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festivals · Friday 18 September 2026 · Various 
Music Under the Mountains
At Hollywood Centre · Hollywood, Co. Wicklow
At Hollywood Centre · Hollywood, Co. Wicklow
Music Under the Mountains brings a weekend of traditional Irish music to the small village of Hollywood in west Wicklow, usually held on the third weekend of September. The festival is built around concerts and informal sessions from local and visiting musicians rather than a single big stage, spread across venues including St Kevin’s Church of Ireland, the Hollywood Inn and the Hollywood Centre. It is a genuinely local event, sized to a village rather than a festival site, and has run for years as one of the county’s steadier traditional music dates.
The weekend mixes ticketed concerts with free sessions and workshops. In recent years the Friday evening concert has run as a free, advance-booking event tied to Culture Night, with Saturday and Sunday concerts priced at around €25 each, plus daytime workshops on Saturday that do not need booking. Musicians play in the church, the local pub and community venues around the village, so the festival has the feel of the whole place taking part rather than a single ticketed venue. Past line-ups have featured established names in Irish traditional music alongside local sessions, and the small scale means audiences are close to the musicians throughout. Exact 2026 dates, venues and the full line-up are confirmed on the festival’s own website closer to September.
Hollywood is a small village on the R756 in west Wicklow, close to Blessington and the Wicklow Gap road into the mountains. It is best reached by car, as there is no direct rail or regular bus service into the village itself.
Hollywood sits at the foot of the Wicklow Gap, one of the county’s classic mountain drives, so the festival weekend works well combined with a drive over the Gap or a stop in nearby Blessington. There is more to see in Hollywood and across Co. Wicklow.
Heading to Hollywood Centre in Hollywood? Wicklow has plenty more to see. Read the Hollywood area guide, find what else is on, and explore the towns and villages nearby.
In town for Hollywood Centre? These Wicklow tours book out in summer.