AVA MAKES A MARK AT THEIR FLAGSHIP BELFAST EVENT.

It was always going to be a special moment for AVA Festival Belfast as they celebrated 10 years, and the momentous occasion did not disappoint. Bringing together 10,000 guests each day, over 70 local and international artists, hundreds of staff, local creatives and more at the Titanic Spliways – AVA 10 was a testament to the strength of the Irish music community, and those who have worked tirelessly to elevate AVA into a global movement. The theme for AVA 2024 was Unity – and that was felt fiercely across the weekend.

Committed to continual evolution, AVA programmed some of the globe’s leading acts for its 2024 edition, with the Main Stage, Pumphouse, Nomadic and Lookout all hosting killer acts across the weekend. BICEP’S CHROMA show on Friday night as they mesmerised the crowd with high-octane sounds, angular visuals, jungle, breaks, house and more experimental beats. More main stage highlights came from Ross From Friends mixing Joy Orbison’s FlightFM’ with Madonna’s ‘Like A Prayer’ and the boss, the mighty Kerri Chandler closed the festival with the classic ‘You’re In My System’ on Saturday night.

Over on the Pumphouse, Horsegiirl’s incredible energy and fast BPMs sent the whole festival into a gallop, with the crowd and atmosphere going wild. Neffa-T and Flow Dan also won the crowd with a hi-energy dubstep and grime set, hosted by the OG himself. The Boiler Room stage was hosted by Belfast’s MC EMBY across the weekend – with a huge B2B came in from Anz and Special Request on Boiler Room’s Nomadic Stage, with other memorable moments from KI/KI trance and high energy techno, and MCR-T with one of the most hype moments of the weekend.

Across the whole site, production was levelled up with a new design, sound upgrade and take-on stages. In particular, the main stage’s unique and angular design, plus the heavy-hitting Pumphouse created a more intimate vibe – all set in Belfast’s iconic industrial backdrop. As the sun beamed down on Belfast City, the vibes were immaculate, complete with an installation from Heverlee and Craic Magazine, a fashion collaboration with Irish designer Robyn Lynch and even AVA’s own face filter, available to try out on Instagram.

‘We are blown away by this year’s festival, the atmosphere, the artists, our team, partners, suppliers and most of all the crowd. We feel incredibly humbled by the last few days, and want to thank everyone involved this year and across the last ten years of AVA’s journey.’ – Sarah McBriar (AVA Festival founder)

A Decade Of Audio Visual Arts. A Place Of Unity, A Home For Music & Cutting Edge Sound. A Hotbed For Homegrown Talent. An Iconic Dockside Destination.