St. Patrick’s Festival started out with a few small satellite of events around the big Parade when it first debuted.
These days, St. Patrick’s Festival is a fully-fledged four-day festival with an extensive array of events of all stripes and shamrocks, from live music to marching bands to dance to comedy to theatre and beyond.
Here are some of our highlights on the music front happening around Dublin this weekend and around the festivities early next week.
1.
Celaviedmai, Salamay, Meet Me Under The Jasmine Tree & more
Saturday March 14th
Stephen’s Green Bandstand (11:00pm – 5:30pm)
The GOAL takeover outdoor performance programme takes place at the rarely used St. Stephen’s Green Bandstand this Saturday with live sets from Galway rapper and Nialler9 regular Celaviedmai (4:30pm), Soul, R&B and Afrobeat artist Salamay (4pm) along with Tura Arutura’s AfroCeltic Cultural Celebration fusing Irish traditional music and Sean Nós dance with African rhythm, song, and storytelling; spoken word from Mikey Cullen (11:30pm), the collaborative poetry and performance experience by Tuqa Al-Sarraj of Meet Me Under the Jasmine Tree, and Sorcha Fox and Grainnemir will perform Khallass – a series of poetry and theatre performances started in 2021 exploring exile, survival, and hope (1:30pm).
2.
Abair: Stoite / Uprooted
Monday March 16th
Button Factory
The eighth year of Abair at St. Patrick’s Festival curated by folk singer MacDara Yeates and funded by the Arts Council, culminates in this Button Factory showcase with a lineup of singer, storytellers and musicians including Breanndán Ó Beaglaoich, Hugh Cooney, Little John Nee, The McKeaney Sisters, Seamas Hyland joined by international peers The Wilsons (UK), Frankie Archer (UK), and Amy Bluemel (Chickasaw Nation/USA).
Expect some surprise guests and an inspiring night of song and tradition on the themes of roots and uprooting hosted by Donal Fallon.
3.
Ispíní na hÉireann, The Wran, Seán McKenna, Sally Cinnamon, Aidan Kelly and more
Saturday March 14th – Tuesday March 17th
Jameson Distillery Bow St.
The Home of Jameson in Smithfield has programmed four days of live music performances from Ispíní na hÉireann, Heron Red, Seán McKenna, Lisa Murray, The Wran, Art Deko, The Maverick Trio, with DJ sets from Sally Cinnamon, Graham Smyth & Aidan Kelly, and many more.
Also on site – a striking new mural installation created by Klo Wi and Holly Pereira – from the all-female Irish street art collective ‘Minaw Collective’ – will transform the distillery’s courtyard and local printmakers JANDO will be on-site offering St. Patrick’s Day-themed screen printing on tote bags.
4.
Dee Armstrong
Sunday March 15th
Pearse Centre
Kila’s long-standing fiddle player and composer Dee Armstrong presents a night of her solo work – last year’s album DEICHTINES DAUGHTER takes place in The Pearse Centre.
The album is mostly instrumental but with guest musicians Sarah Jane Barry, Stephen O Dowd and Grainne Horan expect sparks to fly.
Bow on strings, rhythm in the floorboards, tunes that twist, lift and carry you somewhere older and brighter all at once. Mostly instrumental. Fully alive. Maybe a song or two slipping through the cracks.
5.
Acid Granny
Saturday 14th, Sunday 15th, Monday 16th March
Capel Street , Dundrum Town, Wolfe Tone Park (3pm – 5pm)
The mad lads with the music trolley are back.
Acid Granny will be popping up across various locations serving trad futurist delicacies of craic agus ceol. Pipes, synths, drums, songs, silliness, speakers, wheelchairs, tellies, trollies, car batteries, butter, crisps, milk, spuds, toys, big boys and knitwear – expect something wild and uniquely Irish.
6. Henrik Schwarz
Monday March 16th
The Pygmalion (10pm)
Henrik Schwarz is a German deep house veteran has been pushing boundaries for over two decades now since starting out in the early ‘90s. His sets these days are more in the realm of techno, house jazz, soul, contemporary music.
Support for this special Patrick’s Eve event comes from Ste Flynn and Colin Perkins.
7. Céilí Mór
St. Patrick’s Day – Tuesday March 17th
@ Merrion Square West (2pm – 4pm)
The Céilí Mór is a bilingual celebration of traditional Irish dance, music and language, led by Dearbhla Lennon – former Riverdancer and champion Irish step-dancer – with live music from Glór na dTonn Céilí Band from Mayo, winners of the Senior Céilí Band Competition at Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann 2025.
Come to learn the steps, come to watch, or just come to soak it in. Free and open to everyone.
8.
Seanem
Saturday March 14th & Sunday March 15th
Dublin City Council, St. Patrick’s Festival Family Village, Wood Quay Amphitheatre
Times: 12:40 – 13:10 and 14:20 – 14:50
I don’t know of many 12-year-olds with a residency in Ibiza but that’s exactly what Seanem is at this summer – he will be playing regularly in the Balearic islands on his school holidays!
The young lad started DJing on vinyl with trance, progressive and house music styles three years ago and has since performed at Amsterdam Dance Event and Gamescom Cologne, alongside festival appearances across Ireland and international performances in Mexico, Ibiza and Belgium.
See all of the St. Patrick’s Festival programme and parade event info at stpatricksfestival.ie
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.
