Live Report: Kíla and Toots & The Maytals impress at Beatyard Festival

You couldn’t really ask for a more convenient location for a festival than The Beatyard at Dún Laoghaire pier. Hop off the dart, go around the corner, and Bob’s your uncle. There are plenty of other things to recommend it too. One of the main selling points is the variety of street food on offer; Hot Press sampled several delights, all of which were a cut far above the usual half-cooked burger in a half-frozen bun for a tenner. On top of that, the liquid refreshment too was a far cry from the usual plastic glass of suds, I was particularly taken with the Nautical Boogie IPA, which explains both the two-and-eight I was in getting back on the train, and why this review was late.

The music kicked off with the Italian/French/Spanish/Dublin gang Mama Kasbah, whose enjoyable mix of everything from reggae to rumba was unfortunately delivered to an almost empty space as a crowd had yet to arrive. If you’re a fan of Manu Chao or Gogol Bordello, then these are the lads for you. They even managed to make an accordion driven version of ‘Hava Nagila’ sound good.

And then, of course, the heavens opened, we were at an Irish festival after all, so twist my arm why don’t you, we took refuge at the bar in the Eatyard Tent. A series of talks and demos took place here during the day. My visit coincided with a particularly dry discussion on starting a food business, and there were various cookery sessions to follow. I’ve never really seen the appeal of going to a festival to watch someone cook the dinner, but each to their own.

I ventured back out into the rain to catch a bit of Katie Kim, but you could only feel sorry for her as she battled the elements. She was in fine voice during an acoustic set that, unfortunately, would have been better suited to the tent I had just left. The loop pedal is still the scourge of modern music though.

If I heard that Kíla were booked to do a gig on the Titanic, I’d be happy enough to buy a couple of tickets, for as a live act, they are that good. They know exactly what they’re doing and hold the growing crowd in the palm of their collective hand. A set peppered with selections from their recent, very fine album Alive, including highlights ‘Pota Óir’, ‘Ór agus Airgead’, ‘Seo Mo Leaba’, and ‘An bhfuil aon duine a léamh i ndáiríre seo’, brought a lovely Siamsa Cois Laoi vibe to proceedings. They drove away the rain too, such are their mystical powers.

If someone has to follow Kíla then Toots and the Maytals are the men, and women, for the job. Toots Hibbert must be about one hundred and thirty five years old (he’s seventy four), but he jumps around the stage with the energy of a teenager. We get all the hits – ‘Country Roads’, ‘Pressure Drop’, ’54-46, That’s My Number’ and ‘Louie, Louie’ - as the crowd in the now full arena jumped around like they were walking on hot coals. Forget psychiatry, and it’s attendant pharmacology, go see Toots and the gang, and instantly feel better.

Any act would pale trying to follow that one-two punch, and so it proved for electronica/trip hop chancers Morcheeba. It wasn’t that they were particularly bad, just a bit bland for my liking. The songs all kind of sounded the same, apart from their one decent tune, ‘The Sea’, from 1998’s Big Calm. They tried to win us over with an ill-advised stab at Bowie’s ‘Let’s Dance’, but this only served to remind you of how a band like, say, Chic would have levelled the place playing the same tune. There was a nice moment when the sun came through the clouds while they were closing with ‘Rome Wasn’t Built In A Day’, it’s just a shame it wasn’t for a better song.

And so to the headliners and the reason most people are here, French keyboard botherers Air. I’m probably going to get shot down here, but I found them just a bit disappointing They arrived on stage to little fanfare and were missing a focal point, a front man, to focus an audience that were distracted at times. It would also have helped to open with some of the more familiar Moon Safari material. That being said, ‘Cherry Blossom Girl’ and ‘J'ai dormi sous l'eau’ were gorgeous, and the finishing hat-trick of ‘Kelly Watch The Stars’, ‘Sexy Boy’, and ‘La Femme d’Argent’ sent everyone back to the dart with a smile on their face.

All in all, a great location, with plenty of pleasing fare, and family friendly too. If the line up had been switched around, with Kíla or Toots closing things out, we would have been laughing, but it was fine day out by the seaside none the less.