Sunshine heralds the sounds of the summer at Witnness

HANGING around in a one-horse town has never been so much so fun.

Punchestown’s long association with horseracing might be replaced by music after the most successful Witnnessfestival in the four-year history of the event at the weekend.

The combination of a rare Irish heatwave, with temperatures soaring to around 24°C, and more than 100 acts to cater for most musical tastes proved an unbeatable formula for the first-ever staging of Witnness at the Kildare racecourse.

An estimated 50,000 people attended Ireland’s nearest equivalent to Glastonbury on both days of the weekend to soak up the balmy weather and summer sounds.

Memories of previous Witnness festivals at Fairyhouse, which often descended into mudbaths faded quickly in the party-like atmosphere.

In the end, sunburn and a mini-dust storm in the expanded market and amusement area of the racecourse provided the only hazards.

The concert organisers also learnt a valuable lesson from the chronic traffic congestion which dogged the Eminem concert at Punchestown a few weeks earlier, with only minor delays reported through Naas and Blessington over the course of the weekend.

Up-and-coming Dublin band, The Thrills, proved one of the main highlights on Saturday with their breezy, Californian sounds, on songs like “Big Sur” providing a perfect accompaniment to the weather.

Other acts like Mull Historical Society, Mundy and Turin Brakes also turned in sparkling sets to win over an army of new fans.

Many concert-goers opted out of visiting the two large tent venues, content to listen to the acts on the two outdoor stages.

However, dance music-lovers got to chill in all senses of the meaning in the blissfully cool atmosphere of the indoor Dance stage before acts like Death in Vegas and Nightmares on Wax.

Among the VIPs attending Witnness were actress Gwyneth Paltrow who is engaged to Coldplay’s lead singer, Chris Martin and Oasis’s Liam Gallagher whose partner, Nicole had to shorten her set with Appleton due to the failure of a sound system.

After almost 11 hours of music, most fans remained at Punchestown to see the headline act, Coldplay, bring the first days proceedings to a climax with an impressive live performance of their hits.

Similar large crowds attended last night as David Gray and Manic Street Preachers closed the show. Gardaí also praised the large crowds for the good-natured atmosphere of the event.

Only a handful of arrests for drug-related offences took place over the weekend.