Forest Fest 2026: Madness top off a nostalgia-filled weekend featuring The Boomtown Rats, James and more
Forest Fest 2026 concluded with a successful performance by Madness, drawing a large crowd to the expanded venue in County Laois. The festival featured a mix of veteran acts and new stages, celebrating a weekend of music and Irish culture.
Why it matters
It reflects the health of the live music industry and the cultural significance of regional festivals in Ireland.
Madness were comfortably the most entertaining of the headline acts at this year’s Forest Fest , closing the three-day event with their trademark blend of bangers, brass and slapstick, delighting a capacity crowd whose many fezzes and other party hats captured the feel-good mood of the weekend.
There were few signs of growing pains at the festival, whose move to a larger site at Bee’s Wing Farm on the outskirts of Emo in Co Laois comfortably accommodated 16,000 festivalgoers, 4,000 more than last year.
Linking a string of classics such as Our House, My Girl’s Mad at Me, Night Boat to Cairo (hence fezzes) and the sublime It Must Be Love, frontman Suggs entertained the crowd with the easy patter of a used-car salesman, Lee Thompson on saxophone providing a comic foil.
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