• Post Punk Podge
  • The Bonk
  • God Alone
  • Aoife Nessa Frances
  • Jar Jar Jr
  • Pretty Happy
  • Melts
  • Maija Sofia
  • Lemoncello
  • Soft Focus
  • Elaine Howley
  • Gyda Valtysdóttir
  • John Francis Flynn
  • Autre Monde
  • CMAT
  • An Taobh Eile
  • Arthuritis
  • Rachel Lavelle
  • Sister Ghost
  • Mark Waldron Hyden
  • Fears
  • Myles Manley
  • Rowan
  • Outsider YP
  • Dream-Cycles
  • Junk Drawer
  • Whozyerman?
  • Acid Granny
  • DDR PARTY
  • Tonnta
  • Actual Acid

Festival Details

Quarter Block Party takes place every February in venues around Cork City, injecting a sense of excitement and laying down a cultural marker as the springtime begins to show its face.

As usual, the festival will sprawl through the city’s streets and venues with over 50 music, art, and theatre performances. Amble through a weekend wonderland of pop-up shows, public art events, and creative discussion in the shops, venues and outdoor spaces to discover some of the freshest high-calibre Irish and International artists.

The first wave of exciting music acts have now been announced, with theatre and art kept under wraps for another few weeks.

Festival manager Caoilian Sherlock commented: “We are delighted to bring the sixth edition of Quarter Block Party to Cork this February. We are very proud to showcase some of the best musical talent that this country has to offer in what can only be described as a golden age for our artists and musicians. In the coming weeks, we will be further presenting a huge lineup of music, dance, theatre, and performing arts as well as discussions and events which focus on activism and urbanism in Cork and around Ireland.”

With both established and rising stars of the Irish music scene playing across the weekend as well as international performance artists, as ever the festival will be filled with some real world-class talent. The first names on the bill include:

The Bonk is a musical project based around compositions by Waterford musician and songwriter, Philip Christie . Gathering influences from 60’s garage, jazz and experimental pop, recursive rhythms and improvised melodies are brought together in loose minimalist song forms. Taking place at Cork’s newest venue, Kino,

Soft Focus join the lineup on Friday 7th February, playing a mix of drone and krautrock informed equally by psychedelia and experimental minimalism. Spearheaded by the writing partnership of Jack Horgan and Mark Waldron-Hyden (The Sunshine Factory, Sunshine Cult Records), and also consisting of Cork alumni Elaine Malone (Mantua, Land Crabs), Ruairi Dale ( Elastic Sleep), Jack Corrigan (Actualacid) and Ciaran Corcoran (Mikron, Perish), they are currently preparing to enter the studio to record their debut to be released in 2020.

Appearing Saturday 8th February at Kino is Post Punk Podge & The Technohippies – a figment of punk and the post’s collective imagination in the form of a singer/rapper/musician from Limerick, Ireland. An accomplished violinist, Podge’s goal is to turn the brown envelope from a symbol of corruption, deception, and greed, into one of self-expression, defiance and laughter.

Jar Jar Jr. The story of jarjarjr is a story of humble beginnings. Known within niche producer circles for years, he first demanded attention with the release of his beat tape Fallen Angel in 2018. Later that year he went on to cement his name in the annals of Irish Hip Hop history scoring production credits on KOJAQUE’s debut album, Deli Daydreams. He is now entering new artistic territory exploring live instrumentation and composition.

Lemoncello are Laura Quirke and Claire Kinsella; two Irish musicians, from Carlow and Donegal respectively, who became friends while studying at Maynooth University, near Dublin. They make music together using four fundamental ingredients — a guitar, cello and two voices. They will be playing on Saturday 8th February at Coughlans with Maija Sofia – a singer and writer from rural Co. Galway but currently based in Dublin. Maija’s songs take influence from a folkloric style of storytelling and blend disarming poetic vulnerability with a ruthless, anarchic backbone.

Aoife Nessa Frances is a Dublin born musician and singer-songwriter. She is inspired by the poetic styles of folk music and psychedelic rock. Playing at Coughlans on Sunday 9th February with Elaine Howley who is a vocalist with psych-rock group The Altered Hours. Earlier this year she released ‘A Song For Mary Black’ as a part of the Wacker That compilation from Touch Sensitive Records.

At Spailpín Fánach on Saturday 8th February, there is full on heavy night planned with God Alone, a 5-piece band from Cork combining the huge atmosphere of post metal and wretched black metal vocals with elements of drone??, hardcore, math rock, electronic music, and other genres.

Dublin five-piece MELTS have fast emerged as a force to be reckoned with in the city’s era-defining scene. Brimming with hooks and searing intent, their forward-pushing brand of rock ‘n’ roll weds elements of psychedelia, post-punk, and Krautrock, to deliver a sound all their own.

Pretty Happy are a scintillating three-piece act from Cork that are making people sit up and take notice with their dynamic live performances and electric eccentricities. Made up of brother-brother-sister trio, they have established themselves as one of the seminal acts in the Cork music scene. Their sound is a fusion of hard-hitting punk brattiness with exciting, groove-inducing melodies that stun and stimulate in equal parts.

Festival patrons can gain access to events through single event tickets, or with Bundle Passes (€25 + booking fee for three shows). Tickets on sale Friday 15th November at 10am from www.uticket.ie

Tickets

Tickets

Bundle Pass (3 show pass)

€60.00

Live Art Bundle Pass (All 8 Theatre/Dance Performances)

€60.00

Full Festival Pass (Entry to every show at Quarter Block Party)

€100.00

Tickets