'It is unlikely that INDIE will ever return on the scale of what it was': No Indiependence festival this year

The Indiependence Music festival in Mitchelstown will not take place in 2025, an organiser of the festival has confirmed to The Echo.

Festival organiser Shane Dunne confirmed the news that INDIE will not be returning this year. Although he did not rule out a return at some point in the future, he said it would very likely be in a different festival format to what was seen in the past.

INDIE built of a reputation of being one of the mainstays of the Irish festival circuit, and was shortlisted as one of the best small festivals in Europe several times, as well as winning awards within Ireland.

Many top acts have performed at the North Cork festival over the years. The Coronas, Cian Ducrot, Anne-Marie, Two Door Cinema Club, and Belters Only were among those who performed at most recent edition of the festival, in 2023

Mr Dunne said: “Unfortunately, I can confirm that INDIE won’t be going ahead this year. We said at the end of 2023 that we wouldn’t be coming back in 2024.

“We did leave it open that we could come back at some stage. I guess that still maybe is at the back of our minds. But for 2025, there will be no INDIE in Mitchelstown, unfortunately.

“I think it is unlikely that INDIE will ever return on the scale of what it was. If you go back to 2019 when there was 15,000 sold out and that kind of a setup, I think that it is highly unlikely we will ever see that kind of a setup again.”

He added: “I think certainly with myself and the lads, along with the wider team from Mitchelstown who have been involved going back to 2005/2006, I think there is hope at some point we will do something again. It would be great to bring something back.

“When that would be, or what kind of format it would take, I can’t really say at the moment. We would like to do something again.”