Lisa O’Neill, Mary Couglan, Ye Vagabonds and The Ocelots are just four of the acts performing at this year’s Open House Festival in Bangor, County Down.
The Festival returns to Bangor for its twelfth outing since 2013, when the arts charity Open House relocated to the seaside town, now city, from Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter. With almost one hundred events in the programme, it will attract around 50 thousand visitors over the summer period.
The focal venues for ticketed events will be the festival stage at Bangor Castle Walled Garden, and the Court House on Bangor seafront, the award-winning music and arts venue established by Open House in 2022.
Also included in the musical lineup are soul singer Dana Masters, singer-songwriter Gareth Dunlop, Anthony Toner’s country trio The Boondocks, and rock, soul and folk band The Four of Us. Kyron Bourke, “the broken city’s minstrel”, will be bringing his tribute to the late, legendary Leonard Cohen to the Court House, and Bangor’s Stephen Macartney, aka King Cedar, will release his new EP at a special, intimate gig.
Snow Patrol frontman Gary Lightbody will also be appearing at the festival, but not in a music capacity. In a very different and incredibly personal hometown event, Gary will be talking to the Irish author and broadcaster, Sinead Gleeson, about his book The Forest is the Path, which became an instant bestseller on its publication in March. Other literary figures in the programme include the former Labour cabinet minister Alan Johnson, Chris Whitaker, author of the global bestseller All The Colour of the Dark, and US journalist Karen Hao with Empire of AI, her exposé of Sam Altman and OpenAI.
The comedy lineup includes Cork’s Chris Kent, Edenderry’s Neil Delamere, Strabane’s Emer Maguire, and Belfast’s Paddy Raff, a festival regular for the past few years.
It wouldn’t be summer in Bangor without the annual Open House Festival Picnic in the Park series in Ward Park every Sunday afternoon throughout July and August. Acts performing this year include King’s Call, one of the greatest Thin Lizzy tribute acts in Ireland, and the remarkable McClean Family, who delight audiences with their unique brand of Irish traditional music performed by multiple generations of the family.
“Open House aims to put the spotlight on local creative talent and this year’s festival has some of our finest artists performing in iconic venues throughout the city,” says Open House director, Kieran Gilmore. “From an interview with Gary Lightbody about his new book, to a conversation between Declan Lawn, BAFTA winning writer of Blue Lights, and local author Colin Bateman, to an intimate launch of a new EP by King Cedar, we hope that this year’s programme wets the appetite of our local audiences, as well as the many visitors who come from all over Ireland and beyond.”
Tickets go on sale at 10am on Friday 6th June. To purchase tickets and view the full festival programme go to: www.openhousefestival.com
Open House Festival is an arts charity supported by Ards & North Down Borough Council and Arts Council of Northern Ireland
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