Indiependence lives up to crowd’s high hopes

In a festival landscape dominated by boutique and small-sized festivals, Indiependence is not just holding its own but is asserting itself as one of the essential events on the Irish live music calendar.

From the stage, Paul Noonan, lead singer with Saturday night’s headliners Bell X1, saluted the independently-run event, which was on the same weekend as Oxegen and which has been such a strong supporter of Irish artists.

Bell X1 were one of the last additions to the festival and preceding them on the main stage were homegrown talents as Kodaline and We Cut Corners. Friday night saw international acts We Are Scientists, The Fratellis, and De La Soul, but the first main stage festival moment came early in Kodaline’s set. The Dublin group made their first festival appearance in Mitchelstown last year and enjoyed a triumphant return before a sellout crowd. “We’re Kodaline… we’re a band from Dublin,” front man Steve Garrigan’s introduction was greeted with boos from a section of the crowd, smarting from the defeat in football.

Harmony was quickly restored as the band launched into ‘High Hopes’ and the audience raised their arms as one, proving the lyrics’ assertion that, inter-county football rivalries aside, the world keeps spinning.

In response to the havoc wreaked by the rain preceding last year’s event, this year saw changes in the layout of the site. As well as moving stages to areas of improved drainage and increased covered areas, the silver lining to last year’s clouds was the addition of the Bier Halle stage. The agricultural storage shed took on the air of a cool common room space, incorporating a stage, craft beer bar, ping-pong tables, and comfy seating.