All Together Now review: Kneecap steal the show across weekend of exceptional music and art

Crowds enjoying Soda Blonde on the mainstage at the All Together Now Festival. Picture: Larry Cummins

Many describe preparing to attend a music festival as akin to planning a military campaign. This was certainly the case at the All Together Now weekend festival at Carraghmore Estate, Co Waterford. Getting there was half the battle; one then had to set up camp and find one’s way around the site.

But the rewards were many. Everyone present, and there were many thousands, would agree that Kneecap stole the show on Saturday night. Few acts have had as unlikely or unique a rise to headline status. Helped by their movie in 2024 and a high profile court case the following year, Mo Chara, Móglaí Bap and DJ Próvaí have captured hearts and the charts like no other act in recent times.

Their performance was incendiary, a passionate mash-up of hip hop posturing and political sloganeering, with guest appearances by the British performance artist Kae Tempest, Irish supergroup Biird and the veteran Northern Irish activist Bernadette Devlin McAliskey.

Pulp headlined the previous night, proving that success with hits such as Common People and Disco 2000 in the 1990s can still translate into pulling a crowd 30 years on.

There were some lovely surprises over the weekend, not least when Christy Moore performed a set of classics such as Ride On, The Voyage and Ordinary Man. 

It was the folk icon’s first festival appearance in 14 years, but it felt as if he had never been away. At 81, he remains in fine voice, and commanded the respect of a cross-generational crowd, touching everyone’s hearts when he dedicated The Auld Triangle to the late Glen Hansard.

The Irish acts at the festival proved that music in all its various forms is in rude health in this country. Indie rock band Gurriers and camp funk/Trad newcomer Sexy Tadgh both played to huge enthusiastic crowds on the Main Stage on Friday evening, the punk folk Dundalk outfit Mary Wallopers succeeded them with a raucous set the following evening, and acoustic troubadour Damien Dempsey was in fantastic form on the final evening.

Mo Chara of Kneecap performs during All Together Now at Curraghmore Estate. Picture: Kieran Frost/Redferns

There were many other highlights. The London-based Ezra Collective delivered a fantastic funk jazz set that had everyone dancing at the Main Stage, on Saturday evening. David O’Doherty’s surreal comedy was as welcome as ever, while punk poet John Cooper Clarke had the crowd in the palm of his hand for his hour-long set.

Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg was a surprise guest at the Messages of Peace event at the Temporary Bandstand on Saturday afternoon, delivering a short speech about her sense of hopelessness in the face of climate change and endless wars. It brought a sombre note to a festival that was noteworthy for its sense of community and jubilation.

Greta Thunberg at the All Together Now festival in Co Waterford with Dan Lambert. Picture: Dan Lambert/X

If one had to pick a low point of the weekend, then surely it was reggae veteran Barrington Levy arriving an hour late, without explanation, on stage in the Something Kind of Wonderful tent on Sunday evening. It meant many present missed out on other acts they could have been attending.

From Sunday afternoon, the crowd started thinning a little. The evening brought a few drops of rain, but most of the music lovers soldiered on, unwilling to miss out on headliners such as the Welsh electronic legends Underworld, the Scottish indie darlings Mogwai, or Waterford-based oddballs the King Kong Company, whose set was scheduled for 1.30am. Definitely one for the diehards.

Crowds at the All Together Now Festival on Sunday. Picture: Larry Cummins