On Saturday 28th Feb, we ran out the first show (in what we hope will be many) in partnership with The Arts Council and The National Concert Hall. Garageland Graduates kicked off in the early afternoon with workshops in The Studio Venue in NCH.

Hosted by our own Dermot Lambert, our two music industry professionals Colm Walsh and Emily O’Connor presented two very engaging workshops around tech and performance, aimed at introducing the young musicians assembled to the idea of playing in high quality music venues in a professional environment, with a sense of the adjustments any musician needs to make as they step up this very important level in their journey.

With getting stuck in and the setting up of drumkits and guitar amps, not to mention a Steinway Grand Piano, the hands on approach soon took on the atmosphere of a small village, with 30 young musicians all swarming the stage and getting a feel for things.

Later in the evening, these same young musicians played to a totally sold out event, and in all cases delivered performances to be be proud of for many years to come, hosted by Ayanna Church and Teagan Nolan.

Opening with Last Minute, featuring Grace Nugent from The Ephades, who had just rallied together Robert on guitar, Anna on Drums and Fiona Vargas on vocals for this evening’s show, things were off to a galloping start. Followed by the effervescent Karibu Sana, who ripped the stage up with their own originals, a force to be reckoned with without any doubt, and then by Eabha O’Keeffe, who performed two originals, one of which is featured in Birdie, a short film already in the finals of the Fresh International Film Festival 2026. Next up were The Tanseys, fulfilling their promise of their Garageland Galaxyz performance at Swords Castle in 2025, and then last but very not least , Dopamine delivered perhaps the best set of their journey so far, with guitars ripping up through a searing rhythm section and caustic vocals.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank The Arts Council and The National Concert Hall for making this happen, and we hope it’s just the start of many more events like it – All the artists who performed were between the ages of 17 – 20,  and we hope that this event and these types of events can continue well into the future to support our young artists.

Also thanks to IMRO and to Music Generation Dublin for their input into this event.