Clonakilty International Guitar Festival turns West Cork into Guitartown for five days
The volunteer-led 22nd edition is underway through September 20, spreading guitar-focused concerts, workshops and sessions across venues and public spaces around Clonakilty.
· Edited by Peter Luha
Credit: Clonakilty International Guitar Festival
The 22nd Clonakilty International Guitar Festival is now underway in West Cork, running September 16–20 across pubs, venues and community spaces around the town. The 2026 lineup includes Paul Brady, Leah Song, DUG, Bill Shanley, Cliffords and an Acoustic Forum, alongside traditional music and songwriter-focused programming.
The festival's deliberately town-wide format is the point: rather than concentrating everything on one fenced site, Clonakilty becomes a network of small stages and gathering places. Ticketed headline shows sit alongside broader community activity, and the official programme also includes John Spillane's songwriting workshop on September 20.
Why it matters
Clonakilty is a long-running guitar festival built around close-range performance and community rather than a conventional arena or trade-show format. Because the festival has already started, its own current occurrence is today's freshness trigger.
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