When Next We Meet Festival day one – live gallery and review from Raheen House Hotel Clonmel 29.05.2026

Set out on the grounds of the charming Raheen House hotel When Next We Meet, now in its fifth iteration brought together local, national and international talent to Clonmel on the June bank holiday weekend. A festival still arguably in its infancy was created by partners Kate Toohig and Eoin Hally in
2021 and has grown from strength to strength ever since, with over 1000 tickets sold to this three day event in 2026.

Volunteers are the lifeblood of festivals, hands down, and outside of the logistics and the technicalities of running these big events, once boots have hit the ground and guests have arrived on property, the staff you have picked can make or break the atmosphere of the entire weekend. The volunteers at When Next We Meet were exceptional, no other word forit.

From the minute you walked in the gate of the hotel grounds, which had been taken over by the festival, the energy in the place was evident even before the first guests stepped foot onto the grassy verge. Smiling faces everywhere, up for the chat and a mixed bag of locals and some coming from neighbouring counties like Waterford and Cork to pull it all together. My first stop once in the gate was to scope out the layout of the grounds; the main stage in
the hotel’s main grassy area would play host to established artists while the smaller hidden gems stage in the walled garden would host rising stars, upcoming bands and hidden gems on the Irish scene, as the name suggested.

The main stage was the only one in use on the Friday and was to play host to the Clonmel Community Choir led by festival organiser Kate, Jo Blonde, Sun Merchant with BabyRat closing out the first night. The Friday night, I was told, was the only one not sold out of the weekend’s offering. Pity that because the lineup for the first night had something on offer for most music tastes and the addition of BabyRat to close out the night was a stroke of genius. I hadn’t come across them previous to this but I was so impressed by their set. There wasn’t a stationary element to their show whatsoever, it was almost mind boggling trying to track all the individuals across the stage and the theatricality was infectious. Loads of personality in both their music and in the way they carried themselves on stage, safe to say they left an impression.

Clonmel Community Choir photos:

Jo Blonde photos:

Sun Merchant photos:

BabyRat photos:

Photos & Words – Lisa Hamilton @lisahamiltonphotography