PICTURES: Annual Tipperary festival draws thousands to local town park

The Liberty Music Festival once again took Thurles by storm last weekend, with the sold-out crowd making its way to the Thurles town park on Saturday and Sunday.

The show opened up in spectacular fashion on Saturday afternoon, with Reckless, a tribute to Bryan Adams, wowing early festival goers from 1pm.

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EZ/DC took over from there, to the great excitement of rock and roll fans in the park.

These Charming Men took to the stage after that, and made their time on stage count, with their tribute act to The Smiths drawing cheers from everyone in the park.

Essentially Cher hit the stage as the first day drew into the evening, followed afterwards by Complete Madness.

Mac Fleetwood saw the crowd into the night, taking to the stage just after 7pm.

Waterloo, a tribute to ABBA, filled the penultimate slot of the night, keeping the crowd moving to the Swedish group’s pop hits of the 1980s, before Peat Loaf rounded out the opening night of the festival, with his tribute show to Meat Loaf getting underway just before 10pm.

The second day of the Liberty Music Festival got underway at 1pm on Sunday afternoon.

First up on stage was Nanarama, with their tribute act to Bananarama.

Dezperado followed shortly after them, taking to the stage at 2pm with their tribute act to Eagles.

Nights on Broadway took to the stage after that, performing the classic music of the BeeGees, before Spring Break, the popular wedding group, took over around 4:30pm.

I’m Every Whitney LIVE saw the festival roll into the evening, performing the classics of Whitney Houston, before handing the stage over to Proud Mary, who took the crowd through Tina Turner’s hits, and delighting the crowd while holding aloft a Tipperary flag during her rendition of Simply the Best, following Tipperary’s two triumphs over Kilkenny in the camogie All-Ireland quarter final and senior hurling semi-final in Croke Park shortly before.

Coldplace took the penultimate slot of the festival, playing the best of Coldplay as the evening rolled into the night, before handing the stage over to the ever-popular Qween, who once again closed out the festival, performing the classic hits of Queen.

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Speaking on the event, Cllr Jim Ryan, organiser of the festival, said that it was a great success: “It was definitely the best festival so far. The crowds were fantastic, brilliant atmosphere, electric atmosphere, all weekend. Everybody really enjoyed themselves. And the feedback from the people that were at the festival and stayed in the campsites, they all said that it was the best festival yet, the best festival they’ve ever been at, the best run festival, and they can’t wait for next year.

“So, yeah, it’s been really positive, a really brilliant weekend for Thurles. The town was hopping since Thursday, and the Fair and the Square on the Friday really added to it, you had a lot of people in the campsites coming into Thurles town centre on Friday to enjoy the Fair in the Square and the pubs. All around it was a fantastic weekend for Thurles.”

From speaking with patrons throughout the weekend, Cllr Ryan has said that the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive: “They loved it. You could see people leaving with their thumbs up, and shaking hands with us, and complimenting us, and saying it was fantastic, and I know from talking to the campsites, the Thurles Gaels, Thurles Rugby Club, Thurles Crokes, and the Tipperary Equestrian Centre, they’re telling me that it was a fantastic few days and nights, and they really enjoyed themselves, they were really well looked after by the clubs around the town, in the campsites, and they can’t wait for next year.

“A good few were actually already asking when tickets for 2026 are on sale. That’s a fantastic sign. So yeah, it really was fantastic, a really positive festival event for the town of Thurles, and it has done so much for the economy of the town, putting Thurles in a very positive light, and it just goes to show and showcase, that Thurles is a fantastic spot for a festival, and we can cater for people, and we have great hospitality services, and the people of Thurles really do have a very welcoming attitude to people coming and staying for a few days and spending money, so long may that last, and yeah, certainly it’s been an overwhelming success for the town of Thurles.”

The attendees were not the only ones who enjoyed the weekend, with many businesses in the area praising the festival for bringing many people into Thurles at the weekend.

“They’re all delighted,” Cllr Ryan said, speaking of the reaction from local businesses.

“You know, from Thursday on, the town began to get busy. I know for a fact on Friday night, a number of pubs had to close their doors because they were full to the brim with people coming into town, coming in and joining music on the Friday night, and also then during the day on Saturday and Sunday, a lot of people would have left the festival site to go into different pubs and different cafés and restaurants. So, the general feedback is the traders are very happy with the weekend and something that they’ve embraced, and they really wanted to see us lasting going forward. So it’s certainly a festival that the whole town has embraced, not only traders, the people of Thurles who had nothing but high praise for it. So it’s a great, positive thing for Thurles, and it’s something that’s put Thurles back on the map again in a very positive light. So that’s something that should be very welcome.”

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The choice of acts proved to be popular amongst the patrons, with Cllr Ryan saying that the choice to go for a more nostalgia-based line-up proved to hit the right note amongst both older and younger attendees.

“The atmosphere was electric on Saturday, the crowds were huge. You know, all the bands, you couldn’t really pinpoint one, but I suppose on Sunday night, Tina Turner, for her last song, she came out with Simply the Best, and she had a Tipperary flag with her, so that was something that the crowd really enjoyed, but, I mean Qween were amazing as the final act, as were quite a number of them, but all the bands were amazing, and everyone has a particular favourite, it’s hard to choose.

“Every band was brilliant and everybody enjoyed it, they all created an atmosphere, they all had their own following. The bands that we had were very nostalgic, going back to the 1980s and you could see people there in their 70s out dancing to bands that they used to love back in the 1980s and that’s what it’s all about, you know, young and old people enjoying themselves and singing the songs, dancing, and, as I said, going home now safely after a wonderful few days in Thurles.”

Looking to 2026, Cllr Ryan said that he is hopeful the festival can make a return, and advises those looking to attend to buy their tickets as soon as possible, due to the positive feedback received this year.

“If we are given the go-ahead for the festival next year and tickets go on sale, I’d be advising everybody to buy their tickets as quickly as possible, because I really believe it’ll sell out very quickly based on the feedback we’re getting from this year’s one. We’ll have a meeting with the council and the guards, so hopefully if that’s positive and they’re happy for us to go ahead with it, we don’t see any reason why we wouldn’t have it in 2026 and, you know, we have something special there for Thurles and I think to lose it, will be a big mistake. So we’ll be doing everything we can to ensure it happens again next year.”