now over 22 years old, the dreamy rock from England's Spiritualized still sounds as fresh as ever. The band released their seventh album Sweet Heart Sweet Light in April and Body & Soul will be the among the first times that they will have played their new material in a live setting.

Villagers

Preparations are well under way for the second Villagers album. Conor O'Brien and his band played a couple of warm-up gigs in Limerick and Dundalk in recent days to road test the new material in a live setting, but you get the feeling that the Body & Soul set is the real coming out party for the new stuff. This should be one of the highlights of the weekend.

Django Django

Scottish pop-rockers Django Django have stepped into the position formerly occupied by The Beta Band in the UK pop pantheon and it fits them well. Their self-titled debut album is among the best records we've heard all year and we can't wait to see how it translates to the stage.

Rhob Cunningham

Dublin's Rhob Cunningham has been busy man. The man who once went by the moniker Our Little Secrets has put in the hours lately supporting Lisa Hannigan and James Vincent McMorrow on various tours both and home and abroad, as well as festival appearances at Camden Crawl Dublin and the upcoming Body & Soul and Westport Festival. Should be one of Body & Soul's hidden treasures.