The Essential Festival Guide: August - October

Each day this week, we'll be bringing you our rundown of the best festival throughout each of the summer months, including where to go and what to expect when you get there.

AUGUST

Castlepalooza
August 4-6, Charleville Castle, Tullamore, Co. Offaly.
Wild Beasts, Girl Band, David Kitt, Shit Robot, Waze & Odyssey, Heroes In Hiding, I Have A Tribe, King Bones, Lumo Club, Abstract, Home Beat, Bedlam, Major Problems, Wolff, Tu-Ki, Damola and more.
Day tickets €59, weekend tickets €115.
castlepalooza.com
Hidden away in Ireland’s oldest primordial oak woods, Charleville Castle provides Castlepalooza with its unique Gothic-style setting. While the main festival attractions are located in the surrounding grounds, festivalgoers are also granted exclusive access to events taking place inside the restored rooms of the castle, including art exhibitions, film screenings, workshops and a new Courtyard Chillout Area. There are chuckles aplenty, too, with the likes of Colm O’Regan, PJ Gallagher and Deirdre O’Kane performing in the Laughter Lab, and some seriously swanky camping options.

Arcadian Field
August 5-6, Bellurgan Park, Dundalk, Co. Louth.
Bellurganpark.ie
Now in its second year, this two-day camping festival takes place in the breath-taking grounds of Bellurgan Park. Nestled at the foot of the Cooley Mountain range, the unique setting fosters an intimate and positive vibe. The weekend performances will include music, spoken word, poetry, informative talks, theatre and acrobatics. The various events will take place inside the house, in the connecting walled gardens and on the larger Valhalla stage. Although the Arcadian Field 2017 acts haven’t been announced yet, this grassroots event promises to bring us the best in local music, art and culture.

The Beatyard
Dun Laoghaire Harbour, Dublin
August 5 & 6
Mark Ronson, Bananarama, Air, Toots & The Maytals, Candi Staton, Kíla, Katie Kim, Rusangano Family, Horse Meat Disco, Larry Heard and more.
Day tickets €59, weekend tickets €89
the-beatyard.com
Gazing out on the Irish Sea, this tasty newcomer has a deejaying Mark Ronson and returning French electronic heroes Air as its respective Saturday and Sunday headliners. A street food market, craft drinks and a computer and board games area add to the fun.

Indiependence Music & Arts Festival
August 4-6, Mitchelstown, Co. Cork.
Manic Street Preachers, Tom Odell, The Coronas, Hermitage Green, Sigma, All Tvvins, Frank Turner, The Riptide Movement, Brian Deady, We Cut Corners, Fangclub, Stephanie Rainey, The Minutes, Beoga, Overhead, The Albatross and more.
Tickets €119.
indiependencefestival.com
Set on the expansive, tree-lined Deer Farm, with the Galtee Mountains as a backdrop, Indiependence has come to sit alongside Woodstock and Glastonbury as proof that something magical happens when music and the countryside meet. INDIE17 once again features a line-up that leans heavily on homegrown talent, with Dublin rockers The Coronas joining Tom Odell and the Manic Street Preachers, making only their second ever visit to the Rebel County, among the star turns. Making its Mitchelstown bow will be Heineken®’s music platform, bringing an exciting array of global sounds to the 10,000-capacity festival.

Revival Festival
August 12, The Square, Listowel, Co. Kerry.
Making its debut in 2016, Revival is the collective brainchild of the Mike The Pies, Joe’s, Flanagan’s, The Shebeen, Christy’s Well, The Racecourse, Con Dillon’s and The Horseshoe bar-folk, in association with Heineken. Last year’s event saw The Riptide Movement, The Stunning, and The Frank and Walters all take to the stage in The Square. And, while the 2017 line-up has yet to be unveiled, we’ve been promised that another legendary Irish band will be headlining. One of the stars will be Listowel itself, a beautiful heritage town situated on the River Feale.

Groove Festival
August 19-20, Kilruddery House, Co. Wicklow.
Primal Scream, UB40, The FitzaFrenic, Hudson Taylor, Hothouse Flowers, Cry Before Dawn, Jerry Fish and more.
Day tickets are €49.50, weekend tickets €74.50. Family passes and passes for minors also available.
groovefestival.ie
Located in the stunning Kilruddery House grounds, Groove is a family-friendly festival that packs an impressive musical punch. UK rock lengends Primal Scream, and UB40, the world’s most successful reggae band, will join over 25 international and local acts appearing across two stages. Among its other attractions are gourmet food offerings, silent discos, the outdoor Sylvan Theatre, and an incredible water lily garden.

Charlie Chaplin Comedy Festival
August 24-27, Waterville, Co.Kerry.
chaplinfilmfestival.com
This year marks the seventh annual Charlie Chaplin Comedy Festival, which honours the pioneering spirit of the great filmmaker. It’s packed with screenings, guest speakers including Patrick Bergin, workshops, circus performances, street entertainers, art exhibitions, amusement rides, a film competition and pop-up improvised comedy. For good measure, there’ll also be more than a few screenings of Chaplin classics. You won’t get this anywhere else in the country.

Vital Festival
August 26 & second date TBC, Boucher Playing Fields, Belfast. DJ Tiesto, Clean Bandit, Robin Schulz, Sigala, Disciples and more. Tickets £44.
mcd.ie/artists/vital-festival
Having previously welcomed the world class likes of Avicii, Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Stone Roses, Vital recently confirmed superstar Dutch DJ Tiesto as the first of its two 2017 headliners. With a tasty undercard, expect dance fans from all over the island to converge on Belfast for the gig. Stay tuned to hotpress.com for details of who’ll be playing the second Boucher Playing Fields extravaganza.

Day Tripper
August 26, The Gasworks, Waterford City, Co. Waterford.
UB40, with more acts to be announced.
Tickets €42.50.
daytripper.ie
For its fifth instalment, Day Tripper moves to a new site at the Gasworks on the Waterside. Headlining on the Saturday are UB40 who’ll be taking a liberal stroll through a back catalogue that dates back to 1978, and includes such massive hits as ‘One In Ten’, ‘Red Red Wine’, ‘Cherry Oh Baby’, ‘If It Happens Again’, ‘(I Can’t Help) Falling in Love With You’ and ‘Rat In Mi Kitchen’. It’s yet to be announced who’ll join the reggae legends, but we’ve no doubt that the south-east’s favourite festival will once again be out to impress.

Harvest Country Music Festival 2017
August 26-27, Westport House, Co. Mayo & Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh.
Nathan Carter, Miranda Lambert, Charley Pride, Dan & Shay, Maddie & Tae, Sam Palladio, Kip Moore, The Shires, Ward Thomas, Mo Pitney and more.
Weekend tickets €140/£120.
aikenpromotions.com
A brand new festival, Harvest 2017 takes place over two days in the country music strongholds of Mayo and Fermanagh. 40 international and Irish acts will perform across four stages at each event, with such Nashville royalty as Miranda Lambert and Country Music Hall of Famer Charley Pride rubbing shoulders with that most inimitable of crowd-pleasers, Nathan Carter. Not to be missed!

SEPTEMBER

Electric Picnic
Sep 1-3, Stradbally, Co. Laois.
The xx, A Tribe Called Quest, Duran Duran, Chaka Khan, London Grammar, Pete Tong Presents Ibiza Classics, Father John Misty, Run The Jewels, Madness, Annie Mac, The Pretenders, Rag N’ Bone Man, The Divine Comedy, Band Of Horses, Soulwax, Michael Kiwanuka, Vince Staples, Mano Le Tough, Floating Points, Young Fathers, Perfume Genius, Pond and more.
Tickets sold out.
electricpicnic.ie
The flagship event of the Irish festival calendar returns with one of its strongest line-ups yet. Before any acts had been revealed, organisers reported that Electric Picnic had sold out every single one of its tickets for the first time ever. Festival-goers took a chance, and they were richly rewarded back in March when The xx, 90s rap pioneers A Tribe Called Quest and the legendary Duran Duran were revealed as the respective Friday, Saturday and Sunday night headliners. Along with the Main Stage action, the likes of MindField, Body & Soul, Salty Dog, Rankin’s Wood, Comedy Tent, Trailer Park, Jerry Fish Electric Sideshow, Trenchtown, Heineken Sound Atlas, Global Green and Casa Bacardi all have their loyal festival within a festival followings.

OCTOBER

Sligo Live: Ireland’s Folk, Roots & Indie Festival
October 25-30, Various venues, Co. Sligo.
Tickets €119.
sligolive.ie
The ideal answer to those post-summer blues, Sligo Live proves that we Irish can still burn that festival summer oil right the way into winter. Set in the picturesque northwest, it runs the full musical gamut from pop and trad to roots and rock ‘n’ roll, with Rodrigo Y Gabriela, Saw Doctors, Orchid Collective, Paul Brady and Little Green Cars among the 2016 headliners. The first major line-up announcement is expected soon.