We'll never understand how he has the time, but Santa will be visiting our lovely Galway this festive season, here's where to meet him!
Read More →Having found your favourite spots to see on your next visit to Galway, it’s time to put the wheels in motion. Share your discoveries with your friends and family, get booking and prepare for an incredibly memorable trip.
Looking for expert care and a touch of indulgence? Galway’s top beauty salons are here to enhance your natural glow and help you achieve that signature Galway look.
Congratulations – you did it! All your hard work has finally paid off, and now it’s time to celebrate your graduation, Galway-style. Whether you’re graduating from University of Galway or ATU Galway, there’s no better place to toast your success than in Galway’s vibrant restaurants, stylish bars, and lively venues. Gather your friends and family for a well-deserved graduation dinner or party, and make your special day truly unforgettable. From elegant dining experiences to relaxed spots perfect for a group celebration, here are some of the best places to celebrate your graduation in Galway.
Misleór Festival of Nomadic Cultures returns to Galway city from September 24th to 27th, and Ballinasloe on October 4th, bringing Traveller and nomadic artists, musicians, filmmakers, writers, performers and communities together for its eighth annual festival. This year’s theme, ‘Weaving the Threads Between Us’, reflects on the festival’s journey so far while looking towards the connections and collaborations still to come.
Building on the massive success of its inaugural year, Galway City Council is proud to announce the return of Gaillimh Ah-Boo! with an expanded, city-wide Halloween celebration reclaiming the ancient Celtic origins of Samhain through myth, magic, and community! Find out what treats (and tricks!) are in-store for you in Galway this year…
Clodagh Wade and Hilary Morley live in Galway and both studied Fine Art with an emphasis on painting and drawing. They have exchanged ideas and offered each other encouragement and support on many occasions and particularly in recent months. This exhibition brings together a collection of their new and carefully selected works in watercolour, charcoal, mixed media and collage. While distinct in style and materials used, their works are united by complementary colour palettes and a meticulous attention to detail. Discover more here…
Halloween in Galway is ‘Comedy Christmas’ as Galway Comedy Festival returns for the October Bank Holiday, taking over the City with a bumper line-up spanning international headliners, Irish comedy greats, and the best emerging talent on the circuit. Check out this year’s line-up below..
Irish creative events company ArtClub has launched Paint Ireland, a new collection of at-home painting experiences inspired by iconic locations and landmarks from around the country (including The Long Walk in Galway!). Find out more here…
Anois is Arís is a weekend of left-field programme taking place in Galway from the 2nd to the 4th of October. It will take place across multiple venues over one weekend and covers a range of experimental and counter-culture music. It is produced by the team behind Ar Ais Arís, a long running events platform and record label based in Galway.
Tractors will parade after dark, animation studios will open their doors, and libraries will fill with stories as Galway County gears up for Culture Night 2026. On Friday, 18th September, over 50 free events will bring music, theatre, art and celebration to towns and villages across the county, all part of Culture Night, a national moment celebrating the richness and diversity of culture in Ireland today.
Six fellas with a shared grá for music joined forces three years ago and haven’t looked back since. The Leon Stax Equation are a soul band based in Galway, and it is safe to say they are leaving their mark on the Irish music scene! We caught up with Leon Stax, the band’s lead singer, to chat about their latest album release and what we can expect before the end of the year. Read all about it below….
To date, the band have released three albums, made it to #3 in the Irish Independent album charts, as well as touring across Ireland, the UK, USA and Mainland Europe. Leon is the second youngest in his family of ten. He has been playing in bands since he was 11 years old and takes musical influences from all genres.
At the beginning of May, The Leon Stax Equation released their third studio album, titled “In View”. These lads are bringing back old soul-style music, and Leon tells us what it’s like to start recording an album. “We get in the room and we set everybody up, we take time placing the mics in a way that everything sounds good the way it is, then we record everything together, which is the way it was done with a lot of our favourite old soul stuff back in the ‘60s. It’s coming back into fashion now,” says Leon.
In previous groups recordin situations, they would “record one instrument at a time and try to get it perfect,” but now they are embracing the imperfections. “We like having little bits of mistakes, it is a really good representation of where the band is at. If you’re playing well and you’re rehearsed, those are going to be good performances,” Leon admits. This album just like their previous 2 Leon Stax Equation releases is self-produced. Though they had top engineers for the tracking process like Christian Best(Susan O’Neill, Mick Flannery) “We went for six tracks in two days with Christian and we got six tracks done,” Leon explains. “The vocals were overdubbed in another studio. There are one or two guitars overdubbed too only because sometimes there’s more guitar parts in the song than we have people in the band”.
The barn on Leon’s family home in County Meath was the location for three of the tracks and much of the overdubbing. “I really wanted the music to be accessible. Because though I love experimenting, and I love doing weird, crazy stuff, I wanted to make music where people can walk into a pub anywhere when we’re playing and they’re think, ‘this is great’,” Leon shares. Reflecting on fond memories over the past three years, Leon recalls how it felt to hear the whole crowd singing along with your music.“it’s very surreal, these are songs you wrote in your bedroom, then there’s crowds of people singing them back to you.”
Gigging in Coughlan’s Cork for the Jazz Festival is a night these fellas will never forget. “We played to absolutely packed houses in Coughlan’s, a small venue, but they were absolutely ramped. It was on our sixth gig of the weekend, the last night of the festival. That could very well have been the best gig we ever played. It was unforgettable. The kind of gig you live for.”
With three months to go before the end of the year, The Leon Stax Equation tease new music. “There’ll definitely be more singles out before the end of the year. Collabs perhaps. And you can expect to see us on a few more stages. We play the Sugar Club in Dublin in December and the Cork Jazz Festival in Coughlan’s and the Savoy.”
You can find The Leon Stax Equation on Instagram @leon.stax.equation and Spotify @theleonstaxequation.
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