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music · Friday 7 August 2026 · Various 
Grass Roots Sessions
At Kavanaghs Bar & Venue · 28 Main Street, Portlaoise, Co. Laois
At Kavanaghs Bar & Venue · 28 Main Street, Portlaoise, Co. Laois
Every Thursday night in August, September and October 2026, Kavanagh’s Bar & Venue on Main Street fills with original music from across the Midlands. The Grass Roots Sessions is a funded live music series that gives regional artists - from Laois, Offaly, Carlow, Kilkenny, Kildare and Westmeath - a proper stage and a professional recording to take home. If you want to hear genuinely new Irish music in a pub that has been running since 1869, this is the night to choose.
Each session puts three acts on stage performing entirely self-written material - no covers, no tribute sets. The August 7th bill opens the series with three acts: Anita, Motion Sickness, and Fionn Marum.
Behind the scenes, the night runs deeper than a standard gig. Curated by Brian and Finn O’Mahoney and hosted by filmmaker Ann Marie Kelly, each performance is captured on a multi-camera setup with mixed and mastered audio. The artists leave with professional video content they can use to pitch for festival slots and future bookings. As venue owner PJ Kavanagh put it, the aim is to give bands and artists something to take away that is actually useful for their careers.
The series runs to five sessions in total, returning on 21 August, 4 September, 18 September and 2 October. Tickets start from €10. The project is supported through the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport Night-Time Economy Grassroots Music Venue Support Scheme 2025.
Kavanagh’s is on Main Street in Portlaoise town centre, which puts it within a short walk of the train station. Portlaoise is on the Dublin-Cork/Limerick mainline and has frequent services from Heuston Station - the journey from Dublin takes around an hour. By road, the M7 brings you from Dublin in about 70 minutes; there is a large public car park on Railway Street, a few minutes on foot from the venue.
Portlaoise is the county town of Laois and makes for a straightforward overnight base if you are coming from outside the county. The Rock of Dunamase, a ruined 12th-century castle on a limestone outcrop, is a few kilometres east and worth the short detour on the way in or out. There is more to see in Portlaoise and across Co. Laois.
Heading to Kavanaghs Bar & Venue in Portlaoise? Laois has plenty more to see. Read the Portlaoise area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.