Moving the festivities from their intimate 500-capacity venue to a 3,500-holding marquee alongside the River Shannon was a bold move for the Dolan’s team – one that was surely guaranteed to succeed thanks to the inclusion of sassy and stompy Merseysiders The Zutons in the line-up.
First up though were Cork pop merchants Fred, whose melodic antics got the party vibe off to a flying start: their cracking tunes perfectly blending ABBA, Scissor Sisters and the Beach Boys into a heady mix of smiles, sunshine and People's Republic kookiness. New single ‘Skyscrapers’ was among the highlights of the three-day event, suggesting that Fred deserve to feature much higher up in the festival foodchain in the future.
Boy/girl bubblegum combo We Should Be Dead, however, seemed more in the mood for romance than dancing, as their stolid garage pop never rose beyond waltz. On the day, their poses looked awkward, and their riffs slouched in a manner more akin to ballroom wallflowers than the indie disco pin-ups they clearly aspire to be. Which is not to say that they won't make it – just that there’s a lot of work to be done along the way.
Headgear’s evocative mix of melancholic chamber pop and lo-fi electronica would have been more at home in a more intimate setting than on the big D10 stage. Suited, booted and perfectly turned out, Headgear looked like the lovechildren of The Cure and Tindersticks, but lacked the va va voom required to truly set things alight here.
No such complaints can be made about Delorentos. Their incendiary blend of infectious guitar-pop really kickstarted the Dolan’s birthday bash in earnest. The band stirred the crowd into a frenzy with favourites ‘Eustace Street’, ‘The Basis Of Everything’ and ‘Leave It On’ without ever looking less than cool: they might have been giving the other acts a crash course in how to own the stage.
It was obvious that headline act The Zutons would have their work cut out to follow Delorentos’ explosive performance and so it proved. The only thing heated about the Liverpool outfit was sax player Abi Harding’s hotpants. From opening track ‘Don’t Ever Think (Too Much)’ through to ‘Valerie’, ‘Give Me A Reason’ and showclosers ‘Zutonfever’ and ‘Always Right Behind You’ they never scaled the heights. The swampy, zoot-suit swing of the band’s recordings had gone missing in action.