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BeatlesFest on the Lough 2017

BeatlesFest 2017 will take place from the 3rd to 7th of August in 2017. It is the 11^th running of the BeatlesFest on the Lough in Moville Co. Donegal. Donegal is Ireland’s northernmost county and at Malin Head (where they recently filmed for the next Star Wars movie) you are at the northernmost point in Donegal and therefore Ireland. In one direction across the water lies Scotland and to the west lies the USA.

If you missed the Sixties then Moville is the place to be that weekend. It’s a fun packed long weekend with Beatles music for 5 days in multiple locations indoors and outdoors with Lough Foyle as a backdrop.

BeatlesFest Moville

Moville Town

Moville lies on the salmon fishing Lough Foyle which also has oyster and mussel beds. You often see dolphins and porpoises in its waters. Indeed, in the Annual Swimming Race Around the Lighthouse, dolphins joined the swimmers last year.

Moville is a very safe place with very little crime. Indeed the last murder was more than 150 years ago and even old people have never heard tell of a child being abducted by a stranger. The people are friendly and welcoming.

According to Beatles Road manager, Tony Bramwell, who comes regularly to the BeatlesFest, his favourite three places in the world are Nashville, Hawaii and Moville and he is considering retiring here. He told a major newspaper in Ireland that the people are very friendly and he comes whenever he is asked.

He said that Rosatos Bar is one of his favourite bars in the whole world and he sips many a pint of Guinness inside or outside there when he is in Moville.

Beatles Related Names

All of the days and nights at the festival have Beatles related names. There are Beatles acts playing in each of these.

Come Together Night is on the Thursday and is always held in just one location so that people coming to the festival can come together and renew old friendships or make new ones.

Friday evening sees live music in the main square of the town by multiple Beatles acts on It’s Getting Better night, followed by Beatles acts in multiple bars around the town till the wee small hours.

Saturday sees us into Here Comes the Sun Afternoon, with music at the Putting Green café in Bath Green overlooking the shores of Lough Foyle.

There will also be Beatles acts and Open Mics in several of the bars in the town.

In the evening there will be live Beatles music in the square or Malin Road

There will be a Hard Days Night on the Saturday night, the main night of the festival, again with Beatles music and carousing into the wee small hours.

Sunday afternoon is Strawberry Fields afternoon, with music again at the Putting Green café and in bars and cafes around the town.

Sunday night is All You Need is Love night, the final night of the festival where Beatles fans enjoy the music in multiple bars.

Monday afternoon is Hello Goodbye afternoon with music in several bars as festival goers wish each other goodbye till next year as they go in their separate directions.

Places of Interest In and Around Moville

Other places of interest within reasonable distance.

1. The Giant’s Causeway.

2. Portrush golf course where Rory McIlroy and Graeme McDowell learned their game. There are many golf courses here including one attached to the top Redcastle Hotel. It costs about £25 to play but it is free to guests. They also have a spa, gym, sauna and swimming pool.
   

   Derry’s Walls

3. Derry’s City walls where William of Orange’s forces defended the city against King James’s army. Visitors walk the Walls and also the new Peace Bridge which joins the two communities in Derry.

4. The Titanic Museum which is less than 2 hours away in Belfast.

5. The location where Germany’s submarines fleet surrendered and were scuttled at the end of WW2.

6. The Famine Village which takes people back in time to the time of The Potato Famine when many Irish emigrated to America. Indeed the ticket office and old pier where they caught the ships that took them to America are still here in Moville.

7. Malin Head which is the westernmost point of Europe and northernmost point of Ireland. Whales, basking sharks and dolphins can be seen there. It is also where filming took place recently for the next Star Wars film out Christmas 2017. Lead Actor Mark Hammill mixed with locals. See In Search of Luke Skywalker on the Inishowen Peninsula by German Sasch Mayer who now lives in Texas.