This Saturday (September 25) and Sunday (26), the historic grounds of Claregalway Castle are set to provide the epic backdrop for Hibernacle: Meet Me At The Castle  – a series of one-day events featuring Lisa Hannigan, Tolü Makay, Saint Sister, Andy Irvine, Wallis Bird, Nealo, Daithí, Jape, DJ Sally Cinnamon and more.

All artists will be playing both the Saturday and the Sunday – the audience changes each day but the line-up stays the same.

Meet Me At The Castle is the latest in a series of events by Hibernacle, the brainchild of three experienced and diverse event organisers: Úna Molloy, Pearse Doherty and Peter Kelly. The first Hibernacle, a collaborative pilgrimage which took place in Doolin, Co. Clare the week before Christmas, brought musicians together for a restorative retreat during the height of the pandemic.

More recent Hibernacle events include Meet Me In The Garden, a series of collaborative shows at The Chestnut Barr in Birr, Co. Offaly, and All Boats Rise, a month-long voyage by barge along the inland waterways of Ireland with folk duo Ye Vagabonds.

"Collaboration and bringing people together has always been a huge part of all three of our collective endeavours and because our ethoses are so aligned, when the opportunity arose to work together, the three of us jumped at it," Úna Molloy says. "Since then Pearse, Peter and myself have just been building our Hibernacle brand, continuing to place the importance of the artist and the full experience of the audience at the heart of every endeavour. Our Hibernacle event at Doolin was one of the most special events I have ever been involved in producing and Meet Me in the Garden, our series running currently in Birr, is an extension of that. Meet Me at The Castle will be a whole new experience. We will keep up our collaborative thread and the festival day will be filled with unique experiences throughout each part of the day.”

Limited tickets are still available for Meet Me At The Castle from their website.

You can also read our recent interviews with Andy Irvine and Wallis Bird about the upcoming gigs.