Heineken Green Energy
When: 5-7 May Where: Dublin Castle
Who's playing: Kasabian on Saturday, Sinead O'Connor on Sunday and David Gray on the Monday Crowd: There's a case to be made for infecting the water at Dublin Castle with cryptosporidium this particular weekend. With a bit of luck most of the Kasabian crowd would be taken care of and any survivors who don't recover in Sinead's healing room will be bored to death the following night at David Gray.
Venue: Arrive early and take in a tribunal or two
Tickets: 29.50, 29.50 and 34.50 respectively. David Gray is so worth the extra fiver The Trinity Ball When: 11 May Where: Trinity College, Dublin 2
Line-up: Cracking line-up including Ash, CSS, Booka Shade, Director, Delorentos and, eh, Aslan Crowd: Exceedingly drunk and drugged-up Trinity students who spend most of the night terrorising American tourists on Nassau Street before puking on the Arts block ramp and scoring their best mate's comatose girlfriend. Like, total mare Venue: Cobblestones + high heels = danger
Facilities: Great backdrop, but remember your tux and leave your bag of booze at the door or else entry will be refused Value for money: Who cares?
They're all loaded in there Tickets: Sold out Madness When: 5 June
Where: The Marquee, Cork Who's playing: Em, so far just the
Nutty Boys Crowd: Fun-loving-but-out-of-gigpractice 30-40somethings who will be a bit shy at first but with every drink guzzled get more and more into it. A giant inebriated can-can dance will probably break out to songs like 'Baggy Trousers' and 'One Step Beyond' Tickets: 60 standing and 65 seated Venue: Well it's in Cork so it's better than any other venue in the country, or the world for that matter Garden Party When: 9 June . . . 2pm to 2am
Where: Ballinlough Castle, Athboy, County Meath Who's playing: A slim-pickings mixture of old and new trendy-ish dance including Pet Shop Boys, Hot Chip, Vitalic and Andrew Weatherall
Crowd: Too cool for school D2 boys and girls who use it as a dry run for Electric Picnic Venue: Set in a gorgeous walled garden, it's probably one of the best festival sites in the country
Facilities: The usual mini-fest amenities. Make sure you get a bus early because problems with transport to the venue caused a little bit of strife last year Tickets: 79.50, although limited camping tickets are for sale for 99.50 . . . works out at almost 7 per hour of fun Arctic Monkeys
When: 16 & 17 June Where: Malahide Castle Who's playing: No support yet Crowd: This will be a good dry run for Oxegen, metaphorically speaking of course Tickets: 49.20 . . . the first night is sold out Peter Gabriel When: 22 June Where: Marlay Park Who's playing: Support from Crowded House and Starsailor . . .two of the most anodyne bands in the history of popular music Crowd: Gabriel recently approached venture capitalists to help fund the worldwide release of his forthcoming album. So far he's raised more than $4m and he may pass the basket around the professional classes at Marlay Park tonight. He might even bring Phil Collins along for that much anticipated Genesis reunion. But then Phil would probably charge him a fortune in performance fees. . .

Tickets: 64.50 Pink When: 23 June Where: Malahide Castle Tickets: 55 Crowd: Spin FM-loving teens, disaffected feminist 16-year-olds and disgruntled boyfriends Venue: A new enough space on the Dublin outdoor scene Facilities: Like all these things, expect long queues for everything.

Value for money: Pink is a great performer and 55 is about right for a large outdoor gig Aerosmith When: 26 June Where: Marlay Park Who's playing: Ex-Soundgarden curmudgeon Chris Cornell and the impossibly irritating The Feeling flesh out the line-up Crowd: lots of big hair, plastic surgery and lighters in the air . . .where else would you be?

Tickets: 69.50 Live at the Marquee When: 26 June . . . 7 July
Where: Cork Who's playing: Antony & the Johnsons, Slayer, The Who, Status Quo, Bell X1, Flaming Lips Crowd: The rockers will be out in force this year with some indie heads dropping in for Flaming Lips. Of course, it would be rude not to have Christy Moore at an outdoor Irish festival so expect an assorted lot for that one
Venue: Giant tent. Not much to write home about
Facilities: Mud, portaloos and warm beer
Tickets: 39 to 86 Value for money: 39 is a bit much for Bell X1 but 86 for The Who is extortion The Who When: 29 June
Where: Marlay Park Who's playing: Velvet bloody Revolver are supporting Crowd: Older Who-ites will probably be overshadowed by young fans keen to relive their storming performance at Oxegen last year Venue: Nice size, but pretty inaccessible
Facilities: It's a park, pee in the bushes
Tickets: 69.50 . . . robbery, as usual, but cheaper than some of the other Who gigs Bell X1 When: 30 June Where: Malahide Castle Who's playing: Just them so far Crowd: Must have the most loyal fans in Ireland who just keep turning up to their numerous shows Tickets: 39.20
JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE
When: 30 June & 1 July Where: RDS showjumping arena
Who's playing: Fergie in support with an interval by Timbaland Crowd: Screaming girls and gay guys with their parents Venue: Doesn't matter . . . the massive stage sits in the the middle of the crowd for a perfect view of JT's crotch no matter where you are Tickets: 65.70 & 81.25 - how on earth do they price these?

Oxegen

When: 7-8 July Where: Punchestown Racecourse, Co Kildare Who's playing: Who isn't playing?

After last year's negative publicity surrounding the campsite there's a more touchy-feely 'tangerine fields' area and the return of the solar powered 'podpads' . . . kind of hippy cabins first developed for the Glastonbury festival Crowd: Gaelic football shirts aplenty Tickets: Ha ha!

Lovebox When: 21 July Where: Malahide Castle Who's playing: Groove Armada, the Super Furry Animals and the Rapture Crowd: the two remaining people in Ireland yet to see Groove Armada live Tickets: 79.50

MIDLANDS MUSIC FESTIVAL When: 28-29 July Where: Belvedere House and Gardens, Mullingar, Co Westmeath Line-up: Christy Moore, Steve Earle, Kris Kristofferson, Paul Brady and loads more Crowd: An older crowd of cowboyhatted couples carrying deckchairs and a few families trying to convert their kids to country Venue: Belvedere is by far the most beautiful setting for a festival in Ireland. The grounds are superb, with a natural sloping amphitheatre in front of the main stage Facilities: Great campsites, and a large space to avoid crowding Value for money: Good range of prices and a decent choice of options.

Tickets: 80 to 170 Castle Palooza When: 4-5 August Where: Charleville Castle, Tullamore, Co Offaly Line-up: To be announced in the next couple of weeks, and like last year it should be a quality mix of eclectic Dublin indie with a quirky edge. The artists are 95% Irish with a guest band from UK and guest band from the US taking part.

Crowd: Happy-go-lucky indie rockers wearing Phantom 105.2 badges and drunken smiles, mostly in their 20s. By all accounts, it's a friendly, tipsy vibe.

Venue: Compact, with just a couple of stages along with the campsite in the castle's back garden. You're never too far from any of the action and if you get music-fatigue, head inside the castle itself to catch a film.

Facilities: The organisers promise properly flushing loos and hot showers which are basically the only things you need at a festival (minus beer). The intimate setting means things never get too messy.

Tickets: 125 Value for money: Not bad given that you get two days of fun from an independent promoter.

The Rolling Stones

When: 18 August Where: Slane Castle Crowd: Hasn't everyone seen the Stones at this stage? Expect the usual mix of oldies with sticky-out tongue t-shirts and the regular Slane pilgrims Venue: Iconic and jammers, but it will give AA roadwatch something to talk about at least Facilities: Long queues for beer and evil glares from residents Value for money: Steep, but Mick Jagger is in charge, so what do you expect Tickets: Sold out in 30 minutes Foo Fighters When: 22 August Where: Marlay Park Who's playing: Special guest include industrial noisemongers Nine Inch Nails and LA's Silversun Pickups Crowd: Staunch grunge/industrial fans will show for the Foos who have no new album to plug but will probably eschew their acoustic dalliances for a noisefest. They may need to after Trent Reznor's set Tickets: 64.50 Festival of World Cultures When: 24-26 August Where: Various venues around Dun Laoghaire, Co Dublin Who's playing: Few details as yet, but it's usually an eclectic bag of international revelry with some Irish talent thrown in Crowd: 200,000 local hipsters, families, teenagers who have taken it as an opportunity to drink on the park and of course, a smattering of internationals Venue: Think Teddy's ice cream, lunch in Mao and a stroll by the sea with a nice breeze to sober you up Facilities: The town is your oyster for this one, as restaurants and bars overflow. Whatever you do, don't drive as Dun Laoghaire is transformed into a giant traffic trap Value for money: Excellent. Most of the events are free and you can happily wander around all day without spending a bean Tickets: Tba in July Damien Rice When: 25 August Where: Marlay Park Who's playing: Grumpy pants is well supported here by KT Tunstall, Guillemots, Willy Mason and Fionn Regan, making it a kind of nu-folk day in the sun for pessimists Crowd: There will be many sighs, swoons and warm vibrations among the faithful Tickets: 49.20 Electric Picnic When: 31 August - 2 September Where: Stradbally, Co Laois Who's playing: Bjork, Beastie Boys, Iggy and the Stooges and Erasure - "oooooh, sometimes. . ."

Crowd: Una and Neil Other options: Watch it on telly (RTE 2 has yet to confirm coverage but had it last year), after all the All Ireland hurling final is on that weekend too Tickets: sold out last on Friday The Police When: 6 October Where: Croke Park What if it snows? Seriously. . .