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Music

01st Mar 2022

Body & Soul 2022 is keeping its headline acts a secret

Rory Cashin

They want “audiences to participate in an immersive and adventurous weekend full of surprises”.

Running from Friday 17 to Sunday 19 June at Ballinlough Castle in Westmeath, the Body & Soul festival is finally coming back this year after a two-year hiatus.

However, they’re coming back with a difference, as the festival organisers have announced some major changes.

Firstly, the festival will only be half the size of its previous runs, with 5,000 tickets going on sale from 9am this morning (Tuesday, 1 March).

And secondly, they are purposefully not naming their confirmed headline acts, “instead inviting audiences to participate in an immersive and adventurous weekend full of surprises.”

Avril Stanley, the director of Body & Soul, said this of the changes:For all the challenges, some enforced time out has allowed a new incarnation of Body & Soul to take shape and instead of just going back to our roots, we are instead cultivating shiny new ones. We are delighted to be returning this summer with renewed vision and the opportunity to harness the immense creative energy that comes from these transitional times.”

The 2020 line-up was scheduled to include Metronomy, Róisín Murphy, King Kong Company, Princess Nokia and Kojaque, before the pandemic put a stop to it.

On top of the returning usuals – the Woodlands Stage, the Sanctuary, the Masquerade ‘Solstice’ Costume Ball – this year will see the addition of The Beacon Stage, designed to be the new meeting point for festival goers. It is a 35ft tall, totem-like wooden structure complete with a 360-degree performance space with surround sound speakers and a 100ft laser, which acts as a light tower by night.

Tickets for the three-day festival are available via the Body & Soul website here.

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