“I love the fantastic musical village that Guinness Cork Jazz Festival has created.” Gregory Porter
The Guinness Cork Jazz Festival has once again been a phenomenal success, with businesses reporting a 12% increase in sales compared to last year. The headline performances may be over for another year but the festival continues today with the Guinness Music Trail in 72 pubs across the city, Douglas and Kinsale.
The festival, which saw over 100,000 jazz fanatics and music lovers pack out the stages and streets of Cork City and beyond over the weekend, brings a €45 million injection to the local economy.
With more sold out shows than ever before, Festival Director Mark Murphy said “This year’s festival has definitely been the biggest success, with the most amount of ticketed events and huge international interest. We’re now attracting some of the biggest names in jazz and music, and the future looks bright for the festival.”
Some of the weekend highlights included Gregory Porter, Buena Vista All-Stars, De La Soul, Todd Terje, Marilyn Mazur, Seun Kuti & Egypt 80, Amadou & Mariam, Brian Jackson and Theo Parrish. The Guinness Music Trail, has also been a massive success, with huge numbers turning out to party, filling every venue to capacity. The Big Fringe also drew record crowds over the weekend, with brass bands and more bringing vibrant energy to the streets.
Colm O’Connor from Costigans remarked, “It’s been the busiest Guinness Cork Jazz Festival we’ve had! We’re up over 12% from last year. Cork needs more weekends like this.”
The festival has also been getting rave reviews from the 500 + artists who took over the city over the weekend. Gregory Porter said, “Cork is already a fantastic place. Add to that some wonderful jazz and I love the musical village that Guinness Cork Jazz Festival has created.” Three-time Grammy Award winner Gaby Moreno said “Performing at the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival was such a special moment for me. It’s an honour to be part of a celebration with so much history, where artists and audiences from all over come together through music..”
Chief Executive of Cork City Council Valerie O Sullivan said, “Hotels, restaurants, bars and local businesses have yet again seen an incredible surge in business over the weekend with visitors travelling from all over Ireland and the world, bringing a welcome economic boost to Cork. And the hospitality sector in turn never fails to deliver the goods for all our festival goers.
“Cork City Council is proud to support The Guinness Cork Jazz Festival. It’s one of the city’s longest running and largest festivals and not only showcases incredible music, including local musicians, but it also highlights the city’s hospitality, vibrant culture and night-time economy. This week we were thrilled that Cork made National Geographic’s Best of the World 2025 list and festivals like this play a big part in creating a ‘fun city with a vibrant culture’ as they said. On behalf of the city I’d like to express our heartfelt thanks to the organisers, all the volunteers and of course Guinness and Diageo for the wonderful work they do each year to create this flagship festival for Cork.”
”The Guinness Cork Jazz Festival brings a palpable energy to the city with the stages and streets of Cork alive with music,” said Fiona Collins, Chair of the festival committee and Cork City’s new nighttime economy advisor. “We’re incredibly grateful for the continued support from attendees, local businesses, and our partners.”
Aaron Mansworth, President of Cork Business Association and MD of Trigon Hotel Group said, “What a weekend! It’s not just hotels and pubs that benefited—every business in Cork, from retailers to chemists, felt the impact. Huge congratulations to everyone involved, from the festival organisers to the jazz festival committee, and of course to Guinness and Diageo for their continued significant investment which makes the weekend possible.”
Barry Holland at Cork Airport said, “As one of our busiest weekends of the year with over 55,000 arriving and departing passengers, the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival experience begins as soon as visitors touch down at Cork Airport! Throughout the weekend, arriving passengers are greeted by the sights and sounds of vibrant bands performing in the terminal. Cork Airport is the international gateway to the Guinness Cork Jazz Festival and was a proud festival partner to this wonderful event, now in it’s 46th year.”
Iain Snodgrass from Blue Note Records, who was over from London for the ‘85 Years of Blue Note’ Exhibition said, “Cork was fantastic. The response to the Blue Note record store and to the exhibition was incredible and we were thrilled by the reaction from the Cork Jazz festival audience .”
For more see www.guinnesscorkjazz.com @guinnesscorkjazz #GuinnessCorkJazz. The Guinness Cork Jazz Festival is supported by Diageo, Fáilte Ireland, Cork City Council and Cork Airport. For more on the festival or to book tickets see GuinnessJazzfestival.com.
