Oh, how a bout of sun can make a day.
Basking in what were undoubtedly the most idyllic festival conditions in recent memory, 7,000 sun-drunk revellers descended upon the seaside town of Kilkee.
Expecting a Saved By The Bell-era volleyball-on-the-sand affair, I was sorely disappointed to find the music element of the festival based indoors, in a rather gloomy tent.
Jerry Fish is the only performer to truly exploit the potential of the arena, inviting the audience to form a Ring o’ Roses-style circle and, then, the world’s largest group hug (with Fish as its epicentre, of course). That’s before The Hold Steady, men I can only assume have never seen the sun, bring a little hard rock to the afternoon.
Since we last saw them, frontman Charlie Fink’s break-up with girlfriend and collaborator Laura Marling has left a certain glaring mark on the Noah And The Whale sound, taking it from ‘Oh well in five years time we could be walking round a zoo...’ to ‘Now my heart’s been broken there’s nothing you can do/ I’m impenetrable to pain’. Remarkably, the new lovesick melodies sound divine, not whiney, and when Fink manages to pull some pep out of his ass for a rendition of ‘Five Years Time’, the crowd instinctively take on the part of Laura’s harmonising. Aah.
Mixing tracks from upcoming album Rebuilt by Humans with favourites from debut Hand Built By Robots (geddit?), the be-dreadlocked Brit Newton Faulkner can do no wrong. ‘To The Light’ and ‘Teardrop’ are nothing short of cosmic.
On Sunday, The Lightning Seeds’ acoustic set is plagued by technical difficulty, but it’s all worth it to hear Ian Broudie say things like “Will whoever is talking on the feedback please shut the fuck up?” The three Seeds battle on like troubadours but after a quite marvellous ‘Marvellous’ proves to be the only song without an unforeseen interruption, I cut my losses and head to the bar just in time to hear Broudie exclaim; “You won’t believe this, but I’ve broken a fucking string!”
Veteran hip-hoppers Stereo MCs stir the crowd back to life with dance anthems like ‘Black Gold’ and ‘Step It Up’, but even though all eight dozen crowd members are giving it loads, I can’t help but lament that they would have nailed it with a later set.
Partly underwhelming and partially stomping, with an altogether mighty version of ‘You Will You Won’t’ to close out the weekend, headliners The Zutons just manage to claw back some of the festival’s street cred.