Cork X Southwest – Sunday

On Sunday we played to a warm and friendly crowd. Liss Ard House. it turned out, was booked out solely for Patti’s band. The rest of us mere mortal artists were allowed in once during the weekend for a couple of hours around our stage time. So we took advantage right after our set and went to dine on the balcony overlooking the gardens.
First up was Katell Keineg, who took to the main stage with a quiet air of confidence. She proceeded to bash out all her hits. I was just about to shout for ‘Gulf Of Araby’ when she began playing it with as much depth and perfection as she had the first time I saw her deliver a mindblowing gig in Whelan’s around 1996. We followed the crowd to the De Barra’s tent – set up as a living-room on stage with lamps and couches scattered on the grass. Jape had the crowd entranced with his sunny performance.
Patti Smith decided to go on an hour-and-a-half early. She belted out an energetic full-band set transfixing all around, with her witchy powers. Irish people might be poor, she said, but we had enough to eat and something everyone else wanted – the sea!
Yuck took me by surprise. I had never heard of them. They had a noisy poppy sound which I liked straight away. They were pretty chilled. It was all about the music and effects. We hung out without planning to. Next up it was The Balkan Beat Box, turning in what was the loudest – and probably most energetic – performance I witnessed over the weekend.