There is no better start to a festival than tearing off in a jeep with bezzy mates for a weekend! We raced straight through the gates of Lord Charleville’s posh gaff looking for a spot to call home and ended up next to a stag party who insisted on assembling our tents, which piqued my sensibilities as I was using a €14.99 Dunnes Stores pop-up but what the hell, last dash of freedom and all that, let them get their kicks whatever way they want….

Redkid had just taken to the stage when Toni and I raced up, an odd moment of deja-vu ensued as it’s exactly how we started CP07 when we first struck up a friendship. Red Kid are definitely one of the most underrated Irish bands, a factory of feel-good summer hits. Can’t wait for Friday’s album launch at Crawdaddy!

Next on the list were Cloud Castle Lake in Le Boudoir stage and I was so glad I managed to catch their set. They have one song on MySpace, recorded two years ago   * STOP THE BLOG! BRAND NEW DEMO JUST ADDED ON MYSPACE! * and don’t seem to Do gigs, for some mystifying reason. They must start as they’re fucking fabulous, drifting from dreamy awareness to post-rock essence. Anyone for a campaign of harrassment to get them on the live circuit?

There were some changes to the tried-and-trusted Palooza format this year. While Le Boudoir 2007’s cattle-shed charm extended to a mucky quagmire for spectators, this time around a proper tented area was erected on more solid ground.
The main stage was an actual construction with a full light rig, improving on the flatbed lorry which worked just fine last year.
Food and drink stalls moved to the immediate castle forecourt with loads of seating and bins. Pints and spirits chinged in at €5, cocktails at €8. Surprisingly the drink of choice was Kopparberg, with Jaegermeister a close second. Considering the intimacy of the event there was a good selection of food: crepes, pizza, pies, Mexican, chipper, even a juice bar and cookie stand!
Within the castle itself there were some new and old attractions - live music of the previous years was scrapped, replaced instead by bellydancing in the ballroom and professional makeovers next door. There was also a Sightsavers International charity campaign and photo exhibition but I saw very few people inside. Everyone was enjoying the bands outside although the Playstation SingStar arena was very popular later in the evening.

Boss Volenti got Saturday night cracking on nicely - as the most musically-hirsute band in Ireland, I think they string their instruments with a special weave of genius and Gram Hopkin’s hair.
Suprisingly perky were The Flaws, surprising because they’ve worked their buttskis off with Achieving Vagueness this year and still pull waves of energy and smiles with their songs. When Fin pulled nine mental moves in one go my camera retired to Le Boudoir again for RSAG.

He may be Rarely Seen but that’s our problem - we are missing out. Sampling guitars over live drums/vocals, Kilkenny’s Jeremy Hickey is laying waste to the Irish solo artist stereotype with intricate mixes of melody and tempo which Foals and Battles do so well by. He next plays alongside - get this and droool - Rest, Hooray For Humans and El Bastardo at the Village on Thursday.

I missed Mo Kelly and Kormac as I was blogging, I should have left you all hanging because he sounded brilliant through the window!

The Mystery Jets finished off with a DJ set that sent the courtyard pretty wild, one of them engrossed in the tunes, the other lolling by the desk, swigging beer and looking bored. Their choice of music was pretty mundane dance, staples like The Prodigy and awful remixes of Human League and other such tat. Spare me!
I retired to the tent at midnight and induced a nightmare (the Olympics were moving to the Ringsend gasworks and I had to organise it all) by feasting on cheese sarnies and apple juice. Well worth it…food tastes great in the open air and the town it came from!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 6th, 2008 at 12:06 pm and is filed under Festivals, Music, Photography, Unsigned Bands. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.