The inaugural Galway Folk Festival is set to bring some of the finest names in contemporary Irish folk music to the City of the Tribes this June with the initial line-up for the five-day festival announced today. Andy Irvine and Donal Lunny, Hothouse Flowers, Villagers, Séan Keane, The Henry Girls and John Francis Flynn are the main headliners for the festival’s first outing, with a superb programme already in store and more announcements still to come.

Many of the shows will take place across four stages in Monroe’s, with pop-up gigs and a music trail set to be revealed. Some of the superb artists also announced for Galway Folk Festival are Peter Broderick (Efterklang), The Frank & Walters (acoustic), Emma Langford, BRÍDÍN, The Raines, Zoë Conway & John McIntyre.

As well as established Irish artists, Galway Folk Festival is set to shine a spotlight on some of the country’s most exciting emerging talent, as this summer’s programme is bolstered by the likes of Lorraine Nash, Robert John Ardiff, I Draw Slow, A Smyth, Aoife Scott, Stevie Appleby, Laura Duff, Woven Kin, Seba Safe, Sonny Casey, King Pallas and Les SalAmandas.