- Music
- 28 May 14
The gates will open for two days of fantastic tunes and general festival fun on Saturday, but before that Hot Press' Joseph Conroy and snapper Monika Karaliunaite were treated to a sneak peek of the site…
If you want to get a feel for it yourself, check out our photo gallery here.
The Irish Museum of Modern Art in Kilmainham has long proved to be a perfect festival location and right now, things are shaping up to be pretty spectacular.
The site layout has been rejigged slightly. The Comedy Tent has been expanded and moved towards the centre of the arena. The Bulmers Good Time Lounge is a new addition, offering festival-goers a space in which to chill out. Perched atop the hill overlooking the Main Stage, it will host DJ sets and other surprises throughout the weekend.
Festival booker Declan Forde talked about the appeal of the festival: “It's a little less of a commitment in terms of time and money than there is at a camping festival that you might go down to for a weekend. It has a relatively cheap ticket price and you can get public transport home. It can end up being only the same price as going to a gig in the O2, or The Olympia or Vicar Street.
"There's also a lot more to do – the event runs for nine hours. We have three music stages, a comedy stage and a nice kind of chill out area now and the actual setting is very pretty. I think we have a really strong lineup this year as well.”
The festival always strikes a balance between indie and electronic music. Declan says that he's particularly looking forward to seeing Flying Lotus play in Dublin for the first time.
“We've been trying to book Flying Lotus for years to get him to play any sort of show, to get him to play this new 3D show – it looks amazing.” He also cites Warpaint and Wild Beasts as his other two must-see acts this weekend.
The site preview ended with a funked-out set from Dublin Afrobeat Ensemble, who play the Original Stage at 14.15 on Saturday. Going by today's performance, it is a set you should definitely check out.
Don't forget to stop by the Hot Press Speakeasy over the course of the weekend, where our team of journos will be chatting to a mix of local and international performers. Keep an eye on the @hotpress Twitter feed – we will be announcing surprise guests throughout the weekend.
Forbidden Fruit in The City will also be rolling out across the capital, and Flying Lotus will play the official after party in The Button Factory on Saturday evening.
Here's FlyLo talking about his spectacular 3D show.