Body and Soul festival has heart
Cork artist Yesunia, who performs at Body and Soul.
I’ll be taking five of Corks best young singers and rappers to Body and Soul Festival this weekend and I’m really looking forward to showcasing Minnie Marley, Yesunia, Alicia, AbbieLee and King Koko at the Hennessy hip-hop stage as we celebrate 50 years of hip-hop culture. It’s a great festival that also plays host to Gemma Dunleavy, Denise Chaila, Fabio & Groooverider, KneeCap, Kojaque, Giles Peterson, Fever Ray and many many more acts. I’ll also be helping host some talks up there, so check out that hip-hop arena!
Meanwhile, over in Wicklow, Beyond the Pale brings Grace Jones, Thundercat, Jon Hopkins, Little Dragon and many more acts to another of Ireland’s best festivals. I often get asked by people who are kinda out of the festival loop for the state of play regarding festivals in Ireland, and many haven’t been to much bar the Electric Picnic and a couple more. This week I’m gonna try and break down the various festivals and advise readers which might suit them best. I’ll stick with the festivals that are still remaining this summer, bar the ones I’ve just mentioned. First up, there really is something for every music fans.
Let’s start with the obvious one, and one of Europe’s most established festivals, The Electric Picnic. It’s by now a very different festival to one that began quite modestly in the early 2000s. I remember being sent about 100 free tickets by John Reynolds and the Pod, who organised that first one day event and who had the vision to do a festival that was pretty unique at the time. I was handing out free tickets in the Agora bar on MacCurtain St on Thursday and Friday night, for the festival which took place on one long Saturday in Laois. These days you pretty much only get one ticket even as an artist, and the festival sells out in no time! It became a respected festival within a few years, but it has obviously become a lot more commercial and brand heavy in recent years, and these days big hitters Festival Republic are running it.
Many of us who went to the first one in 2004 still travel but ultimately many will have moved on to different things. So what’s the best alternative? If you were going to festivals in 2004 and still want to go in 2023 you are probably in your 40s so I’d suggest All Together Now in Waterford. It’s barely over an hour from Cork and it’s again the brainchild of John Reynolds, who sadly passed away a few years ago. Set in a beautiful estate, it carries much of the original Electric Picnic ethos and it’s a music and arts festival that attracts big names but still feels intimate.
If you don’t fancy a full on festival Kaleidoscope maybe the option. It’s very much a family friendly festival and again it will be appeal to those who once went to the Picnic or Oxegen, but who are at a different stage now and have kids. It’s still got a decent line-up and Wicklow is wonderful, but if you can’t get a babysitter, this could be the one for you (just bring them along!). For many others, kids are not part of the equation yet. Yes, many of my younger readers will be thinking about going to their first ever festival and there’s two great options. Both are what I call the “graduation” or “rites of passage” festivals. Indiependence and Longitude will both be packed with Leaving Cert graduates who will be enjoying their first summer of freedom after secondary school.
Indiependence has more of a varied line-up and attracts lots of different age groups too, and while there’s a good smattering of dance and pop, it remains a rock/indie festival at heart.
It’s a fantastic festival and provides a great boost to Mitchelstown and Cork. Longitude has had many changes over the years but ultimately it’s a dance and hip-hop festival these days and it brings some of music’s biggest hitters to Marlay Park every July. These are only a few of the great music festivals we have in Ireland, let’s hope we continue to have great weather to match the music this summer!
