There’s no better place to discover new Irish talent than at Hard Working Class Heroes which returns to Dublin from 28 to 30 September. Taking place in venues across the city, the festival showcases emerging Irish acts and this year 50 artists will take to Dublin’s stages and serve up a feast of incredible music.
Now in its fifteenth year, the festival has showcased many of Ireland’s best-known acts including Hare Squead, Saint Sister, this year’s Choice Music Prize winners Rusangano Family, 2013’s breakthrough act Hozier along with Girl Band, Delorentos, Villagers, Soak, Fight Like Apes, Jape, Coronas, Pleasure Beach, Le Galaxie, The Strypes, Otherkin and many more.
Almost 500 bands applied to play at this year’s festival, with organisers First Music Contact whittling down the entrants to the 50 superb acts who will take to the stages of venues including The Workman’s Club, The Grand Social, Tramline, The Underground and The Tara Building on 29 and 30 September. These acts include highly rated artists such as Daithi, Fontaines, Loah and Le Boom.
The festival opens on Thursday, 28 September in The Chocolate Factory with a targeted networking social event where all the international delegates will have the chance to meet with their Irish counterparts. International delegates this year include Rough Trade boss Geoff Travis, PIXIES Manager Richard Jones, Made In Chelsea music-supervisor Andrea Madden, Stereogum features-writer Ryan Leas and many more.
The weekend will also see a mixture of workshops, discussions and panels which are growing in importance year on year for artists across all levels to meet with people one-to-one who can make a difference. Journalist Jim Carroll will, once again, host the discussions.
Hard Working Class Heroes is hugely important to emerging artists but it is also a great way for visitors to the city to get a first glimpse at the musical stars of the future. The Irish music scene has never been more diverse or exciting and with weekend tickets costing just €55 including the conference or €35 for access to all of the live shows, music lovers can’t afford to miss Hard Working Class Heroes.
Full ticketing information:
Weekend & Live: €55
Weekend Live: €35
Conference: €25
Nightly (Friday/Saturday): €25
Single Venue: €12
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