All the events happening during Ireland’s 2022 Paddy’s Day Festival

For the first time in two years, the people of Ireland will get to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day the way it was supposed to be celebrated. We can once again take to the streets and the pubs and celebrate everything great about Irish culture.

To mark the occasion, Dublin are hosting a variety of St. Patrick’s Day events, to be enjoyed by the whole family, which will take place from March 16 until March 20, 2022. 

This year, the theme for the festival is CONNECTIONS/NAISC, as the spectacular global celebration of Irish arts, culture and heritage invites Ireland and the world to reconnect in Dublin after the unparalleled challenges of recent years.

The iconic National St. Patrick’s Day Parade returns to the streets of Dublin on March 17th, and new for 2022 is Festival Quarter at the National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks which will be home to a magical day-to-night urban Festival for all.

As a nation known for our musical talents, it’s no surprise that St. Patrick’s Festival 2022 is playing host to some of Ireland’s best loved musicians with an incredible line-up of traditional music, rock, pop and hip hop at the new Festival Quarter. Artists including Lyra, Damien Dempsey, Soulé, Le Boom with Glasshouse Orchestra, and Shandrum Céilí Band will be gracing the stage throughout the 5-day festival.

Here’s a rundown on all the Paddy’s Day events to look forward to:

Festival Quarter Days at the National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks

Thursday 17th – Sunday 20th March, 12pm-6pm (all ages) 

Enjoy four days of family friendly musical adventures from March 17th to March 20th. Get into the true St. Patrick’s Day spirit with the return of the much loved Céilí Mór on the Main Stage on March 17th, with the Shandrum Ceili Band, Jiggy, The Bonnymen, and many more incredible traditional Irish artists, musicians, performers and dancers throughout the day. 

Live performances to enjoy during Festival Quarter Days will include Grooveline, the BLOC Hip Hop Party featuring Selló, Curiosity MG, Yomi Attention, Blaq Appollo and The Clan Worldwide; Music Generation’s 52-piece Harp Orchestra; Code of Behaviour, Ush Mush and many more.

Abair, an international traditional arts project, made possible through the support of The Arts Council of Ireland, the Scottish Government, the Welsh Government, and the Spanish Embassy in Dublin, will feature conversation and song with The Mary Wallopers, Spanish performer Juan Pinilla, Chris Miles, Welsh folk musician Gwilym Bowen Rhys, Grace Toland, Joe Mulhern and many more to be announced.

Festival Quarter Nights at the National Museum of Ireland, Collins Barracks

Wednesday 16th – Saturday 19th March, 6pm – 10.30pm daily (Strictly Over 18s) 

From 6pm daily, Festival Quarter Nights will explode into life with stunning lighting displays and decor, a bustling food village, bars and hangout areas and the very best of Irish contemporary and traditional music to enjoy, just for adults. 

On opening night, Wednesday, the eve of St. Patrick’s Day, singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist LYRA will be joined on the Main Stage by special guest electronic pop queen Soulé and many more. 

The undisputed queens of the Dublin dancefloor Mother DJs will take over the Spiegeltent Mór, while over at the Spiegeltent Beag join the comically absurd, skillfully slick and ridiculously entertaining Paradise Cabaret hosted by the pompous and pretentious Cian Austin Jesus and featuring Brian the Magic Man, Leonie Pony, Tom the Clay Head Campbell, Headonbody, The Wild Geeze, The Dirtbird, Gaeilgeoir, Cara Park, Gas Patter of Avoca Reaction and The Ping Pong Girls as they close out the opening-night celebrations. 

On Thursday, St. Patrick’s Night catch the hottest new Irish acts at Mo Cultivation in the Spiegeltent Mór with Nealo, Celaviedmai, Sim Simma Soundsystem, 1000 Beasts with Khakikid & Decarteret, The X-Collective and DJ Safarii. On Friday, a special Bank Holiday for 2022, legendary Dublin singer songwriter Damien Dempsey will uplift  the voices of Dublin and the stories of Ireland on the Main Stage, with Adam Mohamed and special guests to be announced.

Bringing their buzzing energy to Festival Quarter Nights, Le Boom are joined by The Glasshouse Orchestra plus guest Æ MAK in Spiegeltent Mór preceded by a second performance from Paradise Cabaret. 

On Saturday, the Sing Along Social crew make their first appearance in two years with their boldest session to date in the Spiegeltent Mór, alongside 8 piece funk and party anthem troupe Cooks But We're Chefs. There will be further line-up additions coming soon. 

The Festival Programme is available now at stpatricksfestival.ie and will continue to be updated as more events are announced. All daytime events will be free of charge, on a first come, first served basis, while some night time events will require a pre-purchased ticket. 

To be the first to hear all the news, join the Festival mailing list on the website and follow St. Patrick’s Festival on all social media channels. See www.stpatricksfestival.ie for tickets and further details.