A barely-needed excuse to make a trip to Westport.
Having changed its name to Westival in 2018, the annual Westport Music & Arts Festival returns to the picturesque Mayo town next month with another stellar line-up across a wide variety of genres.
In total, there will be 62 events on the bill from Wednesday 23 October to the following Bank Holiday Monday, 28 October, featuring music, theatre, art installations, exhibitions, audience participation events and even a special treat for Harry Potter fans.
Paul Noonan of Bell X1 fame tops the bill of the musical acts on offer across the six days, alongside Other Voices star Maria Kelly.
Electronic dance duo Le Boom will deliver one of their final live performances before taking a sabbatical, while Hypnotic Brass Ensemble, the Chicago based eight-piece who stole the show at Electric Picnic a few years’ back, will also be on hand to entertain the masses.
Outside of music, other highlights include the How To Square A Circle aerial show by Ronan Brady and Aisling Ni Cheallaigh, Dracula Live and Behind the Scenes at the Harry Potter Movies.
That event will be presented by Neil Paul, who worked in lighting and special effects on several of the Harry Potter films and will shed some light on how the magic is made and what the stars were really like off camera.
Commenting on Westival 2019, Westival Director Conor Wilson said: “Last year’s festival enthralled over 5,000 people over the six days of Westival.
We set the bar high in terms of the calibre of acts and artists that we brought together; this year we have focused on building on last year’s success by putting together a broad line-up that we hope will captivate the interest of both local and visitor alike.”
Tickets and more information are available on the Westival website.
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