Irish nightclub Cuba Galway reopens 13 years after closure

Galway's "home for alternative music", Cuba Galway, has officially reopened more than a decade since its closure, Resident Advisor reports.

The first floor of the three-story building, which has been largely unoccupied since the venue's closure in 2011, is now set to welcome a variety of acts including world music, live performances and dance music genres.

RA spoke to Cuba Galway's promoter and booker, Ian Harte, who revealed the venue's plans to platform alternative local artists. "We felt Galway needed a platform for more alternative sounds like bass music, dubstep, techno, house and more leftfield genres," he told them.

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Harte also shared that the venue hopes to place "heavy focus" on platforming local collectives and artists, aiming to function as an art space for the community by hosting multi-disciplinary events such as "pen-decks nights, singer-songwriter nights, and jazz and poetry events".

The Irish venue officially reopened on Sunday, March 31, with a live headline set from Neil Landstrumm, an Edinburgh-based techno producer.

"We are delighted to announce this massive party on Easter Sunday with Scottish rave legend Neil Landstrumm", the venue shared on Instagram ahead of the event.

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Cuba Galway also hosted a soft launch at the end of March with a debut set from Supergross and Ryan Conway under their new collective alias, Hot Minute.

According to an Instagram post from Cuba Galway, the duo showcased "their full range throughout the night, including high-energy sequences of multi-channel techno layering and much more".

The ground floor of the three-story building has been leased out by a McGettigan's pub since 2016. Occupying the space above the pub, the 1,100-capacity venue revealed plans to take over the second floor in the future, which until now has remained largely unoccupied.

[Via Resident Advisor]

Belle Richardson is Mixmag's Digital Intern, follow her on Twitter