A look at history of Irish festivals since Féile

Irish Daily Mirror

15-06-2025

Summer festival season has arrived and the near-miss of Beyond the Pale has highlighted the rollercoaster history of large outdoor Irish music events.
Beyond the Pale was under threat until a last-minute emergency lifeline means it continues today in the luscious setting of Glendalough in Wicklow.
Around 12,000 fans feared the worst when a company behind the three-day gig was liquidated with just a week to go – but organisers revealed it all was saved by a 'highly regarded operator who sympathised with the struggles'.
Irish singer-songwriter Roisin Murphy headlines tonight and on goes the comedic, often turbulent, sometimes tragic tale of Ireland's music festivals.
For nearly 45 years, since Slane Castle in 1981, the Irish love of a rock 'n' roll extravaganza has resulted in the good, the bad, the happy, and the sad.
Fans remember the infamy of Ireland's first true music festival Feile that was launched as the Trip to Tipp at Semple Stadium in Thurles in 1991.
Some veterans of the mayhem say Feile, as the first, was the maddest, while Slane in Meath had tragedy, and Witnness and Oxegen had great years.
Feile was truly like nothing Ireland had ever seen before as it was the county's first multi-day music event.
Its magnitude and scale were all new to the organisers, the guards, the fans, the towns, the pubs, and the local families of Thurles, which was besieged by thousands of people dancing and drinking on the streets.
The very fact that it was completely unprecedented created a space for mayhem to reign but in a controlled environment of an agreed setting.
The road to Tipp in 1991 started in Slane, Co Meath, a decade earlier when the inaugural Slane Castle concert was held on a hot August night. Some 18,000 fans helped Thin Lizzy and support act U2 make history on August 16, 1981, as the first gig at the famous venue.
The Rolling Stones headlined in 1982, Bob Dylan came in 1984, and Bruce Springsteen was the boss in 1985 – at which some fans, who remember it as the warmest day of the year, were drenched by water cannon.
As thousands of Dylan fans gathered in 1984, gardai arrested some for being drunk – a move that sparked a riot with an estimated 1,000 revellers surrounding the town's Garda station.
Eight guards and 11 civilians were injured – and all of this was the night before the concert, so reinforcements were drafted in. On the day of the concert, which was another hot summer's day, two young men tragically drowned in the River Boyne.
Such was the fallout that Slane Castle owner Lord Henry Mountcharles said there might never be another concert again. However, the castle rocked to Queen (1986), David Bowie (1987), Guns n' Roses (1992), Pearl Jam and Neil Young (1993), REM (1995), The Verve (1998), U2 (2001), Oasis (2009), and Metallica (2019).
When the Foo Fighters played Slane in 2015 it rained so heavily fans were mud-sliding down the famous hill.
Slane and the Lisdoonvarna festival, which included tragedy like eight drownings in 1983, were helped to inspire groundbreaking Feile, meaning festival. It ran from 1991 to 1994 in Semple Stadium, moved to Pairc Ui Chaoimh in Cork for 1995, the 1996 edition was indoors at the Point Depot in Dublin, and it bowed out in 1997 as a one-day event in Thurles.
In 1992 with Christy Moore on stage, Semple Stadium witnessed a truly phenomenal spectacle as the long weekend drew to a heady climax.
Hundreds of fans joined in a Mexican wave, while human pyramids and impromptu trampolines sprung up as the black tarpaulin that protected the pitch was ripped up.
The Stone Roses attracted the biggest crowd at Feile 95 and were criticised for an awful sound but adoring fans had a religious experience.
In 1996, a Cork teen died during a Smashing Pumpkins concert at the Point Theatre in Dublin with fans later alleging a crush.
In 1999, fans again claimed there was a crush, this time at an REM gig in Lansdowne Road. One said: 'REM took to the stage and there was a huge surge from behind.
'We were slammed back and forth, completely helpless against the tidal waves dragging us back and forth. I've been to a lot of gigs in a lot of countries.
'This was the only show that I was genuinely afraid; I thought I could die.' When the curtain came down on Feile in 1997, a new festival called Witnness got the bands back together.
Witnness, which had an unusual spelling thanks to its sponsorship by Guinness, was the country's first major outdoor festival since Feile's demise. It ran from 2000 to 2002 at Fairyhouse Racecourse in Meath, moved in 2003 to Punchestown Racecourse in Kildare, and was held there as Oxegen until 2013.
Electric Picnic in Laois remodelled the festival experience from 2004 and is set to deliver more iconic moments this August.
EP is remembered for singer Nial 'Bessie' Breslin slamming the Government's mental health policies in 2015 and the Wolfe Tones singing controversial Celtic Symphony last August.
In 2012, Phoenix Park in Dublin held a festival series of gigs but it was only at the concert by dance act Swedish House Mafia that nine people were injured amid stabbing allegations.
The country has seen new festivals throughout the summer with Body and Soul at Ballinlough Castle in Westmeath launching in 2010, followed by Forbidden Fruit in Dublin in 2011.
Rivalling Electric Picnic is Waterford's All Together Now Festival which has acts like Michel Kiwanuka, Wet Leg, and Spanish band Hinds this year.