Published: Friday, 18th June, 2010 12:00pm

Music festival set for Birr Castle

Music legend Paul Brady is to headline the inaugral Astral Plains At Birr Castle -a brand new event to the outdoor concert calendar and a first for the beautiful scenic midlands town of Birr that will take place on Saturday June 26.

Astral Plains At Birr Castle will be a festival of music, arts and the cosmos, that will be held in the beautiful surroundings of Birr Castle, providing original and varied all-day entertainment for a broad spectrum of festival goers: from music, to arts and science.

Event Director David Wilkinson said: "We are thrilled to be bringing this new music and arts event to the beautiful town of Birr and we are looking forward to working with Lord and Lady Rosse, their family and all the staff at Birr Castle Demesne and Historic Science Centre.''

Tickets for the day long event (gates 11am) costing €42 (including booking fee of €3), are now on sale from www.TicketGroup.ie or telephone 0818 3333 44 (Credit Card Booking). Tickets are also on sale from HMV stores nationwide and www.hmv.com together with Heartbeat City stores in Tullamore, Thurles and Kilkenny.

Astral Plains at Birr Castle is an over 18s event. However, admission will be free to all children 12yrs and younger accompanied by a parent(s) with a valid ticket(s).

Paul Brady will headline this year's concert, while other artists also confirmed are Cathy Davey, Oliver Cole, Delorentos, Roesy, Jaded Sun, Fred, O Emperor, Simon Fagan, Walter Mitty & The Realists, The Amazing Few, The Vibes and Hamlet Sweeney amongst many others.

This year's line up will offer a variety of music genres from acoustic, rock and indie rock.Astral Plains at Birr Castle is an eclectic gathering for fans of music and experimental entertainment!

Filling the niche that Electric Picnic has left during its substantial growth, Astral Plains at Birr Castle is independent and non-corporate, fun, and alternative.

The professional independent team steering this intimate festival production have collective backgrounds in music industry, event management and other entrepreneurial skill sets. Director of Tree Life Productions, David Wilkinson said: "For Astral Plains at Birr Castle this June we want to keep it intimate and as such only 2,000 tickets will be released initially.''

He continued: "Our plan is to grow the concert into a two day festival in future years but yet maintain our vision for it to be intimate and relaxed.

We also plan to continue working closely with the local gardai and business community to ensure the growth of the planned annual event is in keeping with the atmosphere and idealic setting of the town of Birr together with benefiting the town through revenue injection and potential part time employment resulting directly from its production families.''

Limited camping will be available. Camping reservations will be taken via the concert website to allow us gauge demand. Payment with ID will be required on day of check in. Campsite gates will open at 9am on Saturday June 26.

For more information log onto www.astralplains.ie