A Whole New Boogie 💥
Beatyard is back. Sort of.
Originally, Beatyard was meant to be a book about how to fail & succeed in the music industry, mainly from a prospective of trying to be a promoter, label owner, manager, music shop owner, that kinda thing . We’ve made enough mistakes over the years in Bodytonic to fill a few editions. However, in classic Bodytonic fashion, the draft got accidentally deleted, but we liked the name enough so used it for something else…
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So Beatyard became a festival of sorts. A catch-all for different event ideas . Back in the old Shaw and Twisted Pepper days it hosted everything from homebrewing workshops to arts markets, live bands, DJs, book launches, interactive street MPC machines and whatever else we thought sounded interesting. It’s lived in different venues and forms over the years, including a stint down in Dún Laoghaire Harbour until 2019 and then for different reasons, the council and covid put an end to that.
Now — for Summer 2026 — it’s coming back to where it started for us
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We’ve given the old Eatyard outdoor space a bit of a rethink and for the summer months it’ll become the latest iteration of Beatyard — a dedicated outdoor space by the canal for:
- DJ sets
- Live music – jazz, funk, world music, bands
- Markets
- Food & Drink events like Crisp festival, Wine & Cheese Festival, Harvest Day and Oktoberfest.
- Sports screenings for Wimbledon, Tour de France, the World Cup and GAA
- Arts & cultural events
- Talks, meetups and whatever else makes sense
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We’ve added a big roof (meaning events out there are no longer weather dependant), more tables, a new lighting and sound system, levelled seating at the sides, a load of new foliage, plants and flowers, and pile of new decor bits to give it a real Shaw look and feel.
Everything outdoors. Everything by the canal. Everything in Dublin city.
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The Beatyard Launch Party
After a successful trial run last weekend plus some tweaks and additions this, we’re giving it a proper launch this weekend, with Block Parties happening both on Saturday [ evening to late] and on Sunday [ daytime only, starts at 2, ends at 10] . Very happy to say that Crazy P will be playing the first headline DJ set in the new space, with Irish band Sprints also doing a dj set there on Saturday, but Sundays lineup is great too, with our Subject pals.
| SATURDAY INFO & TICKETS |
| SUNDAY INFO & TICKETS |
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Fight the powers that be…
We’ve been under various pressures since moving into the new Shaw — same as the old place really. We lost out the front recently, to run coffee kiosks, food vendors, we even had to remove plant boxes so we’ve tried to make out the back better instead. Its a constant struggle to make things work in this city, its just the way it is now, and sadly, I think it will only get harder. Sunil Sharpe was as always fighting the good fight with DCC this week on posters and hoardings for cultural events. DCC say everythings moved online, and no one looks at posters and print anymore. I find that particularly ironic considering the mountain of paperwork they’ve sent me over the years, yet never send or reply to me on email !
All this battling away gave us pause for thought. The truth is – we won’t be doing this forever. We’re probably in the Mo Salah/Seamus Coleman phase of things now — head says yes, but the legs are gone… and its time to start thinking of passing this disco baton on to the next generation.
Can we create a space or events to pass on some of the lessons we’ve learned in the music yard over the years? The many mistakes. The near disasters. How to make things happen from scratch. How to battle , yet sometimes work with the ‘the powers that be’ ? We’ve dealt with lots of great people at council or Government level over the years too, its not all bad. Just its much easier now to say no to things, or stop things happening than it is to say how can we make things work, how can we … push… things…forward.
We just have to keep on, keeping on.
So… this summer, alongside all the usual carry-on, we’re also going to trial a series of talks & meetups & networking sessions around…
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👉 How do I start a clubnight? How do I get a venue to give me a chance?
👉 How do I start a record label? How does music publishing work?
👉 I would love to be a music manager of bands, djs, acts – how does it work?
👉 I want to work as a booker for clubs and festivals, how does it work?
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👉 How do I sell tickets or build an audience for my club night, from scratch?
👉 How do festivals work in Ireland? Licensing, planning, dealing with the guards, council, neighbours. There’s different rules for small festivals, and completely different rules for under 5k, and over 5k.
👉 I don’t know anyone in the music industry in Dublin, how do i meet like minded people to see if we can start something together?
👉 How do i open my own bar-club-venue, how does it work?
👉 How to do a warm-up DJ set ?
and so on. Lessons from the music yard revisited. Don’t rush the show, you gotta go for what you know. We’ll run these on Thursdays, either in Beatyard or our Racket space where we’ve a studio etc aswell. More info on that in the next mailout.
If any of the above sounds good or you’ve suggestions, ideas, feedback just reply back below. Beatyard starts this weekend.
See you in the yard
