Body & Soul: The Weekend Report

Body & Soul Day 1

Ballinlough Castle

22/6/18

The Celtic goddess Etain was an important one - she was the governor of time. She was the one who, after the darkness of winter, made sure the grand stretch returned to the people’s evenings. Every year, she re-introduced light to her people, and at the peak of her performance, Midsummer’s day - the people celebrated it.

You don’t need to believe in Etain to feel the magic of midsummer, particularly when you celebrate it at Body & Soul, the pioneering boutique festival that has grown to be a jewel in Ireland’s summer crown.

Not long after I arrived onsite and popped up the tent, I was accosted by a spirit - let’s call him the Body & Soul fairy - who was prancing around, waving a broken tent pole at people. “I cast a spell on you!” he says. Wandering around the woodlands surrounding Ballinlough Castle, you couldn’t help but feel it.

That blessing made for a charmed night, of which the leading light was a star turn from Fever Ray on the main stage. Kristin Dreijer’s distinctive pitch-shifted vocal is one of the more arresting out there, and would command attention on its own, but she has help too.

Six people are onstage, in outlandish costumes - a bodybuilder-woman with inflatable muscles, an ant-man playing accordion. The bulk of set comes from last year’s Plunge, where Dreijer catalogues her exploration of queer identity to an experimental pop soundscape punctuated with thrilling breakbeats and percussive flurries - “IDK about You” is a highlight.

“Who’s a northsider?” A big showing of hands go up - slightly shaded by the number of southsiders that respond to their call, even though we’re an hour out of the city, deep in the woodlands of Westmeath.

Irish grime kingpins Mango x Mathman bring Dublin wherever they go, even to the deep-forest woodlands stage, where dodging tree roots is an occupational hazard for ravers. “I'm a superman, who you fooling man, I'll go through your man!” MC Mango proclaims, a bundle of machismo, taps-aff energy. DJ Mathman brings the real heft here though, spinning D’N’B beats with serious muscle. Irish hip-hop has never been healthier.

Over in the Midnight Circus stage, the night begins to wind down a little with sinewy set of minimal techno from Pantha du Prince, who even hops on the mic for some slightly ill-advised live vocals. A fine composer and excellent DJ, his talents do not extend to the vocal realm - that doesn’t put off the group of ravers dancing under a giant jellyfish-like plastic umbrella decked with paper-maiche arms.

When Body & Soul’s tentacles grab like that, it’s hard to squirm free.

Day Two

At festivals, you’d usually be forgiven for sacking off the afternoon to nap away the hangover, and in summer 2018’s endless heatwave, it’s probably even the healthiest thing to do.

There’s no sign of sore heads or heatstroke at 2pm on the Main Stage though. “I feel fine” declare Pillow Queens on one of their many snappy hooks that are fast becoming mantras for Dublin’s queer youth. They close a vital set with new song ‘Gay Girls’, where Pamela Conolly boils over in an irrepressibly passionate vocal that beautifully captures her anxieties over the safety of women who love women. They’d better get used to these big stages.

“We’re in the middle of magic here - these trees are so beautiful” declares Arca as he strode onstage - heels, tights and lipstick on. It’s a small crowd initially, but it soon swells as masses are lured in by his vocal ululations that act as call to rave. What follows is manic - chopped-up vocals over gabber beats that out-PC Music PC Music.

“You want it, but I'm not going to give it” he teased before one ferocious drop. “Of course I'm going to give it... but in turn you must give me your hips.. break your hips!” He may be most widely known as a man in the background, producing Bjork albums and writing with FKA Twigs - but this set is a thrilling hour of exuberant, experimental self-expression that closes with a bit of karaoke to ‘All I Have’ by J-Lo.

Singularity is a word with immense gravitas, used to try to define concepts that deal in near-infinities. Jon Hopkins brought his own Singularity to the main stage in a set built around his new album that melds acidic rhythm and ambient melodies in a soundscape deserving of the name. ‘Open Eye Signal’ from 2013’s Immunity is by now a bona fide techno classic too, and Hopkins’ body of work is fully deserving of this headline appearance.

Back at the Woodlands stage, the ravers who’ve made it to 4am congregate among the trees for a more direct, less cerebral punch from Super Extra Bonus Party. The genre-melting Kildare mob’s return to the live scene after a 7 year hiatus has been one of the stories of the year. Here they attacked with guitars, then synths, then both. Closer ‘Switzerland’ was anything but neutral, an intense meltdown that left everyone to stagger off into the grey dawn.

Day 3

Tales from festivals of yore often speak of a black-market economy where toilet roll was king - but the most precious commodity at Body & Soul this year is shade.

This certainly impacted attendances at the most exposed Main Stage during the day as many chose to seek refuge in the woods, where the charming log-cabin porch that is the Arbutus Yarns stage is perhaps the comfiest spot if you’re lucky, and its traditional open mic afternoons are a great way to ease into the day.

The heat claimed its first victim around 2pm on the mainstage, as Daithi’s computer overheated several times. It didn’t stop the momentum of a brand-new full band set from Daithi, who’s recruited a couple of drummers, a guitarist and brought regular collaborator Sinead White along as a vocalist.

Being bandleader is a new string for the multi-talented Daithi’s bow and breathes new life into his fiddle-looping dance act. He takes a back seat for most of the set while White engages up front, her powerful vocals impressing on ‘Love on Top’ in particular. ‘Mary Keane’s Introduction’ is a gorgeous piece of modern pop - its firm roots in the of Ireland make it easy to connect with and that’s reflected when it gets one of the loudest cheers of the weekend.

Later, in the Midnight Circus tent, Shame frontman Charlie Steen is a snarling presence that’s not afraid to wear his admiration of Mark E. Smith on his sleeve - until he takes his top off at least. “My voice ain’t the best you’ve heard, and you can choose to hate my words, but do I give a fuck?” he sings on ‘One Rizla’, which is introduced as “our pop song”. It’s one of the more melodic moments in an energetic, riff-heavy set. It’s a good time, but they’re not yet quite deserving of the “saviours of guitar music” hyperbole that the British press seem desperate to kill bands with.

Later in the same tent, there’s more punk energy presented in a totally different fashion. Nine-woman Icelandic hip-hop collective Reykjavíkurdætur take charge in a fabulous celebration of femininity. “I wish my pussy was my face to make the world a better place” is one of their few English lines, but it’s not hard to feel their intent. “You will give us more champagne, you bastards,” they demand, after spraying us with a couple of bottles during a remix of ‘Bodak Yellow’ - a song fairly close to their ideology. It may be sound issues in the tent, but their solo spots fail to shine - which only reinforces the importance of the power of their collective.

Reckless in Love’s natural amphitheater plays host to some of the festival’s biggest moments all weekend - Kelly-Anne Byrne dropping ‘Fade to Grey’ during Mother’s Saturday night takeover comes to mind - and it’s the place to be as the festival closes with a massive techno celebration from Berlin label Maeve, starring Ireland’s own Mano Le Tough and The Drifter.

Watching Bicep’s ‘Opal’ play out to the blissed-out masses, you couldn’t help but be proud of the strength of Ireland’s electronic scene - lads from Bray moving bodies with a tune from Belfast. Too often as a country we’re guilty of not celebrating our best art, and this is why Body & Soul has become so vital.

As demonstrated by Arca’s set, by Pillow Queens’ exuberance, by Saturday’s pride parade and the rainbow flags everywhere, it’s become a place of radical self-expression and self-celebration. And if we don't celebrate ourselves, what can we celebrate?