Macroom Music Festival to return

Macroom Music Festival is set to return this year with a new time slot on the June bank holiday weekend.

The festival, first held in June, 2023, is a two-day event run by the people of Macroom.

Headline acts who have played the festival include The Frank & Walters, Riptide Movement, and Mundy in 2023, with The Stunning, Hermitage Green, and The White Horse Guitar Club headlining last year.

Macroom has a strong history when it comes to music festivals. It was the first town in Ireland to organise an open air music festival in 1976, The Mountain Dew Festival, headlined by Horslips, Marianne Faithfull, and Julie Felix.

The Mountain Dew Festival continued until 1982, attracting crowds of up to 20,000 people from across Europe each year to see some of the biggest names on the contemporary Irish music scene, including Rory Gallagher, Van Morrison, and The Chieftains.

Four decades on, Macroom Music Festival has provided a much welcomed boost to the Mid-Cork town.

Festival organiser Killian Lynch spoke to The Echo about the impact of the event on the town of Macroom.

“It is all about promoting Macroom as a very active town and a town that is moving forward,” said Mr Lynch.

This year, the dates have been changed for the festival to the June bank holiday weekend, with music in local pubs and venues across the two days and the headline acts taking to the main stage in the town’s main square on Sunday night.

“That has been a brilliant night for the last two years. This will now be the festival’s third year. We are so proud of the event and have been delighted to see so many faces back in the town.

“It is great to see a real buzz around Macroom town again.”

Details of the line-up for the 2025 Macroom Music Festival are yet to be officially announced, but it promises to be another action-packed weekend.