To scan your eyes down your Twitter or Facebook feed on the Saturday of Forbidden Fruit, you’d think that a kind of thirst-fueled cataclysm had broken out in the grounds of the The Irish Museum of Modern Art. But to paraphrase a wilting southern belle, today is another day and the mild hiccup-turned-catastrophe (we are Irish, after all) on day one has been remedied with cat-like efficiency.
Over 2.4 million apples’ worth of cider will be consumed in Kilmainham today (I’m guessing, of course) and although a troubled sky is flat out refusing to clear up, there’s really very little to stop 8,000-odd music lovers from having a damn fine time.
Homegrown electro duo Solar Bears are the perfect pair to kick back with on day two, spilling out sounds that both ease the aching cerebral matter and awaken the groove bone. In particular ‘She Was Coloured In‘, the title track from their glimmering debut LP, takes on a heavier and altogether more absorbing form and, paired with some curious yet elegant visuals, the effect is magnetic (a packed tent at 3pm on a Sunday is no small feat).
Over on the main stage, genre-spanning brass-led collective Kormac’s Big Band deserve massive props for keeping spirits soaring in the drizzle and for being the only act all weekend to cover a tune from The Simpsons (since you asked, ‘Baby On Board’). Gentlemen got serious flo’.
There are moments when the sound quality at the main stage is adversely affected by the buffeting wind: depending on where in the amphitheatre you chose to lay your feet, you can be privy to crystal-clear vibrations or something far less pristine.
It’s a problem that hardly affects smart-Alec urban poet and consummate front-bloke Scroobius Pip and his trusty beatmaker dan le sac, who despite not having “done a gig“ in several months, are in impossibly kinetic form. A crowd-stirrer of a set if ever I saw one.
Caribou get off to a rockier start, but anyone a body’s length from the stage would have been content to marvel at Daniel Victor Snaith and Company’s superb musicianship. Soon enough, a brain-squelching drum solo brings the beat back and just in time for a guest appearance by the sun, which, was naturally welcomed with an almighty festival-wide whoop. Shortly after, blissful signature tune ‘Odessa‘ drops and boom! – now we’re in a partying mood.
Over in the Undergrowth tent, Jamie xx’s wizardous cuts are going down a storm, with tunes featuring the recently deceased Gil Scott-Heron receiving particularly rapturous cheers. Back on the sonic roulette table that is the main stage, Battles are sticking mostly to material from their stellar second album and while we’ll miss the tenacity of Mirrored, their clanging, malleable math-rock is an ample substitute.
Champion Of The Universe trophies must be fashioned for the rollerskating dancers at Carte Blanche, the toilet paper hoodlum at Aphex Twin (presumably the Flaming Lips’ set had inspired him to craft a DIY confetti cannon) and all four members of sunny instrumental outfit Enemies, who managed to turn a potential calamity with a misbehaving amp into a very special moment.
Next up, time to soak in the unearthly sounds of Aphex Twin, who brought with him some of the most unique, prolific and downright cool visual effects on the face of the earth. The detached Mr. D. James does well to immerse the crowd in his ethereal thumps by incorporating their own darling faces into the cutting edge on-screen antics. The punters’ bouncing mugs get freakier as the tunes get more sinister and while I’m finding it hard to digest this immense wall of electronics, I seem to be the only one struggling.
With a day of top-notch choonery behind us, even hardcore fans are surprised to find that (sort of) local lads The Cast Of Cheers are catapulting things to a boisterous whole new level. A dumbstruck Conor Adams addresses a positively heaving crowd with undiluted awe, before delivering his most exalted vocal to date. The set is chock-full of hook-laden tracks from their forthcoming second LP and the unmitigated freak-out moments on tunes like ‘Human Elevator‘ are quite simply, bags of fun. Then again, how can a show where two brothers flail about like air-happy newborn lambs be anything but?
As streams of revellers pile out of the Lighthouse Stage, it’s clear that we’re all thinking the same thing – come back soon, Forbidden Fruit. All is forgiven.