Lifestyle & Sports
28 May 21

Phoenix Park to Host Trial Music Festival in June with 3,600 attendees

The Taoiseach is due to address the country this evening with a full list of the restrictions that will be eased as the summer progresses, but it seems certain now that open air live music is back on the agenda...

The Cabinet has signed off, Hot Press understands, on a number of trial music and cultural events to take place this summer, with the first festival-type event of the year set to take place in Phoenix Park in June.

The trial festival will host 3,600 seated fans, at what will be the first event of its kind since 2019.

The announcement has been welcomed by music fans all over Ireland, who are eager to return to live music events.

The Phoenix Park event will not be the first open air music event of the summer. That honour, it seems, will fall to the Iveagh Gardens, which will host the inaugural post Covid-lockdown outdoor test music event with 500 people in attendance on June 10th.

Meanwhile, a tentative return to indoor live music is also on the cards. The INEC Killarney will host 200 people at what will be the first indoor event of the summer on June 26th. There will, it seems, also be an opera in the University of Limerick UL Concert Hall on June 23rd with a capacity of 519 patrons.

🎶 #latest

Trial outdoor music events also coming.

All-seater of 3,500 in the Phoenix Park at the end of June - another in Iveagh Gardens in Dublin.

Others to be announced elsewhere in the country https://t.co/KtLBx2e1Gh

— Richard Chambers (@newschambers) May 28, 2021

The Cabinet has also signed off on a new grant scheme of up to €4,000 for "wet pubs", to allow them to adapt their premises ahead of the reopening for outdoor hospitality from June 7.

Full details are due to be announced by Tourism Minister Catherine Martin later.

Attendance numbers for several sporting events that will take place next month have also emerged following proposals brought to Cabinet by Sports Minister, Jack Chambers.

Up to 3,000 spectators will be allowed to attend Croke Park for the Camogie League Final on June 20.

The RDS, Tallaght Stadium, Turner’s Cross, Santry's Morton Stadium and the Curragh will also host major sporting events featuring Leinster, Shamrock Rovers, Drogheda United, Cabinteely and Cork City.

Trial events held in Liverpool in May and April did not cause any detectable increase in Covid-19 cases.

In that Liverpool trial, more than 13,000 people attended two nightclub events, a music festival and a business conference.

Taoiseach Micheal Martin will address the nation this evening with the latest easing of Covid restrictions which will begin to ease from June 2.