All Together Now day 2 review: Kneecap and Greta Thunberg among the highlights in Waterford
A member of Gurriers takes to the crowd at the All Together Now festival in Co Waterford. Picture: Aron Cahill
Long before Kneecap’s scheduled appearance on All Together Now's Main Stage at Curraghmore, thousands had arranged themselves before it, giddy with anticipation. Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap and DJ Próvaí bounced on at 11.30pm to raucous cheers that only intensified when they launched into one of their many bilingual, politically charged anthems. Most of the crowd chanted along, pumping the air with their fists.
There were some gleeful interludes, such as when the rappers urged people to climb on each other’s shoulders for their first single from 2017. Hundreds obliged.
There were also sobering moments, such as when the British performance artist Kae Tempest and members of the Irish traditional supergroup Biird joined them for the song Móglaí Bap wrote to commemorate his mother, the Irish language activist Aoife Ní Riain, who died by suicide in 2020.
They were not the only guests. At one point they also invited the veteran activist Bernadette Devlin McAliskey on stage to deliver a short speech in support of a free Palestine, a cause that seems as dear to Kneecap’s hearts as the prospect of a united Ireland.
Kneecap’s presentation – the music, the rapping, the graphics – was best described as frantic. They maintained the pace for a full 90 minutes, delivering a set that will surely be remembered as one of the most dynamic ever at All Together Now.
For the most part, the mood at All Together Now was one of jubilation, people thriving on the camaraderie and their shared joy in music. For many, it was a weekend away from worries about work and mortgages, seemingly endless wars in the Ukraine and Palestine, and wildfires rampaging through Europe.
But the festival was not entirely disengaged. A number of performers delivered Messages of Peace at the Temporary Bandstand in the early afternoon. Among them was a surprise guest, the Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, sounding a sombre note as she stated: “I cannot pretend to feel hope when I’m too heartbroken about the state of the world, everything is falling apart.”
The 23-year-old's sojourn in Co Waterford did at least include an introduction to the joys of our national sport, with Kneecap manager Dan Lambert posting a picture of Thunberg holding a hurley. Greta abú!
If one had to lavish praise on one international act among the many who performed on Saturday, it would surely be reserved for the British quintet, Ezra Collective. They appeared at one of the smaller arenas here back in 2023, but winning the Mercury Prize since then and a growing appreciation for their jazz/Afrobeat style ensured a Main Stage slot this time around.
TJ Koleoso’s funky basslines underpinned much of their set, which had the crowd dancing blissfully from beginning to end. The band referenced their humble beginnings in a youth club in London in 2012, remarking that they have since toured around the world six times. Surely they will swing around it many times again.
At 81, the acoustic troubadour Christy Moore may not perform much anymore, but he is arguably as popular as ever. One could only wonder at how he drew so young a crowd, given how long it has been since he was a mainstay on national radio.
Moore played at the Something Kind of Wonderful marquee, which was filled to capacity, and then some. Regrettably, the large crowd gathered outside could barely hear the master perform such classics as and
The Kildare man kept his between-song banter to a minimum, but he spoke fondly and sadly of his good friend Glen Hansard, who died in a motorcycle accident last Wednesday, leading the crowd in a singalong of one of Hansard’s favourite traditional numbers,
The Dublin comedian David O’Doherty recently turned 50, and seems to be happily aging into the role of a curmudgeon. He performed with only a tiny keyboard for company, occasionally breaking into song as he ranged widely over a diverse range of subjects.
He certainly pulled no punches. Fellow comic Dara Ó Briain came in for some serious flak for performing at the Riyadh Comedy Festival in Saudi Arabia last year, while Elon Musk was ridiculed for his embrace of white supremacy.
The best moments, however, came in O’Doherty’s musings on his personal life, such as his efforts to deal with a pest infestation at his home, which somehow led to him brushing his teeth with tap water in which a number of rodents had been liquified, and concluding with him insisting that his DNA must now be 95% mouse.
