The Leopardstown Christmas Festival will return from December 26-29 this year, with all the festivities, music, entertainment and top class National Hunt Racing that you'd expect.

Across the four days, there'll be performances from the likes of Irish electronic artist Daithi (26), Leopardstown favourite The Conor McKeon Band (27 & 28), and Ryan Sheridan (29).

As one of Ireland's most loved singer-songwriter Sheridan has built up a huge following for himself, rightly earning his place as one of the headliners of this year. We caught up with him ahead of his show.

“I’m excited to be playing this,” he tells Hot Press. “I haven’t played at the Christmas Festival but we’ve done Leopardstown before and it’s a great atmosphere. We'll head down, put some money on a few horses, try our best - I never have much luck with the betting because everyone’s always got a hundred tips and I never know what to think, but maybe this year! Leopardstown's always a great place to be during the day, and there’s always good craic, then it’s a brilliant gig to play in the evening as well.”

What can people expect from his set?

“At the minute I’m just working as a two-piece, but it’s a very high-energy thing, very percussive. I’m going to go in there and get everybody going and keep the spirits high for the entire time we’re on stage."

With hits like 'The Dreamer', 'Jigsaw' and his phenomenal cover of 'Walk On The Air' to his name, Ryan's built up a considerable back-catalogue. Will it be Christmas hits on the evening or old favourites?

“Well I’ve kind of been working on a good set that’s a bit of everything," he explains. "It's a bit of the old stuff, some new stuff, and maybe a Christmas song here and there for the time that’s in it – if the crowd’s not sick of it that is!"

Ryan's last album, Here And Now, was released in 2015. Is he working on anything at the minute?

“I have, yes! I’ve been writing and recording the past six or seven months, so I have new stuff that will be coming out in the New Year.

"It’s always good to play those tracks live to see how they go down before they come out, so that’s what I'm going to do. I’ve five or six new songs I want to showcase live at the minute. The Leopardstown gig will be the first time I’ll be playing a lot of these songs, so I’ll see how everybody reacts to them, and we’ll take it from there.

"The new music will be very music like the older stuff, but it’s more modernised. I kind of wanted to go back to my roots a little bit with the new stuff, so it’s more focused on how it might sound live. I suppose it’s very acoustic-y, but modernised!"

We look forward to hearing it...

For details on how to get your tickets, go here: https://www.leopardstown.com/race-information/press-releases/daith%C3%AD-and-ryan-sheridan-announced-for-leopardstown-christmas-festival/