Sold-out music festival gets set for busy weekend in local Tipperary town

The 2025 Liberty Music Festival takes place this weekend, in the Thurles Town Park.

Drawing crowds from all across the country, the Liberty Music Festival has been a sell-out music event for a number of years.

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Featuring a host of tribute acts, such as Qween, Coldplace and Waterloo, the festival is setting the stage for a vibrant weekend in Thurles.

Speaking with the Tipperary Star, festival organiser Cllr Jim Ryan expressed his excitement for the weekend, ahead of the festival’s fourth edition.

“This is the fourth year of the Liberty Music Festival, and the third year that's been held in the town park. It's taking place on the first weekend in July, and we are completely sold out. We have 5,000 people coming on the Saturday and the Sunday. We have four campsites spread across Thurles town as well, one in Thurles Gaels GAA, one in Thurles Rugby Club, one in Thurles Crokes, and one in Tipperary Equestrian Centre, again, all sold out. Nearly 1,000 camper vans, caravans, tents, staying in Thurles for three or four nights, which obviously is going to bring great economic benefits to the town of Thurles.

“We have people coming from all 32 counties in Ireland. We also have people coming from the UK, Holland and America, attending this year's festival. So it certainly grabbed the imagination of people out there, and it's put Thurles on the map as a destination for a music festival once again.”

Cllr Ryan spoke of the acts performing at the festival, stating that the festival offers a chance to see tribute acts to historic bands that many may not have had the chance to see while those bands were active.

“We're kind of a unique festival, as you know. We're purely a tribute band festival, so we have 16 bands playing this year spread out over the two days, and the likes of Bryan Adams, Cher, Meatloaf, Fleetwood Mac, ABBA, Queen, Coldplay, Bananarama, The Smiths, like the bands we have playing, will be bands from the 1980s so it's kind of more nostalgia-type bands that we have, maybe bands that people would have wished to see when the bands were actually playing, but they never got a chance to see them. So this is probably, I suppose, the next best thing to seeing these bands playing.

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“So it's unique, we’re the biggest tribute band festival in the country. And I suppose the fact that we sold out this year in January just goes to show how popular this festival is.”

Cllr Ryan also spoke of his gratitude to the people and businesses of Thurles for backing the festival, and the efforts of those involved in the organisation of the festival behind the scenes.

“We have 5000 people attending on both days, so that's between weekend tickets and day tickets, which is fantastic, really, you know. And every year we sell out, which is fantastic as well. So it's a festival that’s put Thurles on the map. We love bringing people to the festival, welcoming people to Thurles, and we look after them, and they have a great time. And I suppose year after year, the interest and the popularity of the festival is growing to the extent now that we have a waiting list for people looking for tickets for the festival, which is fantastic to see. So I’m really looking forward to it, it’s something really positive and beneficial to the town of Thurles, and it's something we can't wait for.

“There's a small enough committee that are involved in it. I'll be organizing it, I suppose, booking the bands and stages and everything you see on the day. There's a big, big effort behind the scenes with volunteers and, you know, medical staff and health and safety, and food vendors, the bar, you know.

“It's a big undertaking, but it's worth it in the end, and it benefits Thurles so much that the people in town are getting behind it, the traders are behind us, and as I said, we've, I'd imagine nearly 3,000 plus people that are coming to our festival that are not from Tipperary, so, you know, it's great economically for the town of Thurles as well.”

The Liberty Music Festival gets underway in the Thurles Town Park this Saturday, July 5.