Belfast Vital (formerly Tennent's Vital) is an annual

music festival A music festival is a festival, community event with music, performances of singing and instrument playing that is often presented with a theme such as musical genre (e.g., rock music, rock, blues, folk music, folk, jazz, classical music), nation ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

. It was first held near Botanic Gardens in 2002 then later moved to Ormeau Park in 2007, both of these venues were in

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

. The festival had taken a noticeable undesired hiatus between 2008–2010 and returned in August 2011 at Ward Park in Bangor due to success of Ward Park as a venue for

Snow Patrol Snow Patrol are a Northern Irish–Scottish Rock music, rock band formed in 1994 in Dundee, Scotland, consisting of Gary Lightbody (vocals, guitar), Nathan Connolly (guitar, backing vocals), and Johnny McDaid (piano, guitar, keyboards, backi ...

's homecoming gig in 2010 which drew in an estimate crowd of 40,000. Sponsored by C&C Group plc and

MCD Productions MCD Productions is an Irish concert promotion company. Established in 1980, and headquartered in Dún Laoghaire, County Dublin. History The company was founded by Eamonn McCann and Denis Desmond, the company name MCD is made up of their in ...

it was confirmed that the festival was set to return both in 2012 and 2013. In March 2017, it was announced via Facebook that the festival would return, with a new lineup, and under a new name as simply Belfast Vital or Vital, it is not yet clear if this is due to a withdrawal in sponsorship from Tennents or not, although there is nothing to suggest this and it is likely just a minor rebrand. Notable headliners throughout the years have included

Green Day Green Day is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Rodeo, California, in 1987 by lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong and bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, with drummer Tré Cool joining in 1990. In 1994, their majo ...

The Killers The Killers are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Las Vegas, Nevada, in 2001 by Brandon Flowers (lead vocals, keyboards, bass) and Dave Keuning (lead guitar, backing vocals). After the band went through a number of short-term bas ...

Kaiser Chiefs Kaiser Chiefs are an English indie rock band from Leeds who originally formed in 1996 as Runston Parva, before reforming as Parva in 2000, and releasing one studio album, ''22'', in 2003, before renaming and establishing themselves in their cur ...

Kings of Leon Kings of Leon is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, in 1999. The band includes brothers Caleb, Nathan, and Jared Followill and their cousin Matthew Followill. The band's early music was a blend of Southern roc ...

, Franz Ferdinand,

The White Stripes The White Stripes were an American Rock music, rock duo formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1997. The group consisted of Jack White (guitar, keyboards, piano, vocals) and Meg White (drums, percussion, vocals). They were a leading group of 2000s indi ...

, Ash,

The Streets The Streets is an English musical project led by vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Mike Skinner (musician), Mike Skinner. The project was founded in the early 90s, while Skinner was still a teenager; however, no music would formally eventuat ...

Primal Scream Primal Scream are a Scottish rock music, rock band originally formed in 1982 in Glasgow by Bobby Gillespie (vocals) and Jim Beattie (musician), Jim Beattie (guitar). The band's current lineup consists of Gillespie, Andrew Innes (guitar), Simon ...

and

Eminem Marshall Bruce Mathers III (born October 17, 1972), known professionally as Eminem, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time, he is credited with popula ...

History

2019

Continuing under the name of Belfast Vital,

Foo Fighters The Foo Fighters are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Seattle in 1994. Initially founded as a one-man project by former Nirvana (band), Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl, the band comprises vocalist/guitarist Grohl, bassist Nate Mendel, gu ...

were announced to return to Belfast after a successful show at Vital 2012. They performed at Boucher Road Playing Fields on Monday, 19 August along with support acts

Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes Frank Carter and the Rattlesnakes is an English punk rock band formed in 2015 by frontman Frank Carter (musician), Frank Carter with guitarist Dean Richardson. Famed for their raucous live shows, the band released their debut album ''Blossom (F ...

, Hot Milk and King Nun.

2018

Continuing under the new name of Belfast Vital,

Martin Garrix Martijn Gerard Garritsen (; born 14 May 1996), known professionally as Martin Garrix (or Ytram and GRX), is a Dutch Republic, Dutch DJ and record producer who was ranked number one on ''DJ Mag''s Top 100 DJs list for three consecutive years—20 ...

was announced to return to Belfast after a successful show in

Belsonic Belsonic is an annual outdoor music festival held in Belfast during the month of June. The festival, organised by Shine Productions, started in 2008, and when it began was held in Custom House Square in August. The festival later moved to Orme ...

2017. He will play at Boucher Road Playing Fields on Saturday, 25 August along with supporting acts

Steve Angello Steven Patrik Josefsson Fragogiannis (; born 22 November 1982), known professionally as Steve Angello, is a Greek–Swedish DJ, record producer, remixer and record label owner. He is a member of Swedish House Mafia, together with Axwell and Seba ...

Zara Larsson Zara Maria Larsson (; born 16 December 1997) is a Swedish singer-songwriter and dancer. She first rose to prominence in 2008 after winning the Talang 2008, second season of ''Talang (Swedish TV show), Talang'', the Swedish version of the ''Got T ...

and others.

2017

Under a different name of Belfast Vital, MCD Productions announced in March that

Muse In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, the Muses (, ) were the Artistic inspiration, inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric p ...

and

Biffy Clyro Biffy Clyro are a Scottish Rock music, rock band that formed in Kilmarnock, composed of Simon Neil (lead vocals, guitar) and twin brothers James Johnston (Scottish musician), James (bass, backing vocals) and Ben Johnston (Scottish musician), Be ...

would be headlining Day One of the festivals on Wednesday 23 August. Shortly after in April, it was announced

Tiësto Tijs Michiel Verwest (; born 17 January 1969), known professionally as Tiësto ( , ), is a Dutch DJ and record producer. He was voted "The Greatest DJ of All Time" by ''Mix (magazine), Mix'' magazine in a 2010/2011 poll amongst fans. In 2013, h ...

and

Clean Bandit Clean Bandit is an English electronic music group formed in Cambridge in 2008. They have achieved four number-one singles and six additional top-ten songs on the UK Official Singles Chart. Since 2016, the group has been a trio comprising foundi ...

would be headlining Day Two of the festival on Saturday 26 August. This would be the second time

would headline a show in Belfast after Belsonic 2016 the year before at Titanic Belfast.

2016

In March 2016, MCD productions announced Tennent's Vital will return to Boucher Road Playing Fields with the headlining acts of Red Hot Chili Peppers and Avicii on Thursday 25 August and Friday 26 August. This would be the second time Avicii has headlined Tennent's Vital and was also his last weekend of shows before retiring from touring.

2015

In early 2015, it was announced that Tennent's Vital would be back for another year at the Boucher Road playing fields with

Calvin Harris Adam Richard Wiles (born 17 January 1984), known professionally as Calvin Harris (and sometimes under the stage name Love Regenerator), is a Scottish DJ, record producer, singer, and songwriter. His debut studio album, ''I Created Disco'' (2007 ...

headlining Day 1 and

The Script The Script are an Irish Soft rock, soft-rock band formed in 2001 in Dublin. The band currently consists of Danny O'Donoghue (lead vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards), Glen Power (drums, percussion, backing vocals), Benjamin Seargent (bass, backin ...

returning to headline Day 2. This is the second time The Script have headlined the event following a headlining set on Day 2 in 2011.

2014

On 21 March 2014, Tennents Vital released an official statement confirming the festival would return in summer 2014. On 25 March, organisers confirmed via their official website,

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

and

Snapchat Snapchat is an American multimedia social media and instant messaging app and service developed by Snap Inc., originally Snapchat Inc. One of the principal features of the app are that pictures and messages, known as "snaps", are usually availa ...

that

would headline the first day of the festival supported by

Bastille The Bastille (, ) was a fortress in Paris, known as the Bastille Saint-Antoine. It played an important role in the internal conflicts of France and for most of its history was used as a state prison by the kings of France. It was stormed by a ...

. This will be The Killer's second time headlining the event following a headlining set in 2007, while Bastille are making their Tennents Vital debut this year.

2013

On 9 April, Vital officially announced its return, playing at the Boucher Road Playing fields again. The first act announced were Kings Of Leon, and on 11 June The Vaccines were announced as the main support act for the first day. On 13 May, Snow Patrol were announced along with singer/songwriter Foy Vance and Irish upstarts Kodaline, following day Jason Mraz was added to the bill. On 11 June, Vital announced its first-ever 3-day festival, with Avicii, Tinie Tempah, Rudimental and Tommy Trash playing on the 3rd day.

2012

On 8 February, Vital announced that they would be running "Tennent's Untapped", a platform to give rising bands an opportunity to make themselves known, with the winners securing a set on the Main Stage of the 2012 Vital concert. On 5 March, Tennents Vital confirmed via Facebook that the lineup for its 2012 concert would be revealed live on Tuesday 20 March at its live launch party at a secret location, and also via its official website. On 16 March via their official Facebook page, Tennents Vital announced that the venue for the 2012 concert had been moved from Ward Park Bangor to Boucher Playing Fields, Belfast. On 20 March, The Stone Roses and Florence and the Machine were confirmed to be playing Wednesday 22 August, as confirmed via the official Tennents Vital Facebook page. The Foo Fighters and the Black Keys were also announced through MCD's official site. The Stone Roses leaked their announcement early via their Twitter page.

2011

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

reported that

paid the previous debt in April while requesting permission for future events at Ormeau Park suggesting a strong possibility that Tennent's Vital would be back. This previous debt was due to gaining permissions to hold the concerts in 2010. It was later announced on 12 May 2011 that Tennent's Vital will be held on 23 and 24 August in Ward Park, Bangor despite rumours of it being held in Ormeau Park. The official line up is due to be announced on Wednesday 25 May. An

advertising campaign An advertising campaign or marketing campaign is a series of advertisement messages that share a single idea and theme which make up an integrated marketing communication (IMC). An IMC is a platform in which a group of people can group their ide ...

began immediately. Power hosed advertisements appeared outside

University of Ulster Ulster University (; Ulster Scots: or ), legally the University of Ulster, is a multi-campus public research university located in Northern Ireland. It is often referred to informally and unofficially as Ulster, or by the abbreviation UU. It i ...

Belfast and

Queen's University Belfast The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...

while Translink Metro services were used for regular advertisements with online banners on selected music-related websites. On 25 May

was formally announced to headline on 24 August. The remainder of the line up; both for support and the other day have yet to be announced. Script and Two Door Cinema Club were confirmed as headliners for Day 1 of Tennents Vital (23 August). On 16 June, Vital confirmed on Facebook that Ellie Goulding and The Wombats will also be on the bill of Day 1.

2007

Moving Tennent's Vital to Ormeau Park allowed for the event to grow.

Razorlight Razorlight are an English indie rock band, formed in 2002 in London by lead singer and guitarist Johnny Borrell. Along with Borrell, the current line-up of the band is composed of founding members Björn Ågren on guitar and bassist Carl Dalem ...

headlined the main stage on Tuesday 21 August while

headlined on Wednesday 22nd. There was a combined audience of 45,000 across two days.

BBC Northern Ireland BBC Northern Ireland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcasting, public broadcaster in Northern Ireland. It is widely available across both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. BBC Northern Ireland is one of the four BB ...

featured the events live on air. The weather during the festival was fitting and there were no reports of serious crime except noise pollution calls within the nearby student housing area after the festival ended.

2006

The Raconteurs The Raconteurs (, also known as The Saboteurs in Australia) are an American rock band from Detroit, Michigan, formed in 2005. The band consists of Jack White (vocals, guitar), Brendan Benson (vocals, guitar), Jack Lawrence (bass guitar), and ...

¡Forward, Russia! ¡Forward, Russia! are an English rock band from Leeds, active between 2004 and 2008, before re-forming in 2013. The band's debut album, ''Give Me a Wall'', was released in 2006. Until 2006, the band only named tracks with numbers, in the or ...

Be your own PET Be Your Own Pet (also known as BYOP or stylised as be your own PET) is a punk/garage rock band from Nashville, Tennessee, formed in 2003. For a majority of their career, the band's line-up has consisted of lead vocalist Jemina Pearl, guitarist ...

Duke Special Duke Special (born Peter Wilson; 4 January 1971) is an Irish songwriter and performer based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. A piano-based songwriter with a romantic style and a warm, distinctly accented voice, he was previously known for his di ...

Ed Harcourt Edward Henry Richard Harcourt-Smith (born 14 August 1977) is an English singer-songwriter. To date, he has released ten studio albums, two EPs, and thirteen singles. His debut album, '' Here Be Monsters'', was nominated for the 2001 Mercury Pr ...

Editors Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...

* Mumm-Ra *

The Pigeon Detectives The Pigeon Detectives are an English indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to ...

Iain Archer Iain Archer is a Northern Irish writer, producer, singer and songwriter from Bangor. He is a two-time Ivor Novello Award winner, winning the 2004 Album Award – ''Final Straw'' by Snow Patrol and Most Performed Work in 2016 for Grammy nominat ...

Oceansize Oceansize were an English rock band from Manchester, formed in 1998. The band consisted of Mike Vennart (vocals, guitar), Steve Durose (guitar, backing vocals), Richard "Gambler" Ingram (guitar, keyboards), Mark Heron (drums) and Jon Ellis (b ...

Republic Of Loose Republic of Loose were an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 2001, the band formerly consisted of lead vocalist Mick Pyro, bassist and vocalist Benjamin Loose, keyboardist Deco, guitarists and vocalists Dave Pyro and Brez, and drummer Coz ...

* The Crimea *

Cursive Cursive (also known as joined-up writing) is any style of penmanship in which characters are written joined in a flowing manner, generally for the purpose of making writing faster, in contrast to block letters. It varies in functionality and m ...

*Rivals *Panda Kopanda * The Dangerfields *

The View ''The View'' is an American talk show created by broadcast journalist Barbara Walters. , in its 28th season, the show has aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC as part of the network's ABC Daytime, daytime programming block since August ...

*Eamonn McNamee and the Holy Innocents * The Tides

2005

Kings Of Leon Kings of Leon is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, in 1999. The band includes brothers Caleb, Nathan, and Jared Followill and their cousin Matthew Followill. The band's early music was a blend of Southern roc ...

Faithless Faithless are an English dance music Band (rock and pop), band that formed in 1995, with its core original members being Rollo Armstrong, Rollo, Sister Bliss and Maxi Jazz. During the band's initial period of success, Sister Bliss and Maxi Ja ...

* Franz Ferdinand *

Maroon 5 Maroon 5 is an American pop rock band from Los Angeles, California. It consists of lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Adam Levine, rhythm guitarist and keyboardist Jesse Carmichael, lead guitarist James Valentine (musician), James Valentine, d ...

Scissor Sisters Scissor Sisters are an American pop rock band formed in 2000. The band's current line-up consists of Jake Shears (vocals), Babydaddy (various instruments), Del Marquis (guitar, bass) and Randy Real (drums). Former members include vocalist A ...

* Jem *

The Coral The Coral are an English rock band, formed in 1996 in Hoylake on the Wirral Peninsula, Merseyside. The band emerged during the early 2000s. Their 2002 debut album ''The Coral (album), The Coral'', from which came the single "Dreaming of You (T ...

The Futureheads The Futureheads are an English post-punk band from Sunderland, formed in 2000. The band consists of Ross Millard (vocals and guitar), David "Jaff" Craig (vocals and bass guitar) and brothers Barry Hyde (vocals and guitar) and Dave Hyde (drums) ...

*Driving By Night *

The Cribs The Cribs are a British indie rock band originally from Wakefield, West Yorkshire, that formed in 2001. The band consists of twins Gary Jarman, Gary and Ryan Jarman and their younger brother Ross Jarman. They were subsequently joined by ex-The ...

* The Brakes *

Goldie Lookin Chain Goldie Lookin Chain are a Welsh comedy hip hop group from Newport, Wales, Newport, Wales. The group produces humorous, and often explicit songs that satirise hip hop music, hip hop, today's consumer society, the "chav" culture and life in Newpo ...

*Patiosounds *Dutch Schultz * Alloy Mental *Leya *the subtitles

2004

* The Darkness * Ash *

New York Dolls New York Dolls were an American rock music, rock band formed in New York City in 1971. Along with the Velvet Underground, the MC5, and the Stooges, they were one of the first bands of the early punk rock scenes. Although the band never achieved ...

Jurassic 5 Jurassic 5 (stylized JuraSsic 5) is an American alternative hip hop group formed by rappers Charles Stewart (Chali 2na), Dante Givens (Akil), Courtenay Henderson (Soup (Jurassic 5), Soup, Zaakir), and Marc Stuart (Marc 7); and disc jockeys Mar ...

Peaches The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and cultivated in China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and the glossy-skinned, non-fuzzy varieties called nectarines. Peac ...

* The Answer *Acidtone *Blanche

2003

Zero 7 Zero 7 is an English musical duo consisting of Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker. Both of them began as studio engineers and in 1997 formed the group Zero 7. Their debut album, '' Simple Things'', was released in 2001; their song "Destiny" stayed in ...

Roger Sanchez Roger Sanchez (born June 1, 1967) is an American house DJ, remixer and producer. He won a Grammy Award for his remix of "Hella Good" by No Doubt in 2003, and is best known for his song " Another Chance", which was an international hit in 2001. ...

Death in Vegas Death in Vegas is an English electronic music group, for which Richard Fearless serves as frontman. The band was formed in 1994 by Fearless and Steve Hellier and signed to Concrete Records under the name of Dead Elvis. Owing to an Irish record ...

Richard Fearless Richard Maguire, known professionally as Richard Fearless, is a British musician. He is the founder of the bands Death in Vegas and Black Acid. In 2004, Death in Vegas created Drone Records for '' Satan's Circus'' in the UK. After having moved to ...

Roots Manuva Rodney Hylton Smith, better known by his stage name Roots Manuva (born 9 September 1972), is a British rapper and producer. Since his debut in 1994, he has produced numerous albums and singles on the label Big Dada, achieving commercial succ ...

Nightmares On Wax George Herbert Evelyn (born 15 January 1970), better known by his stage name Nightmares on Wax or DJ E.A.S.E., is an English DJ and record producer from Leeds. His music has been released by Warp Records. He is based in Ibiza. Nightmares on Wax ...

Jon Carter Jon Carter (born 1970 in Essex, England) is an English electronic musician. He initially rose to prominence in the 1990s as a big beat DJ. However, as his career progressed both his productions and his DJ sets began including a variety of musi ...

2002

2002 was the first year of Tennents Vital and was located nearby

's PEC centre beside

Belfast Botanic Gardens Botanic Gardens is a public garden in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Occupying of south Belfast, the gardens are popular with office workers, students and tourists. They are located on Stranmillis Road in Queen's Quarter, with Queen's Univers ...

. *

Badly Drawn Boy Damon Michael Gough (born 2 October 1969), known by the stage name Badly Drawn Boy, is an English indie singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Gough chose his stage name from a character in the show '' The Magic Ball'', which he saw on TV ...

* Idlewild *

Gemma Hayes Gemma Hayes (born 11 August 1977) is an Irish musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Primarily known as a vocalist and guitarist, she is also proficient with a wide range of instruments, including the piano and the harmonica. She is also a m ...

Fatboy Slim Norman Quentin Cook (born Quentin Leo Cook, 31 July 1963), also known as Fatboy Slim, is an English musician and DJ who helped popularise the big beat genre in the 1990s. His music makes extensive use of Sampling (music), samples from eclectic ...

Stereo MC's Stereo MC's are an English hip hop and electronic dance group that formed in Clapham, London, in 1985. They had an international top 20 hit with their single " Connected" and a UK top 20 hit with " Step It Up". After releasing eight albums for I ...

*Pacha Futura

Organisation

The festival was launched in 2002 by Better Days, a Scottish events and promotion agency and sponsored by

C&C Group C&C Group plc (known prior to its flotation as Cantrell & Cochrane Limited) is an Irish manufacturer, marketer and distributor of alcoholic drinks, particularly cider, and soft drinks. It has production facilities across Ireland, Great Britain ...

's Tennents

lager Lager (; ) is a Type of beer, style of beer brewed and Brewing#Conditioning, conditioned at low temperature. Lagers can be Pale lager, pale, Amber lager, amber, or Dark lager, dark. Pale lager is the most widely consumed and commercially availab ...

brand. management of the event moved to MCD in 2004. With the exception of technical and security staff, there were voluntary opportunities for most positions at Tennents Vital. Stewards are organised by charity

Oxfam Oxfam is a British-founded confederation of 21 independent non-governmental organizations (NGOs), focusing on the alleviation of global poverty, founded in 1942 and led by Oxfam International. It began as the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief ...

, which receives a donation in return for their work. Catering, and some retail services, are provided by various small companies, typically mobile catering vans. Significant logistical operations take place to bring people into the festival by public transport each year. In addition to extensive private coach hire by festival-goers, Translink implements additional bus and rail services to meet the increased demand.

References

{{Rock festivals Rock festivals in the United Kingdom Music festivals in Northern Ireland Festivals in Belfast 2002 establishments in Northern Ireland Electronic music festivals in Ireland Music festivals established in 2002 Summer in Northern Ireland