Showers swept through the Stradbally estate in Co Laois as the early arrivals at Electric Picnic began pitching their tents yesterday morning.

SMALL but perfectly formed was the verdict on the Liss Ard arts and music festival in West Cork over the weekend.

MUSIC NEWS: While many music fans have great memories of John Peel and the music he introduced to our ears, the late DJ’s legacy grew even stronger this week with the release of his record collection online.

The last and quirkiest event on the summer music festival calendar is kicking off today with headliners Dizzee Rascal, The Flaming Lips and The Prodigy taking to the stage during the Bestival weekend.

Indie trio The xx landed the Mercury Prize for their debut album 'xx'.

Glastonbury Festival celebrates its 40th anniversary today – and revellers are reaching for the sun block rather than the traditional wellies.

LEGENDARY soul singer Stevie Wonder has joined an increasingly impressive list of performers at this year’s Glastonbury Festival in England.

Acts such as Dizzee Rascal, Scissor Sisters and The Flaming Lips are among the main acts playing this year’s Glastonbury Festival, it was announced today.

Hot Chip are “proud” of their last album ‘Made In The Dark’.

Meat Loaf is to receive a “classic song” award for his epic 'Bat Out Of Hell', it was announced today.

Iggy Pop, Duran Duran and Daft Punk are among the musicians who have designed T-shirts to raise money for political charity Rock The Vote.

Girls are officially cool – according to the NME.

More than 15,000 music-lovers will be setting up camp today for the last major festival of the summer.

Hit band the Arctic Monkeys are £20,000 (€29,550) richer today after a coveted music prize.