Wednesday 14th June.
After an overnight stay at Kevin’s place, we set off in his campervan bound for Ballinlough Castle and arriving onsite at the festival grounds for noon. Barra Doherty, our coordinator arrived shortly after and we were given a few duties around the vicinity of the Boneyard. The volunteer tent from last year couldn’t be found so a temporary tent was found in the meantime and myself, Arthur and Kevin brought over tables and chairs to place inside. We also helped out with bits and pieces that needed to be brought to other areas, I took some photos at the back of the old wooden main stage of Brien working on décor for the main stage arena painting colours on a banner.
After a meal we helped out with various other tasks and ended up at Kevin’s camper which was about same distance almost in Wild Roots from my tent and ended the night with a few cans, joined later by Rod who brought me some more Guinness, ya legend.
Thursday 15th June.
Today we were out with Craig and helping out with various bits, taking tables over to the Solas Tent, I think it was called, formally the Wanderlust Stretch Tent. Whilst waiting to help out at the décor barn I took some pics of volunteers working there.
Barra then put myself and Kevin on to Stop and Go duty, both issued with two way radios and we were to insure no crashes or hold ups in the middle of the busy areas. A simple, ‘ is it clear? ‘ ‘ Yup, its clear send them down ‘. I would do vice versa if trucks, buggies or vans were heading from my road to Kevin. Fairly easy work and also I had sounds with my little speaker and Ipod competing against sound checks from the stages and all the crews various stereos, so basically mirroring what was to come. Met Roisin, Sue and Sarah amongst others, had been working over six hours and started to feel peckish and Rod the legend brought me out a meal. Then I got a break and discovered the amazing Roisin had cooked up a huge pot of chile con carne for the volunteers so had a bowl of that too and a coffee, thank you Roisin also a legend.
There was one of the B&S crew who was zipping around in his electronic wheel which was amazing to watch. No doubt this guy was on call throughout the weekend as he could get around the site nimbly in a matter of minutes. I meant to take a clip but if anyone managed to get this maestro on his wheel on video, throw it out to me and I’ll include it here.
This time I actually made it to the lighting of the fire in the Walled Garden and a speech about the wonder of Body & Soul by Celtic Shaman, John Cantwell. The clip I took is quite dark but you’ll get a gist of the atmosphere.
https://www.dublinmindbodyexperience.ie/john-cantwell
Friday 16th June.
Had a lie in on Friday and wandered up to the volunteer tent, had a blether with some of the volunteers and a few coffees, whilst making my plans for the day, lots of familiar faces too many names to mention.
Off into the arena for about 4.30 texting Kevin that I’d meet him later there. I still had to wait fifteen minutes before Charcoal Grill opened, I was absolutely famished and the smell of the cooking burgers were driving me nuts. I met fellow Body & Soulers Johnny and Connie and their two lovely children. They formally worked at the Soul Kids site that used to be a nice family addition to previous editions of the festival. They were just on a day trip as they had to head back home later, so it was good to catch them as I didn’t meet up with them on Sunday again.
Beth Orton – Main Stage 17.00 – 18.00 PM.
I was surprised Beth Orton was on so early in the evening, I always considered her a well known name. The first few songs I thought she had a really strange voice, didn’t know if I liked it or not. But by halfway through the set I thought she had a very unique singing voice that I in fact loved. Having done no prior research on her as I should’ve when line up came out, she had a tight backing band weaving behind her melancholic folk rock and trip hop sound. A pleasant way to pass the later afternoon away listening to the fine crooning of Beth Orton, an artist worth exploring with a fine selection of eight albums to her credit.
https://bethortonofficial.com/
Off to the Woods to search for Kinsale Gin bar, it wasn’t anymore but another Hennessey bar, but they did have gin so I got myself a gin and tonic for a refreshing little drink and went back to the main stage to catch the start of the Public Service Broadcasting band.
Public Service Broadcasting Main Stage 18.30 – 19.30 PM.
The mainly instrumental PSB came onstage in their white suits, quite resplendent they were reminding me of the Hives in their black suits and red ties. They have a good kick to their sound of alternative art rock, Wikipedia describes their genres ranging from krautrock, electronica, art and indie rock, but I liked the hard driving sound and occasional vocals in other songs. Mr B the only non-musical member of the group provided the visuals on the backdrop, consisting of ‘old public information films, archive footage and propaganda material.’ This is another band I haven’t done the research on but they have about six albums under their belt and they merit more investigation methinks.
https://publicservicebroadcasting.net/
I think at this point I bumped into Kevin and we went for a wander around the Beacon stage, I presume judging by the time that it was Efa O’Neil who was providing the beats with some funky house music.
https://ra.co/dj/efaoneill/biography
Then a wee walk through the trees to the Cabin in the Woods area, another focal point of the festival to come for a dance or a blether with someone and an eclectic bunch of DJs manning the decks.
Took a trip into the Walled Garden and over to the Solas tent where a drumming session and circle was underway in there, so I took a quick clip.
And back to the main stage to catch a wee bit of The Murder Capital, although I’ve covered them a few times now, Kevin wasn’t too impressed with them, but I thought they were a decent enough indie act that are getting there and getting gradually later slots on the festival bills, so fair play to them.
Both of us went off to the Hennessey Hip Hop stage, a stretch tent in the Hennessey Arena to catch a bit of RI RA’s set.
RI RA Hennessey Hip Hop Stage 21.15 – 22.00 PM.
Now I don’t know too much about hip hop, I do know I love some of it and I’ve caught RI RA before with his group Scary Eire at the Salty Dog at Electric Picnic 2019 so was interested to see this gig. I found RI RA fairly entertaining in his raps he could still give some fine competition against the younger rap scene coming from Limerick, Dublin and the North. Accompanied by a steady hand on the beats, both a DJ and a percussionist and a fine multi instrumentalist culminating with his bagpipe playing nearer the end of the set.
https://maddaxxemusic.bandcamp.com/
On our travels into the woods again Shanti Celeste was playing some nice thumping techno at the Beacon stage with assorted lunatics dancing and screaming, doing the job just nicely she was.
https://shanticeleste.bandcamp.com/
Fabio Grooverider & The Outlook Orchestra Main Stage 23.30 PM – 12.30 AM.
This was an inspired booking by Body & Soul, a live jungle and drum and bass group, consisting of DJs and musicians making this pumping bassy sound. At most dance gigs I’m a pretty crappy dancer unless its full on pumping soul music, but I tend to just stand or sit listening to house, trance or techno. It doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate it I love it just haven’t figured out how to dance to it yet. But when it comes to reggae and jungle the grooves just come right out of me and Fabio Grooverider and the Outlook Orchestra from London provided that much needed energy to get me dancing.
Fabio Grooverider goes right back to the late 80s when they started DJing and by the mid 90s they were releasing records and hosting radio shows, culminating with them bringing their show to a national audience on BBC Radio 1 in 1998.
But the music was earth shatteringly good with a deep bass groove, Cockney charm and some fine singers making guest appearances during their gig, and I have to say, live jungle is an exhilarating energetic experience that needs to be experienced and Fabio Grooverider delivered.
https://www.facebook.com/fabioandgrooverider/
Back into the woods again milling about to the techno vibe of HAAI who I think I’ve caught before at ATN 2018 on the Arcadia Afterburner, in fact, come to think of it the Beacon Stage reminded of the Afterburner except without the fire of course.
https://ra.co/dj/haai/biography
It must of started raining again as we left the woods for the last hour to the Hennessey tent and caught the last act Ben Bix & Little O, an energetic mix of hip hop and African inspired music and it seemed much energetic fun as well as keeping dry and out of that rain fall. A very pleasant end to the night.
https://bodytonicmusic.bandcamp.com/album/ben-bix-and-feather
Myself and Kevin tried to cut back through the production shortcut but security had already shut the forest path so we had to go the punter route into campsite which was a bit of a walk.
Saturday 17th June.
Woke up to the blinding heat followed by rapid downpours, one thing for sure was it was creating wonderful rainbows at times I stupidly forgot to photograph but there you go. A trip up to the volunteer tent, talking to Barra, Arthur, Steven or Jim (kept getting his name wrong) and Rose. Managed to get a much needed shower today and Rose was working at the showers. She asked me to get her a cup of tea with regular milk and some biccys, so off I trotted, managed to find a tea bag, hot water, no regular milk only oatmilk. So black tea it was and no biccys, but I did have a packet of unopened Rolos so I gave her these.
Made it up to Kevin’s camper and he came down with me again to the volunteer tent and Rod was there, so was catching up on shenanigans with him. We’d been sitting at the tent for ages and I said to Kevin when the hell are we going into the arena. He wasn’t in the mood to go yet so off I trotted to the main arena.
Weather seemed to be holding up for a while at least until Meute came onto the main stage.
Meute – Main Stage 19.00 – 20.00 PM.
Meute were amazing, hailing from Hamburg in Germany, eleven drummers and horn players who recreate the techno classics through their instruments with much bravado. The band had just finished their first number when the call came over the PA that the music has to be stopped and for our own safety we had to stay three feet away from any barrier in case of a lightening strike as a thunder storm was approaching and could wreck havoc with instruments and blowing expensive generators, so all power was cut for about forty minutes.
As the rain started to get really heavy I moved down into the Hennessey Arena and into hip hop tent, which started to get really crowded, I’m not the best fan of thunder and lightening but being amongst all the excited festival goers drowned out any thunder and it became an experience, I took out phone and took a video describing the scene.
Meute returned to the main stage and finished their performance and possibly made many fans to their innovative approach to recreating the old techno classics.
Bumped into Ken and Clare on my way into woods, a lovely couple who I tend to meet at really mad festivals, sometimes we seem to be going to the same acts. I grabbed a selfie with them just in case we didn’t meet up again.
Neil Flynn Beacon Stage 21.00 – 22.30 PM.
Neil Flynn as always delivered a high octane set, some thumping techno, tech house and house, but I reckon he’s one of mine and Kevin’s festival favourites to play the decks, was surprised when Rod showed up, he’s also a fan of Neil Flynn. So three hardcore fans rocking it out.
https://ra.co/dj/neilflynn/biography
Alison Goldfrapp – Main Stage 20.45 – 22.00 PM.
Caught the last quarter of Alison Goldfrapp’s set, it sounded like she was doing her hit Ooh La La, but it was another track but almost identical timing and lift. This is my third time catching this lass, she’s offers an interesting mix of 70s type glam given a gleaning electronica edge, Goldfrapp has a very sexy voice that has a slight reverb added to it to give it the slightly 70s glam edge. A pretty cool sound and an artist worth checking out.
We just hung around the main arena for Moderat to come on.
Moderat – Main Stage 22.45 PM – 12.00 AM.
This was a much anticipated gig for me, having caught Moderat two times already, the noisy tent at Forbidden Fruit didn’t do their gig any justice, I could barely hear them over the chatter. This time round couldn’t have been more different, there was room to come up to the main stage for a really close look and I’ve two video clips to prove this. This gig was mainly about stuff from their most recent album released in 2022, More D4ta. The visual backdrop has got stronger, some really amazing graphics and the sound crystal clear with beautiful booming bass. They played some of the tracks from the debut album New Error and Les Grandes Marches with Apparat on guitar and Bad Kingdom from II.
A very decent gig from Moderat, Avril and her Body & Soul crew were out at the front dancing away to the gig, I was really hoping they would play Rusty Nails and maybe they do on longer standalone sets in concert halls, the festival sets are always that bit shorter. Then again perhaps they did drop it after almost playing it now for 13 or 14 years in their setlist. I thought that was a lovely touch at the end of their show messing with the words on the screen until it mentions Westmeath and Body & Soul.
We headed into the Hennessey Arena to catch a bit of Nightmares On Wax DJ set but it looked like the hip hop tent was packed out plus I fancied a decent seat and at the top of the arena was these comfy padded seats which was perfect. Instead of taking a clip of the DJ in action I took in the whole arena with the beautiful green ray lights raking the sky although its only a short clip, Nightmares On Wax is the soundtrack.
https://www.nightmaresonwax.com/
Weval Main Stage 01.00 – 02.00 AM.
This was my first time catching this electronica duo from the Netherlands, described as a mix of jazz and house, the band also had drum and bass beats as well in a nice ambient swirl with dreamy vocals. They were promoting the new record on their tour released in March this year called Remember and lots of lush lively melodies with a nice drum and bass undercurrent. I think they played Body & Soul a few years ago as well, so nice to get them back again.
https://ra.co/dj/weval/biography
I think we went back to the woods for a bit around the Beacon where I think Gerd Janson was leading the merry beat around the trees, but I was dead on my feet by 3.30 and said to Kevin I was going to split before they shut the production gate in the woods. So I nipped out by the barn as was back in the tent in about five minutes rather than the 25 minutes back through the main campsite the night before.
https://ra.co/dj/gerdjanson/biography
Sunday 18th June.
Today was a very erratic day with hot sunny spells and deluges of rain, drank about three coffees in the volunteer tent and Arthur the legend was keeping the beats going on the boogie box. Special mention to Canned Heat’s Going up the country, one of the best festival anthems known to man. It was that good I took a brief clip of the ambiance of the volunteer tent.
And with here I will throw up some more photos of this wonderful festival land before I finish the review and forget.
Around this time was feeling a little peckish and after visiting Charcoal Grill two days in a row I fancied trying something else, so looked at the eateries in the Walled Garden. This is a thing I noticed this year, lack of choice, Body & Soul used to be revered as having tons eating options, no Wok N’ Roll, Cheesy Bread or Pieministers to be had and I suppose that happens when another larger festival (Beyond the Pale) is added to the equation, Lots of food vendors flocked to there. I settled for a rice bowl with added salad to try something different.
The name of the food stall was Fairmental Rice Bowls and the price for the food bowl was 15.50 Euros, a fair chunk of money. I heard for weekend volunteers there was a reduction where volunteers paid 11 Euro but that’s still a lot of money to come out of a volunteers budget for the weekend. I was willing to give this vendor the benefit of the doubt and try one of these dishes. I settled for the Chicken Sean Ring served with jasmine rice, roasted tomato humus, house ferments, Irish Leaves house Rayu. I must confess this was tangy, succulent and absolutely delicious and set me up for the day, but a tad over priced as I say.
Whilst in the Walled Garden I heard the first reggae disco coming from the Pavilion of the Peculiar, so hung around for a wee dance as I couldn’t resist bopping to some Jamaican sounds.
I took a clip from the stone shelter in the woods, a life saver once or twice in serious downpours and took a walk from halfway of the Beacon stage and moved down towards the cabin in the woods. I may have done this before for previous reviews, I can’t remember.
I eventually met Ken and Clare again and Kevin too, actually we met and a shower came upon us so we dived into a bottom of a tree, quite daft when I think about it with the thunder warnings. I think I actually ended more wet under tree than staying out in it. Rainwater is only detained for a few seconds and it like taking a cold shower streaming down your back and I thought I had a great rain mac too, but then again that was an extreme downpour. The sun came out again and we made our way main stage for Kneecap. I was annoyed that I missed Tinariwen but did catch their full set at EP 2008.
Kneecap Main Stage 17.30 – 18.30 PM.
So the lads made it to the main stage at last, ideal comedic rap that takes the piss out of everything in the finest Belfast brogue. Yeah I like Kneecap, they can be fun, but I’ve seen them a few times before now and they still seem to be pushing the same material but they’re going down a treat, everyone gets it, its all a larf. Fair play to them I say. Well it brought me, Kevin, Ken and Clare together. They fired up the encore of their most famous track that got them banned simultaneously by the BBC and RTE when it was released called H.O.O.D but they lost half to crowd when another ferocious downpour happened during the number.
I think after this second soaking I hastily retreated back to the crew camp for a t-shirt change as the one I had on was soaking. A fresh t-shirt, my hoodie and my jacket, wear that with the mac and should be alright, but I think that was the last tough shower of the day and we survived.
What I didn’t mention was that Kevin the legend had been keeping my Guinness chilled in his fridge and taking them to me in the Arena, so thank you good sir for doing this and bringing me to this wonderful place.
Fever Ray Main Stage 9.00 – 10.30 Pm.
Missed the first fifteen minutes of this, but may have a chance to visit the full set when I head over to Field Day in London in August 19th. Anyways I enjoyed this set more than the one she done previously at Body & Soul, she seems to have found her rock soul again with having a live drum kit and guitars. I always think of Karin Dreijer Andersson as a kind of indie rocker meets cold but cool electronica. And her roots go right back to the mid 90s with Honey Is Cool, a Swedish grunge pop band. Their first hit was Nach Heart and Karin is very beautiful in this and has a sweet voice.
You can basically trace the evolution of The Knife and Fever Ray in this track one of the last ones in the Honey is Cool period called The Giraffe.
Anyway on with the review, like I said this was a more rocking Fever Ray and she is pushing a new album released in March this year called Radical Romantics. There was some nice reworkings of her 2009 album namely, I’m not Done which was very similar to the original and a lovely reworking of Now’s The Only Time I know and of course finishing with If I had a Heart. Rose was with me and Kevin for this, I recommended she go and see Fever Ray, she didn’t know the artist until I mentioned the intro music to the Vikings TV series, so I’m glad she got to see the strange Fever Ray.
Back into the woods again for the last time I think, went up to the Cabin in the Woods in hope I might meet some familiar faces up there. It was the Cabin’s turn this time to have the reggae hour although I wasn’t dancing as my energy was more or less spent so just sitting down appreciating the music and people watching.
I couldn’t be bothered with the walk back to the main stage to catch The Blaze’s closing set, apologies to the Blaze but I did give you a nice review back in 2019’s Body & Soul. I made my way to the Beacon Stage in preparation for the Pagan Rave.
Pagan Rave Beacon Stage 22.15 PM – 12.00 AM.
The Pagan Rave didn’t get underway till just after 11 PM, the whole area was cleared for the last few hours as the area has some of the most footfall through forest and the heavy rain showers caused a lot of the land to be thick muck, so lots of hay needed to be laid to prepare the area. I enjoyed the Pagan Rave but an observation that myself and Kevin made is that the Pagan Rave is billed to close the woods but only ever lasts about half an hour to forty minutes, that’s including the speeches, songs, the trad music and all the theatrical shenanigans. The Beacon then reverts back into a dance music hub till about 2 or is it 4 on a Sunday. At one point the DJ drops some The Knife which nicely connects to the Fever Ray gig earlier and which you hear in Pagan Rave clip 5.
It was about 2 AM when I split from Kevin as I was tired and took the short cut back to the crew camp, fairly content with all I seen at the festival for the day.
Monday 19th June.
On reflection I really hope that Body & Soul survives this clashing of festivals competing against each other, 137 kilometres up the road I hope Selective Memory the crowd seemingly behind the Beyond the Pale festival change their festival dates not to clash with the smaller festivals. I think both Body & Soul and Sea Sessions took a dip in sales this weekend because of BTP and I really hope to be back in Ballinlough next year again as its a worthwhile fixture in my calendar.
Well Kevin brought me back all the way to my gaff fair play to you, you legend and love to everyone I met in my journeys, I shall see you in the next movie or festival.
Niallmcquaid's Blog 