In PICTURES: Laois benefit from fabulous Folly Festival that's back in 2023

The Folly Festival 2023 was officially launched at Castle Durrow on Sunday 11th December last. The event will take place on July 7th and 8th in the beautifully intimate venue, known as Nancy’s Yard, beneath the towering ruins of historic Cullohill Castle.

The launch night was also the perfect opportunity to donate over €18,000 in funds raised by the 2022 festival, to clubs and organisations in the Cullohill and Durrow area, with the Harps GAA Club, Harps Camoige Club, Cullohill Handball Club, the Lions AFC and Cullohill Tidy Towns being amongst the beneficiaries. Photographer Alf Harvey was there for the Leinster Express LAOIS LIVE - tap next or arrow to see more pictures taken at the launch. SEE BELOW THIS PICTURE TO READ MORE ABOUT THE LAUNCH NIGHT.

Anticipation is already growing, following on from the huge success of the sellout Folly Festival in 2022, where acts such as Moncrieff, Roisin O, Hermitage Green, and Wild Youth, along with the best up and coming talents on the Irish music scene, wowed the crowds over two glorious nights.

Huge gratitude was also extended to all clubs and individuals who volunteered and worked tirelessly, in so many roles over the festival weekend. Those contributions of time and effort are so greatly appreciated and have immeasurably helped to make the Folly such a successful event.

In July 2023, live music will again reverberate through the Cullohill countryside, with acts taking to the stage on the evenings of the Friday 7 and Saturday 8.

The concerts will be punctuated by Saturday’s Daytime Events, which start off bright and early, with a gloriously scenic Cullohill Mountain walk, and continue throughout the day, with a huge variety of children’s entertainment, Artisan Food & Craft Fare, vintage cars, a dog show, an art exhibition, live music and so much more. Festival tickets are not required to take part in the daytime events, and everyone is welcome to attend!

The Folly Festival is Irelands first ever gender balanced music festival, which in 2018, first addressed the discrepancy within the entertainment industry, when male artists outnumbered female artists 5:1, and the ratio was the same throughout the industry’s engineering and production roles. In selecting our performers, we actively promote gender balance, selecting our lineup accordingly, with an equal number of male and female acts.

Music, comedy & culture is what the event is all about, and over the course of two magical days in July, we aim to again deliver it in spades!
Early Bird weekend tickets are now on sale at https://thefolly.ie/tickets/. For a limited time over the Christmas period, these tickets are available with a massive 25% off.