Body & Soul - Ballinlough, Co. Westmeath - 14th - 16th June 2024

Pudsy33

Yeah I heard the same from some event staff this weekend gone.

dav09

Fantastic! I heard some (very feint) murmurs which said the opposite about a month ago, so would be fantastic if it does happen, really hope it gets supported by the public again this time around.

RINO87

Would love to have it back and would be happier to have it smaller. Those first 3-4 years were pure magic.

Fanirish

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121595063#Comment_121595063

Well it was pretty small the last two years at about 3,000/3,500 tickets sold

RINO87

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121595246#Comment_121595246

Ya but the site was still waaaay too big for that size of crowd

dav09

2022 was big but thought 2023 was fairly condensed, site was definitely way less than half of the size as before, definitely missed the main stage area and woodlands stage that was damaged would be cool if they incorporated those somehow again but understand giving the limited attendance that would be difficult. Eagerly awaiting early bird tickets if it does happen hopefully things are starting to line up behind the scenes, I presume sponsorship will play a big part in what type of festival we get too if the likes of Bulmers & Hennessy renew, doing a festival of this type at the numbers mentioned above must be very difficult.

RINO87

All gone quiet again.....any more whisperings?

Fanirish

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121633545#Comment_121633545

Not the good kind. From one or two people heard it’s swung back to not happening this year.

roll

'from my sources' B&S is definitely not on this year

Fanirish

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121665866#Comment_121665866

Yeah, no one booked for it

bodhrandude

I demand it to be on this year and that's it, end of of story.

bodhrandude

It looks like Nialler9 has confirmed the festival is not happening this year, will miss this.

https://nialler9.com/body-soul-festival-will-not-take-place-this-year/

Rfrip

body and soul have added a save the date for this weekend next year! They did say in their their statement this year when cancelling that they will be back in a new form…really hope it hasn’t changed completely but great to see it’s back!!

dav09

Some great news looking forward to it, best festival in the country for me. I was worried this year when it was cancelled and with the lower attendance the last couple of years, although it still always felt busy.

Like mentioned, they had a very good formula, fantastic site, good beer+free flow, well designed stages, art, sounds and lighting along with everything else, so hopefully it's just tweaked a little, maybe capitalise on some trends to bring people in while keeping it's core. They booked some incredible acts throughout the years and even last year, I'd love to see them go larger scale again as those were my favourite years. Either way looking forward to it in 2025.

fillup

Dates announced but no venue

Really hope they stay in Ballinlough

Ricosruffneck

Hopefully it's somewhere more central like Mullingar or Tullamore

Stillill42

Never been but always understood that Ballinlough was a large contributor to the charm.

Rfrip

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122295525#Comment_122295525

absolutely!!! It never entered my head that it would be in a different location…

RINO87

Great news. Hopefully whatever happens it stays in ballinlough. The setting absolutely makes it what it is. Plus there's a ton of infrastructure there already now at this stage.

TenPicnics

Great news it'll be back (somewhere), but I don't get why they've picked the same weekend as Beyond The Pale (if BTP keeps it's usual dates). Would love to go to B&S again though!

TenPicnics

Deleted

Fanirish

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122299546#Comment_122299546

B&s tied itself as a summer solstice celebration since its foundation.

Dreamweapon

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122295525#Comment_122295525

Yes, half an hour from my house lent it a massive charm alright.

dav09

Their website has been updated and Ballinlough is mentioned numerous times on the 'About' page as their home so I would reckon that pretty much puts that to rest. It's a 3 hour drive/treck for me each year but wouldn't trade that for a different site. Best festival site in the country. They have a beautiful main stage with natural amphitheatre, along with plenty of other infrastructure like mentioned, I remember one year even seeing a big area hidden with a bunch of workshops, where it looked like they were making various wooden art installations and pieces for the festival, although not sure if that area was built for the festival.

It's only 50 mins or so from Dublin so that's a big factor, although I think ideally if they ran busses from Cork/Limerick/Galway it would make it more accessible for people as I often hear people looking for lifts and such.

Hope ticket's and more information available soon. I can't wait for next year just hope it hasn't changed too much.

Fanirish

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122300177#Comment_122300177

the about section text has been like that for last few months since they cancelled this years edition.
I would say it will pivot more towards a wellness retreat weekender with some music and a small capacity. Don’t honestly see them jumping back into competing with BTP capacity level

dav09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122300290#Comment_122300290

As a small festival it seemed to struggle post pandemic like many did, this year it seemed that was planned to be a big part of it but still very much sounded like a music festival, hope they don't stray too far away from that as they'll lose a good portion of remaining core audience, I can't see a huge audience in Ireland for that mentioned. What they had in their hey day was really special and has been enjoyable since. I presume BTP will be the weekend before the solstice like last year, hence the early announcement of dates as having them head to head will just damage both. At one stage I believe B&S was up to about 15k capacity so if that reached near full there is surely room for two decent sized festivals on opposite weekends

Fanirish

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122300311#Comment_122300311

B&s struggled to do 3,500/4,000 in 23 and 22. There just isn’t demand I think for both it and beyond the pale on around same time. Not even getting into financials and audience expectation that mean that low to medium sized festivals are sadly nearly impossible to make work.