Tennent’s Lager have revealed the 16 acts chosen to play at a series of Tennent’s UnTapped showcases, with the ultimate winner going on to perform on the Main Stage at Tennent’s Vital.

This festival takes place over the weekend of August 21 and 22 at Boucher Road Playing Fields, Belfast, and will feature live performances from Foo Fighters, The Black Keys, The Stone Roses and Florence + The Machine.

Entrants have been shortlisted down to 16 finalists, who will now enter a series of four heats, as follows:

Showcase 1: May 16, The Limelight Belfast
Master And Dog
Gerard i2
Havana House Party
Jepettos

Showcase 2: May 17, The Limelight Belfast
City Of Stars
Futurescope
Peter McVeigh
Trucker Diablo

Showcase 3: May 23 , Bound For Boston, Derry
A Northern Light
Best Boy Grip
Mojo GoGo
Rachel Austin

Showcase 4: May 24, Bound For Boston, Derry
Droids
Morning Claws
Pretty Child Backfire
Two Glass Eyes

Two of the shortlisted bands will then be chosen to open the Main Stage at Tennent’s Vital 2012 joining either Foo Fighters,The Black Keys and The Minutes on August 21, or The Stone Roses, Florence + The Machine and Rodrigo Y Gabriela on (22).

Joe Dougan from The Limelight & Shine venue is one of the judges. He commented: “The final 16 are a fantastic representation of the best in new Northern Irish music. The line-up for the showcases is looking fantastic, with a great musical variety and lots of different genres and I can’t wait to see which bands will make it through to play Tennent’s Vital”.

Good luck to all the entrants!