Tom Dunne: We now live in the era of the music festival
Ireland's summer festival roster has no shortage of options. Picture: iStock
The thing about eras: you never really know you’re in one ‘til it’s gone. Neolithic people had become quite adept at polishing stone tools before they realised the glory days of the Mesolithic era – ah, those simple, perfectly good, chipped stone tools – were gone forever.
So, in case you miss this one: Welcome to the Festival Era. There is a festival type now for almost everyone. There are festivals that, apart from a little music, will offer you street circus, a little hedonism, ziplining, zombie films, acrobats, choirs, fireworks, pop-up concerts, walking tours, creative writing workshops, excursions and dance classes.
For a festival with no parents at all, there’s Longitude. For one with pretty much just parents, often on stage, there’s the ironically named Forever Young. If mainstream music makes you break out in a rash, get thee to Indiependence. If indie bands bore you, stay close to Malahide Castle or St Anne’s Park in Dublin.
And you can travel too! You can go to Roscommon for Mercury Rev and Gruff Rhys, Gweedore for Ash, Usher’s Island for Lisa O’Neill, Galway for Pavement, Cork for Inhaler, Laois for Suede, or Rock Farm in Slane for CMAT and Bombay Bicycle Club.
And then there are the big boys: All Together Now – arguably the coolest – and Electric Picnic, the festival that these days marks the end of summer and the re-opening of schools. The festival that introduced us to the phrase, “Meet you at Mindfield.”
Even the names are beautiful; Body and Soul, Forest Festival, Night and Day, Continuous Patterns, When Next We Meet, Chamber Music on Valentia, Another Love Story, Sounds from a Safe Harbour. From June to late September, I counted 63. How did this happen?
The starting point was Lisdoonvarna. You made your way to this mostly on foot. You slept rough or with nine others in a two-man tent. You drank only Harp lager and ate crisps. If you could put off going to the toilet for a few days it was best for everyone, particularly you.
Feile raised the bar, a bit, but it was at Oxegen that the idea of certain minimum requirements arose. We were still debating these when Electric Picnic arrived. It was a game changer: a boutique festival, music and, for the first time, spoken word, numbers controlled, great facilities, varied entertainments. There was no going back.
And then an odd thing happened, which I had the good fortune to witness from the actual stage. We, Something Happens, started getting booked for new weekend festivals in small towns. You’d look at the line up and suspect it was a little light in the “headline draw” department.
But then you’d arrive and find it was very well attended, with families and great food, amusements, and local acts. It would have, without question, “a vibe”. You came away from these thinking “that was a brilliant experience”, and to an extent the music became a little less important.
More and more of these festivals started to spring up. You couldn’t live in a nice place without realising that a good festival could put your town on the map, give people an excuse to visit you. Tourist grants followed, but it was very obviously a win-win for everyone.
The art of curation blossomed. People have combined music and location with an aplomb that borders on artistry. Music From a Safe Harbour in Cork for instance, co-curated by Aaron and Bryce Dessner from the National, and this year featuring Wilco. Be still my beating heart.
The idea of travelling far afield for a festival has become less popular. Yes, it would be nice to make the trip this weekend to Glastonbury and see Elton’s last UK gig, or Primavera to enjoy all Barcelona has to offer would be nice; but wouldn’t a bespoke experience on beach in Gweedore be nicer still?
In the coming weeks, Ireland will play host to numerous acts, including Blur, Peter Gabriel, and Morrissey. The list goes on and on.
Play your cards right and you could enjoy some of these in the grounds of a 400-year-old college, or by the sea, in a forest or in the grounds of an ancient castle. What is not to love? But how long can this last? The Festival Era is 2004 to when? That is the question!
