Big-name acts set for music and arts festival’s first outing

The country’s latest music and arts festival has attracted a number of big-name acts for its first outing.

The three-day festival will see headliners such as Phoenix take to the main stage on Friday night, New York indie rockers Vampire Weekend on Saturday and, to complete the weekend, Kraftwerk perform their 3D concert on the Sunday night. Among those also lined up are Kodaline and Tom Odell.

The event, which is being viewed as a major rival to Electric Picnic, is being held at Marlay Park from July 19-21.

Organisers MCD said: “Longitude will be a unique festival encompassing music and arts set to the picturesque backdrop of the Dublin mountains. Throughout its rich musical history of staging concerts, Marlay Park has hosted some of the world’s biggest bands and now will introduce fans to Ireland’s most exciting new festival.”

Reports suggest Longitude will be linked up with the Latitude festival in Britain and that both festivals will take place on the same weekends meaning the same acts may appear at both.

Early Bird weekend tickets for the Friday, Saturday and Sunday are priced €129.50 plus fees and early bird day tickets are priced €44.50 inclusive of booking fee.

The tickets will go on sale from Ticketmaster and outlets from 9am on Mar 4 with the early bird offer due to expire on April 7.

Weekend tickets will then rise to €149.50 and day tickets to €54.50 plus fees.

The organisers have said Apr 8 will see a “further announcement”.

The prices being quoted for Longitude are significantly less than is normally charged for Electric Picnic. Last year, festival-goers there paid €230 for weekend camping tickets and €99.50 for a day pass to see the likes of The Cure, The Killers, and Elbow perform, among many other acts.