Open House Festival is back in Bangor

Throughout August, Open House will host 144 music, literary, food and drink, theatre, film and art events in and around the town.

The first big weekend sees The Waterboys return to Bangor 30 years after their last appearance in the town – this time playing an open-air concert on the seafront, overlooking the marina. This is the first of three large outdoor concerts on the seafront during the month.

American/Icelandic singer-songwriter, John Grant, plays on Sunday August 19, with support from acclaimed singer and electronic composer, Hannah Peel as well as the Open House Festival Choir.

On Saturday August 25 punk icon John Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten, brings his band Public Image Ltd to Northern Ireland for the first time, with support from The Undertones, XSLF and The Outcasts.

That afternoon, John will talk to Bangor author and former punk Colin Bateman, in a special interview and Q&A session at the Marine Court Hotel, overlooking the site of the concert.

Other headline guests appearing throughout the month include singer-songwriter Lisa Hannigan, former Thin Lizzy guitarist, Eric Bell, the women’s rights activist and great-granddaughter of leading suffragist, Emmeline Pankhurst, Dr Helen Pankhurst, and the man in the famous white suit, Martin Bell, as well as comedian Nuala McKeever, authors Patrick Gregg and Emma Heatherington and poet Moyra Donaldson.

To book tickets, log onto www.openhousebangor.com.