This year’s Vantastival will offer the opportunity for unsigned bands to take part in the Battle of Bands, a competition introduced by the European Firestone Music Festival Tour.

Firestone Music Tour is an original sponsorship program to support emerging creative talents from all over Europe. The program gives rising artists the chance to perform on various shows, concerts and festivals held across the continent.

Vantastival director Louise Tangney said: “We are delighted to welcome Firestone back to Vantastival following the popularity of their new music stage at last year’s festival. This competition is a fantastic opportunity for up-and-coming acts to win a really valuable prize and we are thrilled to be involved.”

Chosen from hundreds of applicants, in this year’s Battle of Bands twelve bands from Co. Louth and Monaghan get the chance to win a prize worth up to €4000.

The initial online phase will reduce the twelve bands to five finalists who will play live in Odd Mollies venue in Drogheda on May 11.

The winning band, which will be chosen by an expert judging panel comprising journalist Tony Clayton-Lea and award-winning Today FM sound engineer Gavin Blake, as well as Vantastival and Firestone representatives, will apart from winning a prize package, be featured as the headline act on the Firestone Music Station stage at Vantastival 2017 and as a Main Stage act at Vantastival 2018.

All twelve bands taking part in the competition will also perform live on the Firestone Music stage this year.

Firestone Ireland’s marketing manager Colm Conyngham said: “We are delighted to offer an opportunity to encourage new and emerging musical talent to show off their skills, in conjunction with Vantastival. We hope we will be able to provide a platform that will assist new music artists to the next step on the ladder and we can’t wait to start listening to the work of many musicians.”