Maybe the most last minute thing ever — that one homie who’d do anything for live music. My Friday involved intense fomo at 10am, buying a ticket at 12pm, packing my bag at 1pm, running out the door at 5pm, buying a tent at 5.30pm, getting the last bus to Waterford at 6pm, landing at the festival at 9pm, setting up my tent at 9.30pm, opening a can at 10pm. The rest is history 10pm onwards.
Friday:
Missed out on a few artists I would’ve liked seeing (Ailbhe Reddy, Sorcha Richardson, For Nina) due to my lateness, but what can you do. First stop was US rapper MIKE; before his last song he goes “Free Palestine, free Woodog, free all oppressed people”. Respect, though I reckon there’s some nuance with that middle one lol.
Caught the end of ‘For Those I Love’ — a guy from Dublin doing spoken word with electronic backing. The last song he played was a dedication to his best friend who died, and on the big screen he was playing random videos of younger them, just the most ordinary videos of them messing about. The last line he kept repeating then was “my love for you will never fade”. Something so raw and poignant about it all.
Walking towards the stage for Pulp, I overheard a group of lads turning away from it, with one saying “Ah here, they’re Brits”. So fair.
A few DJs to end the night — Sam Alfred (sick), O’Flynn (sick), Swimming Paul (sick). Weekend already felt worth it at this point. Strolled back to the tent and slept shoddily on my hard mat.
Saturday:
Ball rolling early. Had a makeshift shower by lathering shower gel on my body and chucking a water bottle over my head. Fresh as a daisy after.
Listened to folky blues at Muireann Bradley, jazzy hip-hop at KhakiKid, alternative pop at Sophia Stel, and then groovy R&B at Greentea Peng. Between songs she’d take a drink of her cognac and raise her glass to the crowd, and in turn we’d raise ours back at her. Nice touch.
Took a break from my feet to sit and listen to the mellow Annika Kilkenny — her fingerpicking is so impressive. She got the crowd to hum along lightly to one of her choruses at the end which was super pleasant.
Maribou State after, hugely impressive how their show is almost completely live. So many instruments and so many tunes. Can’t describe how much I enjoyed, and maybe more importantly how present I felt during it. Peak life.
An ‘auld lad I met earlier in the day recommended a DJ duo called The Avalanches who ended up being whopper — so creative with their mixing. Bopped over to Mall Grab after for the last set of the night. Serious, serious DJ. Accompanied two friends to the late night Arcadia stage then, and proceeded to set them up. Cupid called it a night after this, though he spent the entire walk home dreading his sleeping arrangements.
Sunday:
Woke up to cold and drizzly weather which was a godsend compared to the usual sauna that accompanies summer camping. Thought I lost my camera and felt tired and shit. Found it and no longer felt tired and shit. Relativity !
Caught Soda Blonde at the main stage before heading to Getdown Services — a duo of English blokes with their tops off playing peculiar music with even more peculiar lyrics. Such a laugh and a refreshing reminder that music can simply be fun. Maybe the set of the weekend, would cure anyone’s Sunday blues.
Monjola was a vibe and Soak was peaceful. When people asked who I was most excited to see over the weekend, Freak Slug was my answer. If only you could see some of the looks I got saying that name… She and her band didn’t disappoint, rocky and moody.
Underworld were fantastic, ‘Two Months Off’ is such a banger and seeing everyone’s hands in the air for ‘Born Slippy’ felt mega. Thousands of hands, thousands of smiles, thousands of people forgetting their worries. Music is powerful.
Disclosure had a DJ set I didn’t stay too long for, opting instead to cruise around the different electronic music tents. A small and intimate one you basically had to climb into called ‘Big Romance’ was a highlight all weekend, along with the more conventional Smirnoff one. So many wicked sets.
Stumbled into a guy with a portable karaoke machine on the way home. A crowd formed around him and he banged out ‘Careless Whisper’ by George Michael to our applause. Absolute comedy, albeit the stewards were no craic and shut it down immediately after. Then it actually was home time.
Woke up, brushed the teeth, packed up quick, and blagged my way onto a bus back to Dublin. My bed isn’t even that comfortable, but lying on it that night felt glorious. Such a sick weekend, the frantic Friday was 100% worth it. Interacting with people at events like these always makes me feel a lot better about the world, and about my place within it. So glad I didn’t stay at home.