Sunday review

Sunday morning brought the sad news of a death overnight as one festival goer had collapsed at the end of the The Chemical Brothers set, though most people on-site remained unaware of the tragic event until the end of the day. Another relaxed start to the Main Stage performances with the likes of Percussionist Luisito Quintero & roots reggae singer Horace Andy kept festival goers entertained as they lined up for cappuccinos or at the “Pie Minister” caravan – the food stall hit of the festival which seemed to never have less than 50 people waiting patiently to be served, trying to gain energy to see them through the final day.

The weather early on for Sunday was intermittently raining & sunny (at one stage both, causing a rainbow that I suspect was sponsored by the Irish Tourism Board to form over the Main Stage) until it settled on being an overcast afternoon. Despite it being the last day, an impressive percentage of the crowd had dressed up for the occasion. Superheroes, a ladybird & (of course) a whole herd of leprechauns were spotted living it up.

Newly reformed for their 20th anniversary (god, I’m getting old), Soul II Soul put on a great performance of classic tunes with DJ Jazzie B at the helm. With a cast of guest singers including the fabulous Caron Wheeler back performing with the group, the live renditions of ‘Back to Life (However Do You Want Me)’ & ‘Missing You’ sounded note perfect.



Sunday was definitely the day for old school bands out to show they could still cut it. The Fall played early on in the Crawdaddy Tent, with Mark E. Smith not quite all there (having to read his lyrics off scraps of paper) but with an audience of die hard fans up front loving every second of the band’s performance. The Beastie Boys returned again to the Electric Arena for a short secret gig & Sonic Youth on the Main Stage performed with more exuberance & flow than in the previous times I’ve seen them. Perhaps age has taught them that having a good time with an audience is more important than spending 10 minutes between songs noodling with your large collection of guitars & they are much better performers for it.

A delay in the arrival of New York band ‘Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’ meant that all times in the Electric Arena were pushed back by 45 minutes. Chaos in the timing meant missing out on much of the sets of both UNKLE & The Go! Team, who always put on a great live set, but the relatively quiet Foggy Notions tent saw a sweet & laid back performance by Mercury music prize nominee Bat For Lashes, albeit with a few technical sound problems.

Iggy & The Stooges – what can I say that hasn’t already been said? Live, these guys really show how things should be done. After playing many festivals this Summer, Iggy for all of his years still wipes the floor with any other live band. Like Glastonbury, the show included Iggy humping a large speaker, going into the audience & then getting a large number of fans up on stage. Punk isn’t dead, it’s just turned 60.



The honour of closing the show went to Primal Scream – again a band I’ve seen live before & been pretty underwhelmed by. This time however, Bobby Gillespe seemed more than an animated corpse, while bassist Mani got up to his usual antics including smooching new guitarist Kevin Sheilds. The band did well to retain the attention of most of the crowd with singles such as ‘Jailbird’ while a steady trickle including myself made their way to the exit.

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