AVA Festival 2022

Friday and Saturday day line ups, opening event and afterparties announced

With just five weeks to go until the return of the mighty AVA Festival, the team can reveal day splits and tickets for the Friday and Saturday outings across its outdoor festival site, plus opening event at Banana Block and afterparties across various venues for each night. Returning to the iconic Titanic Quarter, AVA will takeover the famed Titanic Slipways for two days of celebration featuring a host of homegrown Irish talent, plus internationally acclaimed names including BICEP, Mura Masa, Jon Hopkins, Biig Piig, Floorplan, I Hate Models, VTSS, TSHA, Special Request, Sherelle, Ross From Friends, Sally C, Kessler, Baklava and more. 

Weekend tickets are now approaching final release, and day tickets will be available from 10AM on Thursday. After a sell out festival in 2021, and fresh from another sell out show London’s Printworks, don’t miss the biggest AVA yet this June 3+4th. 

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AVA FRIDAY LINE UP  

Starting the AVA weekender on Friday, there’s a blend of live acts and DJs ready to kick off proceedings with major energy. International superstars and homegrown legends BICEP will play their largest homecoming set & live show to date in their home city of Belfast. With a UK chart topping album under their belts, a Brit nomination, and a host of club hits soundtracking dancefloors around the world, BICEP have grown to be one the cities most celebrated exports and will return with an outstanding audio visual show especially curated for their city. More special live shows on the Friday come from Ross From Friends, PROSPA, and 999999999, blending their trademark electronica with impressive AV shows to take viewers on a journey through their sets. 

Joining the Friday bill will be Dublin’s Gemmy Dunleavy, who has deservedly shot to fame with her catchy vocal and garage blends, along with Bklava, father / daughter duo Floorplan, Special Request, Logic1000, KESSLER, Sally C and plenty more. The Irish contingent will be represented with a serious selection of local acts, with ELLLL, Carlton Doom, Plain Sailing, DART and plenty more repping for the North and South.

AVA SATURDAY LINE UP 

Saturday sees another huge set of talent on board in the form of Mura Masa, an artist whose playful productions have won his several Grammy awards, and seen him collaborate with the likes of A$AP Rocky, Stormzy, Pink Pantheress and more. One of Ireland’s most famed RnB / rap crossover names, BIIG PIIG, will also perform live with her unique blend of English / Spanish word tracks. Other live acts include Soichi Terada who will deliver a high-energy set packed with feel-good vibes, plus get set for powerful techno and left-leaning sounds from Overmono and Giant Swan, and a closing set from the legendary electronic experimentalist Jon Hopkins. Perfect for the energetic Belfast crowd – of course there’ll be plenty of techno with I HATE MODELS, VTSS, Skin On Skin, plus high BPM jungle rave and breaks from Sherelle, Calibre, and more. 

As always, local legends are plenty on Saturday’s bill with Mark Blair, Timmy Stewart, Jordan Nocturne, Holly Lester, Marion Hawkes, TWITCH, Inside Moves and plenty more where that came from. Playing the finest in house, techno, disco, new wave, trance and all between – the Irish acts represent for the strong movement growing across the country right now. Individual stage breakdowns will be released in the coming weeks.

OPENING EVENT + AFTERPARTIES 

As always, AVA Festival will light up Belfast city for the whole weekend – inviting local creatives / industry,  and guests alike to experience & expand the colourful creative community in Belfast. AVA will host an Opening Event at industrial hangout Banana Block at Portview Trade Centre on Thursday 2nd June, a new space that is also home to many of the forces behind the cities cultural movement such as Sound Advice – Belfast’s revered new record store. From 5PM to 10PM this starter session will feature talks from industry experts including Resident Advisor’s RA Exchange Live, a PRS For Musicians hosted chat followed by an instore at Sound Advice – the city’s revered new record store. This will be the perfect way to warm up for the weekender ahead, plus will provide opportunities for networking. More details on the talks to be announced via AVA social media in the coming weeks.

Afterparties will take place across three venues: Banana Black at Portview Trade Centre, Thompson’s Garage & Ulster Sports Club on both Friday and Saturday night – followed by the annual closing party on Sunday 5th June at Thompsons. 

AVA Festival aims to promote the growing cultural movement in Belfast and beyond, with artists, visual artists, DJs, live acts from Ireland always a large percentage of the programme and keeping AVA a family feeling affair at heart. AVA Festival has long been known as a celebration of Belfast’s rapidly evolving creative movement and has given Irish artists a global stage. AVA is supported by Tourism Northern Ireland.

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