This Remote Irish Music Festival Honors a Guitar Great. It’s At Risk Of Never Happening Again
Categoria: Musica
Inside the Rory Gallagher International Tribute Festival, which started in 2003 — and, now for the first time, is facing an uncertain future.
Por Billboard | 07/10/2026
Every year in Ballyshannon, a small town in Ireland with 2,200 residents, an independent international music festival takes place to honor the most famous person born there: Rory Gallagher. Often heralded as one of the greatest guitarists ever, Gallagher died in 1995 at just 47 years old — yet his legacy has only become stronger each year since. This year’s Rory Gallagher International Tribute Festival (held May 28 through June 1) was the biggest yet, bringing in nearly 10,000 fans (compared with roughly 200 at its 2003 inaugural event), with nearly 6,000 coming from outside Ireland. The festival’s scale is unusual for an event that, by festival founder and operator Barry O’Neill’s own account, has never spent a cent on advertising. “It’s word-of-mouth,” he told Billboard during the festival, though he credits Ireland’s national tourism board for some of the international turnout. Before the 2026 fest had even wrapped, O’Neill was already calling it “the best one ever.” Related Amid Festival Turmoil, Rory Gallagher’s Legacy Lives On Through New Projects, Forthcoming Book ‘Every Moment Is Massive and Magnificent’: Noah Kahan Reflects on a Monumental Year — And Eyes a Grammys Breakthrough Bruno Mars Soundtracks Lakers Star Ziaire Williams' SoFi Stadium Proposal With Live 'Marry You' Performance Then, just days after it ended, its future was thrown into doubt: Tickets.ie, the online ticketing platform the festival used for sales, abruptly ceased trading as part of a liquidation that left it owing over 1 million euros across several festivals and other events, including 283,000 euros owed to the Rory Gallagher International Tribute Festival, according to press reports. As O’Neill told Dublin publication Hot Press , he had been assured through email from the ticketing service that the festival’s remaining funds would arrive within two days. Hours later, he found a notice on its website that the company had shut down. (Oshi Software, which traded as Tickets.ie, didn’t respond for comment. Germany’s DEAG Deutsche Entertainment majority-owns Oshi Software through its UK subsidiary, My Ticket Service Ltd.) On June 8, a petition to settle debts, liquidate assets and distribute any remaining proceeds was filed in Ireland’s High Court. The shortfall left the festival owing the artists and production companies 200,000 euros in bills, which organizers are now hoping to raise with crowdfunding (a GoFundMe has raised close to 99,000 euros of its 150,000 goal). On that page, the RG Tribute Festival account posted, “We continue to pursue every available legal avenue through the Irish High Court liquidation process in an effort to recover the funds owed to the Festival. At the same time, we remain determined to secure the Festival’s future through a range of fundraising initiatives and the incredible support of our global Rory Gallagher family.” One such effort includes partnering with the similarly affected Ro