Orla Gartland, Villagers, John Grant to headline Night & Day Festival

Orla Gartland, Villagers, John Grant and The Zutons have been announced as headliners at this year's Night & Day festival, slated to take place this coming autumn.

The two-day camping festival will take place on the grounds of Clonalis House, Castlerea, Co. Roscommon on September 24 and 25.

Clonalis House is home to the O’Connor family, who are described as "direct descendants of the last High Kings of Connacht." The 700 acre heavily woodland grounds potentially offer an ideal setting for a festival. The Night & Day line-up was announced at a launch event in The Workman's Club, Dublin...

Night & Day takes place on the autumn equinox, a time of equal periods of night and day, with the action happening across three tented stages.

Other acts slated to make an appearance alongside Gartland, Villagers, The Zutons and John Grant on the Queen Meab (Main Stage) include The Mary Wallopers, Cathy Davey, Moxie, Alana Henderson, Paddy Dennhey, Columbia Mills, Amy Montgomery and Soda Blonde.

Acts to appear on the Sol stage include A Smyth, Junior Brother, Maija Sofia, Niwel Tsumba, Sprints, Wood Burning Savages, Jealous of the birds, The Zen Arcade, Jester and Arlene.

The Luna stage will begin with political debate, a ‘big interview’ on each day as well as performances from R Kitt, Neil Flynn, Niki K, Houseplants, AE Mak and Colin Perkins.

The festival organisers (Cruachan Productions) outlined their vision for a festival that will see local brewers, distillers and artisan food stalls on site throughout the weekend.

The festival is a strictly over 20s event, but under 12s can enter for free when accompanied by an adult.

There will be a full programme of family friendly events taking place in the walled garden, including: workshops with ancient musical instruments; storytelling with experts from the Rathcroghan visitor centre; and interactive music performances by Ceol Connected.

Speaking at the launch, festival director Brendan Hurley, who is teh founder of the Claremorris Folk Festival, said: “We can’t wait to bring some of the biggest international and Irish acts to Clonalis House. Work on the festival began before Covid-19 arrived, but the pandemic meant we couldn’t make it a reality until now.

“We think our carefully curated line-up will appeal to music lovers who want to hear the best Irish and international acts, and explore the best new talent in the country.

“The decision to limit tickets to 2,000 is to ensure everything runs smoothly in our first year, but our plan is to slowly build up capacity in the coming years,” he continued.

Head of Communications Craig Hughes, who works with the Irish Daily Mail as a political correspondent, added: “It’s really exciting to launch a music festival, but even more so to do so in a part of the country where we grew up and that has been under-served in terms of live music events for far too long.

“We’re confident that there’s an appetite among music lovers in the west of Ireland and throughout the country to make this festival an annual event,” he said.

Ballymore are the main sponsor of the event, which is also supported by Harmac Medical and Ireland West Knock Airport.

Tickets will go on sale on 11 March at nightandday.ie.

Revisit our interviews with Orla Gartland and Villagers ahead of their sets.