Free Trad Music Festival in Dublin This Weekend: Full Times and Line Up

Sunday afternoon at 2pm, on the main stage in Smithfield Square, Kíla are giving over twenty minutes of their set to Glen Hansard. Mundy is on it. So are Paddy Casey, Gavin Glass and Luke Carrig, who used to be in Raglans.

Nobody is selling a ticket for that.

The Dublin City Council Dublin City Fleadh runs this Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 August, 12pm to 6pm each day, across five hubs in the city centre. Free, unticketed, turn up. It is the second year after a 2025 run the council rated well enough to expand.

Where it all happens: Smithfield Square, Meeting House Square, Wolfe Tone Square, Parliament Street and Capel Street.

Smithfield Has the Big Names, and Saturday Is the Heavier Day

Four sets a day on the main stage, roughly ninety minutes apart.

Saturday opens with The Wran at 1pm, then Altan at 2pm, Dervish at 3.30pm and Sharon Shannon at 5pm. Three acts that would fill a concert hall on a normal weekend, back to back, on a square in Dublin 7.

Sunday is younger and louder. Billy Tracey & The Scope with Julia McCarthy Dillon at 1pm, Kíla and the Hansard tribute at 2pm, Madra Salach at 3.30pm, The Scratch closing at 5pm.

Meeting House Square Is the Sit Down Room, and It Runs Late on Sunday

Temple Bar’s square is handling the acoustic side, collaborations and duets rather than full bands.

Saturday builds through Molly Donnery at 2pm, Zoë Conway and John McIntyre at 2.35pm, then Kevin Burke, Jim Murray, Noriana Kennedy and Dermot Byrne at 3.45pm, before Andy Irvine and Quilty at 5pm.

Sunday’s programme there is run with Music Network and does something the rest of the festival does not. It starts at 5.20pm with Saoirse Casey, then Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh and Brendan Begley at 6pm, Mike McGoldrick with Nollaig Casey and Niall McCabe at 7pm, and Máirtín O’Connor, Cathal Hayden and Seamie O’Dowd at 8.30pm.

Which sits oddly against the advertised 12pm to 6pm window. Both timings are on the council’s own listing, so I would take the timetable over the blurb and plan for a late one on Sunday.

Wolfe Tone Square Is Where the Dancing and the Pipes Are

Méabh Mulligan and friends run an open session at noon and again at 2pm, both days. That is the closest thing here to a real pub session, and it is the bit worth turning up early for.

Saturday brings a Na Píobairí Uilleann piping recital at 1pm with Wynton Moore, Aoife Fadian and Síofra Ní Mhóráin, Ruadhán Collier O’Brien at 3pm, An Chéad Ghlúin Eile at 4pm, and a céilí at 5pm.

Sunday swaps pipes for harps. The Martin Family Harp Trio play a Harp Ireland recital at 1pm, Trad is Amach lead an outdoor céilí at 3pm, then Caitlín Nic Gabhann and Ciarán Ó Maonaigh at 4pm and Seán McKeon plus guests at 5pm.

Capel Street Repeats Itself, Which Is Useful

Twelve acoustic sessions across the street, four running at once, at noon, 2pm and 4pm.

Same names, same slots, both days. Éabha and Fiachra Mulligan, Ruaidhrí and Pádraig Óg Mac Aodhagáin, Jayne Pomplas, Eva Carroll at noon. Peter and Joe McKenna, Neilidh and Caoimhe Uí Mhaolagáin, Lucie Azconaga with Frank Tate, Liam Lonergan at 2pm. Jacqui Martin and Derek Hickey, Éanna Harrington, Niall Coakley and Derek Copley at 4pm.

Miss something on Saturday and you can catch it Sunday. I doubt many festivals hand you that.

Bring the Kids to Parliament Street

Faró play three times a day, at noon, 2pm and 4pm. Storytellers at 1pm, 3pm and 5pm. The Fingal Mummers at 1.30pm, 3.30pm and 5.30pm.

There is an arts and crafts tent with Heather Gray running all day, a “Try the Pipes” workshop at 2pm and “Hands on Harps” at 4pm.

The Five Hubs Are Walkable in About Fifteen Minutes

Smithfield down to Capel Street to Parliament Street is more or less a straight line, with Meeting House Square a few minutes further into Temple Bar. Wolfe Tone Square sits behind Jervis.

So catching Altan at 2pm and still making Andy Irvine at 5pm is easy enough on foot.

One clash to know about if you are heading out of the city instead: Ukulele Hooley is in Dún Laoghaire the same weekend for its 15th year, with around 2,000 players and the main concert in the People’s Park at 11.30am on Sunday. National Heritage Week also finishes on the 23rd.