Ireland’s first festival with advanced Covid safety measures has been pushed back by two months

Wild Roots, said to be Ireland’s first festival with advanced Covid safety measures, has been pushed back by two months.

Originally scheduled to take place over the May Bank Holiday weekend, organisers have confirmed that the event will run from August 13 to 15. Wild Roots will be held at Lough Gill in Co. Sligo, with a line-up that consists of the Kaiser Chiefs, Damien Dempsey, James Morrison, King Kong Company and more.

As well as these already confirmed acts, others have been added to the list today including Afro-Irish singer, Tolü Makay, Dublin hip-hop group Loud Motive, Galway rapper Celaviedmai and the pop-funk sensation Toshín. The hip-hop acts JyellowL and KAÉ have also been confirmed.

Speaking about the change of date, Festival Director Neil O’Connell said: “The rescheduled dates will allow for the vaccination rollout to take effect and for the safe reopening of the live events sector. As a small boutique festival spread across a large festival site, we are in a strong position to be the first festival of the year. All of our acts have moved with us to our new dates and we are delighted to welcome a host of new performers to the line-up. With our latest acts, we wanted to acknowledge the incredible social and cultural diversity within the Irish music scene. We can’t wait to welcome everyone to the lake.”

At the initial launch of the festival in November, Neil spoke about the safety measures that will be in place, saying: “As part of the new procedures there will be socially distanced zoned area camping; designated disinfectants points; health checkpoints for body temperature measuring and onsite isolation facilities with qualified medical personnel. Meanwhile, all attendees will be allocated an ‘RFID wristband’ which will eliminate the need for queuing and allow for cashless payments at drink and confectionery stands.”

Wild Roots is a new boutique festival that celebrates music, performing arts and outdoor adventure. As well as the live performances, patrons will be able to sample a range of outdoor activities including boat rides, kayaking, rock climbing and aerial yoga.

More information and ticket details can be found here.

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