Hot Press – announces “History In The Making: The Concert” at 3Arena to kickstart 50th Anniversary activities.

Hot Press has announced a major event, History In The Making: The Concert, featuring many of the leading lights in Irish music, to take place at 3Arena, Dublin on Friday, 6 February. 

History In The Making: the Concert is the opening salvo in the 50th Anniversary celebrations of Hot Press. The event represents a massive statement of support by musicians for the magazine, in appreciation of the crucial role it has played in highlighting Irish talent and championing Irish music for almost five decades. 

History In The Making: The Concert is supported by the Bauer Media Group and Go Loud. 

Artists confirmed for what promises to be one of the major highlights of the year musically include Van Morrison, The Boomtown Rats, Imelda May and The Frames – the legendary band fronted by Glen Hansard, who are re-convening on the occasion. 

The line-up for this unique 3Arena show includes:

Van Morrison
The Boomtown Rats 
Imelda May 
The Frames
Damien Dempsey 
Clannad
Picture This
Florence Road
Belters Only & Jazzy
Denise Chaila
Irish Women in Harmony

Special Guest: Michael D. Higgins with Myles O’Reilly

“I want to say a huge thanks to all of the artists who have jumped on board for the show,” Hot Press editor Niall Stokes said. “I love the sense of comradeship and support that is evident at every level in Irish music. There is so much extraordinary talent here, across all genres in Ireland – and the calibre of the artists here is utterly exceptional. We are all really looking forward to a night of extraordinary music to kick start our 50th Anniversary activities. It is going to be one of those amazing, special occasions.”

Bob Geldof of The Boomtown Rats added: “We grew up together Hot Press and the Rats. While we got big, the magazine grew. And grew. You know all the names that followed that wouldn’t have, had it not been for this fabulous paper Hot Press, that was acerbic, irreverent, funny, admiring, critical, enthusiastic. Positive in what was then an island of total Negative. 

“Hot Press created enough heft for the fledgling music outfits it wrote about to gather music attention from outside these shores. It gave space in its pages for new writers, new thoughts – for modernity. It posited, felt like and helped to create OUR Ireland. A newer, fresher, very different and much more open and progressive country. 

“Hot Press has never stopped tracking – and promoting – the flow of musical, political and intellectual ideas of the country.  It has constantly encouraged every new band with something to say. It has baptised them and sent them on their way.

“Hot Press is approaching 50! Amazing. Congrats. Well done. Thanks for everything…

Hail, Hail Rock ‘n Roll.”

History In The Making: The Book of Hot Press Interviews

The announcement of the 3Arena event coincides with the launch of the public pre-sale of the upcoming special limited edition book, History In The Making: The Book of Hot Press Interviews, which will contain many of the ground-breaking interviews published by Hot Press – some of which helped to change the recent course of Irish history. The book, part of the Hot Press Collectors’ Series – available only directly from Hot Press – will come in a special De Luxe Large Format, with each copy hand-numbered and signed and authenticated by Hot Press founder and editor Niall Stokes, and presented in a special slip case. 

Pre-purchasers of the book get their names included in the list of executive producers. Hot Press editor Niall Stokes is writing brand new introductions to each of the features, putting some of the most extraordinary, challenging – and frequently highly entertaining – interviews ever published in the context of the social and historic circumstances of the time. 

“We’ve been talking about doing a book of the big Hot Press interviews for a long time,” Hot Press editor Niall Stokes said. “Which is why it is among the first items on our agenda, with the 50th Anniversary starting to come fully into focus. 

“We’ve already done a few of these very special Collectors Series publications, and people love them,” he added. “Rereading interviews with the likes of Charlie Haughey, Gerry Adams – when he said for the first time that there is no military solution to the conflict in the North – Gay Byrne, Mary Robinson, Gerry Ryan, Sinead O’Connor, Saoirse Ronan, and loads more besides, you realise all over again how extraordinary and powerful they are.  

“At its best, great journalism is History In the Making – which is what we are aiming to capture in the title. It’s often been said that Hot Press has played a unique part in the story of Ireland over the past 50 years, and in inspiring and driving the changes that have taken place in Irish society – which is a theme we hope to return to in different ways over the next 18 months or so.  

“There is an element here also of giving people all over Ireland, and beyond, a neat way of supporting Hot Press and the independent journalism which is so important now, in a world where propaganda and disinformation are everywhere, censorship is rampant, journalists are increasingly being targeted, and fascism and authoritarianism are on the rise.

“Hot Press has fought for greater personal and political freedom for decades. Whether it is through digital or magazine subscriptions, donations or merchandising sales via the shop on hotpress.com, reader support is a vital part of the model for media businesses looking to the future – so, for us, this is the opening chapter in that campaign also.”     

Hot Press announces “History In The Making: The Concert” at 3Arena to kickstart 50th Anniversary activities.

3Arena, Dublin – Friday, 6th February 2026

Tickets on sale this Monday at 9am via Ticketmaster.ie

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