In the new issue: Foo Fighters grace the cover as they return with Your Favorite Toy – and we look ahead to festival season 2026

From major festivals and outdoor gigs, to eagerly anticipated album releases, there's so much to look forward to over the weeks and months ahead – which is why we're bringing you our action-packed 2026 Festival Special Issue of Hot Press, featuring Foo Fighters as our cover stars, as they get set to unleash their brand new LP, Your Favorite Toy...

“We roam in a pack,” says Dave Grohl, as Foo Fighters return with their angriest, heaviest and most personal record yet. Dave and Nate Mendel talk to Stuart Clark about the making of Your Favorite Toy, family, Oasis, U2, KNEECAP, and running riot in Kerry.

Photo: Elizabeth Miranda

With festival season almost upon us, we're put together a massive Festival Special, highlighting everything you need to know about all the most exciting live events lined up over the months ahead – from star-studded music festivals, to wonderful celebrations of food, books, film, dance, theatre, wellness, and more. Plus: special festival insights from Kasabian, Madra Salach, Kean Kavanagh, BIIRD, The Wran and mischa and the bear...

Elsewhere in the new issue – available to pre-order now:

Following the sad news of the death of Moya Brennan this week, Hot Press editor Niall Stokes pays tribute to "a true, majestic icon of Irish music."

Tallaght in the 1970s wasn’t the most likely place for a future triple Oscar-winner to be born, but CG guru – and graduate of City of Dublin FET College Ballyfermot – Richard Baneham has gone from watching films in The Classic cinema to working on some of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters. He sits down to talk Avatar, The Lord Of The Rings, Elton John, Jessie Buckley, AI and the other Irish animators and CG experts who’ve conquered Tinsel Town.

Arlo Parks talks to Will Russell about channeling the pulse of club culture on her third album, Ambiguous Desire – which brilliantly blends dancefloor energy with intimate storytelling.

Credit: Joshua Gordon

The unveiling of mystery act TOMORA as Chemical Brother Tom Rowlands and Aurora comes as no surprise in retrospect – the duo sound like a band with 10 albums under their belt on new LP Come Closer. They discuss creating their own little world and the importance of connection with Riccardo Dwyer.

On the eve of the release of their brilliant third album, Mise Tusa, Rónán Ó Snodaigh & Myles O’Reilly take Will Russell through their creative process.

Belfast-based author Jan Carson discusses her brilliant new novel Few And Far Between, which uses the ongoing ecological crisis at Lough Neagh as a metaphor for the issues haunting Northern Ireland.

As she releases her new EP, Something is a shell, and gears up for a headline show at the National Stadium, LA-raised alt-pop visionary Sofia Isella discusses Sylvia Plath, disturbing Bible verses, and opening for Taylor Swift and Florence + The Machine.

Having appear in the film version of Les Misérables, navigated the Marvel Universe and become one of Zack Synder’s go-to men, Fra Fee now has a starring role in religious cult drama, Unchosen. The Sound Of Music, British army helicopters, Derry Girls, Zack Polanski and Imelda May are also up for discussion as the Tyrone actor meets Hot Press.

Fra Fee in Unchosen - Netflix

With the Israeli war on Iran having expanded to the wider Middle East, Lebanon is among the countries to have come under attack, with hundreds killed in the latest strikes. Irish-Lebanese actor Natacha Karam gives her perspective on the situation…

Author Djamel White talks to Paul Nolan about his compelling debut All Them Dogs, interning at Roddy Doyle’s Fighting Words, and his love of Love/Hate, The Sopranos and The Wire.

Stars Séamus McLean Ross, Samuel Bottomley and Lucy Halliday on lies, rap, class and the cost of becoming someone else in California Schemin’, James McAvoy’s audacious directorial debut.

And that's just a taste of what you can look forward to in this riveting new issue – in shops this week, and available to pre-order now: