Forbidden Fruit reigns supreme as the Dublin city festival with the coolest acts for the upteenth year in a row. Here’s eight of them.
Here’s a curated selection of acts you should check out at the festival.
Here’s the lowdown on the stage-by-stage lineup and all the night parties happening.
1.
Real Lies
One of the most underrated British bands of the last decade. Real Lies make music that sits somewhere between post-punk, electronic and indie pop – the kind of late-night sound that captures a very specific feeling of being young in a city and looking for something intangible to anchor yourself to. Heart-on-sleeve dancefloor revelations scored by moody synths are their modus operandi.
Their 2025 album We Will Annihilate Our Enemies was just the latest in a fine line of superlative records, and their live shows are incendiary community affairs.
Plays Forbidden Fruit: Saturday May 30th, Undergrowth Stage.
![Real Lies - North Circular [Official Video]](https://nialler9.com/wp-content/cache/flying-press/245fb42610690a9aee63b85e3d849c9b.jpg)
2.
ZULAN
Argentinian-American DJ, producer and football jersey enthusiast ZULAN has been making inroads on the world dance circuit with a sound that sits somewhere between techno, cumbia, latin-house and something harder to categorise – a South American sensibility applied to club music that doesn’t sound like anything coming out of the usual centres. Fresh from a Coachella performance, The Lighthouse x Smirnoff Stage slot on Saturday is a well-deserved festival moment. One to catch early and let set the tone for the day.
Plays Forbidden Fruit: Saturday May 30th, Lighthouse x Smirnoff Stage.
3.
F3MIII
Richard OluwaFemi Adebusuyi aka F3Miii (pronounced Femi) has been one of the most-tipped Irish artists of 2026 and ‘Noble’ – is the clearest evidence yet of why. Released in the last days of 2025, ‘Noble’ has racked up nearly 60 million streams and has hit the US Billboard Hot 100 Chart in recent weeks – a true slow burn success story. The song, like much of F3MII’s work to dare sits between electronic R&B and polychromatic pop music. Woozy, layered, emotionally precise with unmistakable strain of Frank Ocean.
Plays Forbidden Fruit: Sunday May 31st, RTÉ 2FM Stage.
4.
Jensen McRae
California-raised singer-songwriter Jensen McRae went viral in early 2021 when she tweeted that Phoebe Bridgers would release a song about hooking up while waiting in line at Dodger Stadium for a COVID vaccine – then recorded the song herself, in Bridgers’ style, when it took off. She signed with Dead Oceans ahead of 2024’s ‘Massachusetts’, a song rooted in longing and nostalgia, and her album I Don’t Know How But They Found Me! followed in early 2025. Her work is anchored by explorations of gender, race, mental illness, heartbreak and trauma. She’s toured in support of Noah Kahan, MUNA and Corinne Bailey Rae. Folk-pop that earns its emotional weight rather than gesturing at it.
Plays Forbidden Fruit: Sunday May 31st, RTÉ 2FM Stage.
5.
Sugaboo & Lil Skag
Two of the most interesting names in Irish hip-hop sharing a slot at the Undergrowth Stage on Saturday.
The Enniscorthy and Dublin 12 serious messin’ rappers combined recently for the premier fun of Skagaboo, a joint EP collection of Owin-produced breezy cultural-referencing rap tunes with guest turns from Curtisy and Beddyminaj.
Sugaboo went off to play SXSW in Texas in March, and Lil Skag’s album Type Shite introduced the pairing via the ‘Pilgrimage To Kimmage’ references to The Coronas’ ‘San Diego Song’, Pellador, The Viper and PJ Gallagher.
Plays Forbidden Fruit: Saturday May 30th, Undergrowth Stage.
6.
Nia Archives
The Bradford-born, London-based artist has become one of the most important figures in UK jungle and drum and bass over the past few years – not just for the quality of the music but for the mission behind it, which is to bring the genre back to the culture it came from and push it somewhere genuinely new. Her 2024 debut album Silence Is Loud was one of the year’s best of its ilk – emotionally raw, sonically ferocious, and built around a voice that has no business being as powerful as it is.
Nia Archives’ new era arrives in July with new album Emotional Junglist, a title that serves as a signifier for the artist’s music, sentimental personal pop music informed by heartbreak with jungle rhythmic undertones.
Plays Forbidden Fruit: Sunday May 31st, East Stage.
7.
SHEE
London-based Galway producer David Sheerin aka SHEE has been building a fervent fanbase for his unique club sound, drawing on big room house, French Touch and disco.
Recent EP Rosebud finds him rubbing shoulders with A-Trak, Mighty Dub Katz and Karma Kid, so this Irish producer’s stock is rising higher in 2026.
Plays Forbidden Fruit: Saturday May 30th Undergrowth Stage.
8.
Avenue68
We featured Avenue68 in the Irish tracks roundup back in September when their debut single turned heads – a Dublin act making music that blends soul, funk and alternative R&B in a way that sounds genuinely original.
Opening out the Main Stage on Sunday is a significant slot and a well-earned one. One of the Irish acts to watch this year whose live shows have been getting big notices in our ears.
Plays Forbidden Fruit: Sunday May 31st, East Stage.
Forbidden Fruit 2026 lineup poster
More Info: forbiddenfruit.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.
