The Essential Festival Guide: July

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.

Trinity College Summer Series
Jul 6-11, College Park, Trinity College, Dublin.
Bell X1, alt-J, Pixies, Two Door Cinema Club, James Vincent McMorrow, Frightened Rabbit, Circa Waves and Fangclub.
Tickets priced at €54.65 for Pixies and alt-J and €44.05 for the other gigs.
A fantastic new festival that doesn’t involve you carting around a tent and a pair of wellies, the Trinity College Summer Series takes place in the beautiful grounds of College Park, right in the beating heart of Dublin city. Running over six consecutive nights, the hugely impressive line-up includes those all-conquering indie legends, Pixies, who just get better and better live and our Festival Special cover stars, BellX1.

Iveagh Gardens
Iveagh Gardens, Dublin 2
July 6-23
Future Islands, Aslan, Olly Murs, Fleet Foxes, Nathan Carter, Dropkick Murphys, Belle & Sebastian, Damien Dempsey & Passenger
See Ticketmaster.ie for individual gig ticket details.
Venues really don’t come any more city-centre - or beautiful - than the Iveagh Gardens, a public park accessed from Harcourt Street. Running over 10 hopefully hot July nights, the line-up of Irish and international acts this year is stunning.

Folkfest Killarney
July 7-9, INEC, Muckross Road, Killarney, Co. Kerry.
Bollywood Masala Orchestra, Lisa Hannigan, Hothouse Flowers, Lisa O’Neill, Lankum, Ye Vagabonds and more.
Day tickets from €29, weekend passes from €79.
folkfestkillarney.com
Grammy-nominated superstar Femi Kuti, whose unique take on Afro-beat has been described as the most exciting sound to emerge from Nigera in years, headlines this event for true music connoisseurs. On top of this, supergroup The Bollywood Masala Orchestra will treat us to a feast of Indian sounds. Lisa Hannigan, Lisa O’Neil and Wallis Bird, three of Ireland’s leading female vocalists, also make the trip to the Kingdom, while Hothouse Flowers – fresh from getting a publicity kick up the backside courtesy of Jeremy Clarkson and The Grand Tour – will be doing their celebrated trad rock thing. With Killarney National Park just down the road, it’s a wonderful weekend getaway.

Ballina Salmon Festival
July 9-16, Ballina, Co. Mayo.
ballinasalmonfestival.ie
One of the largest annual community-based festivals in the West of Ireland, this eight-day extravaganza attracts crowds of up to 250,000 to North Mayo. Ballina Salmon Festival prides itself on its community roots, with a huge team of volunteers putting on a programme that encompasses music, sports, street theatre, fireworks, river events, exhibitions, fishing, children’s events and lots more. Live music has always been at the heart of the event, whether it’s big bands in the Market Square, local acts playing the pub trail, the annual sreet busking competition or trad, jazz or classical music nights in Ballina Arts Centre.

Galway Film Fléadh
July 11-16, various venues Galway.
galwayfilmfleadh.com
When it comes to film festivals, Galway’s been doing it better than almost everyone else for the past 27 years. The Fleadh has cemented its reputation as the place to see new Irish cinema, with the six-day event attracting top-drawer actors, directors, industry experts and popcorn-muching movie buffs alike.

Longitude
July 14-16, Marlay Park, Co. Dublin.
The Weeknd, Mumford & Sons, Stormzy, Skepta, Picture This, Jack Garratt, Catfish and the Bottlemen, Baaba Maal, Kaytranada, Glass Animals, Mac Miller, Glass Animals, Wiley, Dua Lipa, Milky Chance and more.
Day tickets €69.50, weekend tickets €189.50.
longitude.ie
Crowned ‘Best Medium Festival’ at the 2016 Irish Festival Awards and a previous IMRO Live Music Festival of the Year winner, Longitude has quickly established itself as one of Europe’s leading urban events, with a plethora of top acts performing in a lush woodland setting. Located nine kilometres from Dublin city centre, the Friday is being headlined by Grime King, Stormzy, with The Weeknd topping Saturday’s bill and Mumford & Sons staging a Gentlemen Of The Road takeover on Sunday, with Senegalese legend Baaba Maal among their specially invited guests.

Galway International Arts Festival
July 17-30, Galway City.
Brian Wilson presents Pet Sounds, Gavin James, The Coronas, Passenger, Woyzeck In Winter and more.
giaf.ie
A creative collision of performance, music, visual art and discussion, this is one of Ireland’s biggest, most vibrant and exciting events, offering a wide range of experiences from world-class theatre to impromptu musical performances on the city’s winding streets. From the party atmosphere at the Big Top to the quiet contemplation of the festival galleries, the City of the Tribes is transformed over the course of the fortnight with crowds in excess of 200,000.

Townlands Carnival
July 21-23, Leades House, Rusheen Farm, Macroom, Co. Cork.
The Rubberbandits, Soothsayers, Jack O’Rourke, Dan Sykes, Hvmmingbyrd, Mama Kasbah, City Samba Band, Colin Deady, Luki, Cranky Face, Cula Bula and more.
Tickets start from €105
townlandscarnival.com
The Mayor of Townlands has waved his thorny stick and demanded more reggae, rock, folk, blues, dance, drum and bass and electronic than ever before this year. Boasting festival-goers as fun and diverse as their performers, and a strong family element to boot, this carnival of culture is one of a kind. A festival shuttle bus runs from Cork City to the beautiful woodlands site where American Indian tipis, Mongolian yurts and bell tents are among the glamping options.

Sunflower Festival
July 28-30, Tubby’s Farm, Hillsborough, Co. Down.
Le Galaxie, Malojian, Rubberbandits, King Kong Company, Electric Swing Circus, Ryan Vail, Or:la, Too Many T’s, Damola, Decomposing In Paris and more.
Weekend tickets from £59.95.
sunflowerfest.co.uk
Taking place in the beautiful confines of Tubby’s Farm just outside of Hillsborough, this is a friendly, broad-minded weekend festival of music and arts. From pop and rock to electronic and however you classify Rubberbandits, the booking policy is wonderfully eclectic.