Antigen tests, railings and pods: It's a music festival, but not as we know it
Fans enjoying the performance by Gavin James at Saturday's gig. Picture: Leon Farrell / Photocall Ireland
When is a festival not a festival?
When it’s a ‘Government of Ireland outdoor pilot music festival’, at Royal Hospital Kilmainham.
It has been a long 16 months for most in attendance since their last gig. A few had probably managed to squeeze in to the other test events which have taken place, or the smattering of indoor gigs which took place late last year, but for those waiting on an outdoor musical experience, it had been quite the wait.
The 3,500 attendees were placed in pods of four or six, in railed areas - there were a lot of railings - with punters venturing outside their allotted areas only for food/beverage or toilet.
Unlike the pilot gig in Iveagh Gardens on June 10, everyone, from performer to media to staff to punter, went through an antigen test at the nearby Collins Barracks before being admitted to the site. From queuing to result, it took somewhere between 40 minutes and an hour.
Getting into the site before opening act Wyvern Lingo took to the stage, there were more railings than people - it was a reminder that gig-goers aren’t the most minded to show up early (perhaps understandable considering the bar didn’t open until 4.45pm). Which must have been a pity for the Bray trio; in terms of atmosphere, there was little by then.
However, any qualms about the event are put to one side by Denise Chaila at 6pm. The last time she played a show was to about 200 people at Other Voices in Ballina at the end of February 2020 - now she was performing to thousands. And with her regular collaborators God Knows and Murli by her side, and various other guests, Chaila put on a sensational show.
She demands the limelight, one new song featuring the refrain “Sometimes I think I’m Kanye” (and a sample of Kanye West’s declaration, “George Bush doesn’t care about black people”).
Closing track ‘Chaila’ moves the baying crowd like little else on the day. The undoubted highlight.
Another standout moment was when hosts the 2 Johnnies drop Venga Boys’ ‘Boom Boom Boom’ - it was the audience at their most exalted, as if they were shaking off 16 months of cobwebs, which didn’t really do Lyra and Gavin James many favours.
The former lets her Cork accent soar in songs, telling people how she’s delighted to see their mouths again. Gavin James closes out the night, and like all of the acts, seems genuinely delighted to be back playing in front of people, exclaiming to the audience that it "feels absolutely fucking crazy" to be back on stage.
So this event – which used one of the big screens to display the slightly-Orwellian message 'Please use social media to tell the world you’re having a great time' – doesn't quite feel like a music festival as we used to know them. But let’s hope it's big step back to the real deal.
