Festival Fever: Kneecap, Glastonbury and the Irish Festival Experience

It’s festival season, drawing hundreds of thousands of revellers to fields and camp sites across Ireland and the UK. Glastonbury gets underway today, with Irish rap trio Kneecap at the centre of a political storm, ahead of their appearance at Worthy Farm on Saturday. Closer to home, smaller festival organisers face multiple challenges, as they battle increased costs, inclement weather, and an increasingly packed schedule of competing events. So today on Newstalk Daily, we ask: why do festivals and the artists that perform there – acts like Kneecap – remain such so compelling for music lovers? Should artists ever be censored for their political points of view? And how might you go about creating a festival of your own? Ciara Doherty speaks to DJ and music critic Louise Bruton, Fiachna Ó Braonáin of Hothouse Flowers, Dr Michael Murphy from IADT, and Craig Hughes, political editor at the Irish Daily Mail and founder of the Night and Day Festival, which takes place this weekend in county Roscommon. Get in touch with the team at any time by email to [email protected]

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Festival Fever: Kneecap, Glastonbury and the Irish Festival Experience