The Beyond The Pale festival returns to Glendalough Estate, in Wicklow from Friday June 12th to Sunday June 14th 2026.
The latest in our festival preview series looks at the Irish bands we are excited to see at the festival this year, drawing from all corners of the island – from Dublin ultimate buzz band Madra Salach to a Cork folk-trad indie band Maicín, Belfast industrial electronic punk duo Chalk, Galway songwriter Dove Ellis and upcoming chillwave-coded and an acclaimed trad-electronic marriage.
See all we have on Beyond The Pale including latest lineups, arts programme, day breakdowns and more to come.
See also: 10 acts you shouldn’t miss at Beyond The Pale 2026
1.
Madra Salach
One of the most talked-about Irish bands of the last twelve months, Madra Salach have had a remarkable rise since their debut single ‘Blue and Gold’ landed in September.
The Dublin six-piece blend Irish folk with drone-like experimental textures in a way that sits alongside Lankum on the more adventurous end of the trad spectrum – but with a restless, dissonant quality that’s distinctly their own.
Their debut EP followed in January, they appeared on The Tommy Tiernan show, and they will feature on the Shane MacGowan tribute album alongside Bruce Springsteen and Tom Waits. The Art to Art series opened with their singer Paul Banks in conversation with Iona Lynch of Cliffords and they told us their songs of 2025 to boot. One of the Irish bands of the moment, full stop.
Plays Beyond The Pale: Sunday June 14th.
2.
Chalk
Belfast duo Chalk have been building steadily since 2022, but their debut album Crystalpunk – released in March on NYC label ALTER Music – feels like the moment everything clicked. They’ve evolved from a noise-trio into something harder to categorise: alt, punk, electronic and industrial influences colliding with a real pop instinct underneath it all. Crystalpunk is one of the more sonically original Irish debut albums of the last few years.
Plays Beyond The Pale: Friday June 12th.
3.
Dove Ellis
The Galway singer-songwriter had a late 2025 arrival with his debut album Blizzard which was a late contender for Irish album of the year – “songwriter music with guitar, piano, drums and a general pleasing air of Jeff Buckley and early Thom Yorke in his vocals.”
He toured the US supporting Geese before the album came out. His songwriter instincts are the real thing – cathartic, emotionally direct guitar music – “slightly fuzzed low-slung acoustic indie rock with Ellis quivering voice at the centre.” He’s announced gigs in Dublin, Manchester, LA and New York but Irish festival sets are not on the radar other than this tantalising Beyond The Pale set.
He plays Beyond The Pale: Sunday June 14th.
4.
Maicín
The Cork band Maicín has been building quietly but meaningfully in the Irish scene in the last three years with a handful of once-off singles showcasing their singular trad folk-leaning indie rock.
Pronounced “mah-keen”, the band’s recent single ‘Kicking The Habit’ was produced with Oli Deakin, who is of course known for his work with CMAT. In their own words, “imagine the lovechild of Billy Bragg and Jarvis Cocker… now get your head out of the gutter and picture Maicín.”
The band were flagged on the Nialler9 Podcast by Mia Tobin Power.
They play Beyond The Pale: Saturday June 13th.
5.
Lullahush
One of the more distinct voices in Irish electronic music, Dan McIntyre’s lullahush has been on this site’s radar since 2019 when we premiered ‘Elysium’ and covered ‘Terracotta Slow Dance’ as an RBMA participant. The project – which blends Irish trad influences with electronic production in a way that feels genuinely its own – has been building steadily ever since. Her An Todhchaí EP on Future Classic in 2024 expanded the audience internationally, and debut album Ithaca followed in April last year, landing high our 50 best Irish albums of that year – exploring “Irish traditional culture through the lens of a digital workstation interface, applying electronic sensibilities and techniques to ancient instrument sounds.”
Live, the trad-electronic collision has received some very strong notices resulting in a unique proposition of the Lullahush live show at Beyond The Pale being a potential big highlight of the festival.
Plays Beyond The Pale: Saturday June 13th.
6.
Sei Green
Adam Garrett and Ellen Sleator recently teamed up as Sei Green, and the Dublin-based duo wasted no time in making music that traverses soul, lite funk and disco, as exemplified on the dreamy vibes of ‘Bored Of Resting’ – a song that’s very chillwave-coded.
A longer project called We Never Become is forthcoming.
They play Beyond The Pale: Saturday June 13th.
7.
Dream Boy
Dublin band Dream Boy have emitted some confident shoegazey alt rock sounds to date through their singles, with the most recent releases being the Drowning In Blue EP in June and the ‘Purple’ single, showcasing a shoegaze-first sonic perspective. My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive and contemporary alt acts Men I Trust and NewDad are stated influences.
There’s a lot of shoegaze Irish music about at the moment but Dream Boy are nailing the aesthetic and the sonics of the form.
They play Beyond The Pale: Saturday June 13th.
Beyond The Pale 2026 lineup
Beyond The Pale tickets
Weekend camping tickets are now on sale at itsbeyondthepale.ie and Ticketmaster with instalment plans available until March 31st while allocations last.
10 acts you shouldn’t miss at Beyond The Pale 2026
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005. He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Cara Magazine, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, co-founder of Lumo Club, event curator, Indie Sleaze club promoter, and producer of gigs and monthly listening parties & events in Dublin.
