Northern Ireland

Reggae veterans The Wailers to headline July's Stendhal Festival

Jamaican icons The Wailers are among headline acts at this year's Stendhal Festival in Limavady.
Jamaican icons The Wailers are among headline acts at this year's Stendhal Festival in Limavady.

REGGAE legends The Wailers are among artists joining this year's line-up for the Stendhal Festival in Co Derry.

Taking place on July 6 to 8 in Limavady, the festival will see the Jamaican roots reggae group, formerly fronted by the late Bob Marley, headline alongside artists including Bell X1, Newtown Falkner, Turin Brakes and Yazz Ahmed.

The eclectic festival, which will be staged at Ballymully Cottage Farm and include camping facilities, has been described by organisers as having a "plethora of unique and exceptional musical talents" making appearances, with acts from across Ireland showcased alongside international artists, which this year will also include ex-Fun Lovin' Criminals frontman Huey Morgan, who will be performing a DJ set.

Festival director Ross Parkhill said he had welcomed The Wailers back to headline following their previous performance at the event five years ago.

"We can’t wait to see them again," he said.

Stendhal was established in 2011 and has become the north's premier camping outdoor music festival since it was first staged.

It become the north's first festival to return in 2021 after most music events were scrapped the previous year due to Covid.

Speaking of Co Kildare rockers Bell X1 and Dungiven folk star Cara Dillon, Mr Parkhill said: "Bell X1 will be performing an exclusive all-electric show for us this

summer having spent quite a while touring acoustically with a string quartet so that is really exciting, and of course then having the Roe Valley’s very own songbird in Cara Dillon, finally playing her home festival, will be something special indeed".

He added: "We are also so pleased to be welcoming back Turin Brakes for the first time since they headlined the event 13 years ago and we can’t wait to show them the progress that the festival has made over the years, in part thanks to them.

"Throw in the Brilliant Newton Faulkner, The Scratch and Yazz Ahmed and our headline acts so far are a great mix of styles and have the broad appeal which we hope will see us have another successful year as we continue to recover."

Details on tickets and the full line-up is available online at stendhalfestival.com.