Green Energy Festival: The Heineken Green Energy Festival rocked its way through Dublin over the weekend, and leading the charge of the hype brigade was makey-uppie band The Transformers, whose slogan, "Will you make it this year?" anchored the festival's intensive advertising campaign.
The shows were held in venues as far apart as Whelans, on Wexford Street, and the Ambassador, on Parnell Street, and most of the headline acts appeared onstage simultaneously, so you'd have to have cloned yourself or had a transporter beam to make it to every gig. But as this reviewer wasn't in a hurry to catch Craig David, Stereophonics, The Music or The Wildhearts, he decided to leave the jet pack at home.
On Friday, Beck played the second of two solo acoustic nights at the Ambassador, six years after his festival headliner at Dublin Castle. Back then, the young Harrison Ford lookalike was at the peak of his success and enjoying massive acclaim for his albums Mellow Gold and Odelay. He's taken a couple of wrong turnings since then but also made two excellent lo-fi alt.country albums, Mutations and Sea Change. These provided the source for much of the set list, Beck's rich voice resonating through such songs as The Golden Age, Cold Brains and Guess I'm Doing Fine. He also made light work of This Mortal Coil's Kangaroo, The Flaming Lips' Do You Realise? and Hank Williams's (I Heard That) Lonesome Whistle.
A sulky drum machine joined him for the Brazilian-flavoured Tropicalia, and a rickety old upright piano allowed Beck to stumble through Prince's Raspberry Beret. Hmm, winging it a bit there. He fared better on the organ, doing a fine, funky version of Where It's At.
Moloko and Groove Armada were the double bill at Dublin Castle on Saturday evening. After a very changeable day, the sky settled to a mild grey for the first outdoor gig of the summer. Dance music may have been pronounced dead, but tell that to the hordes of happy clubbers who piled into the castle grounds. This was a grown-up, discerning breed of dance fan, too old for the raves but too young to settle into rock 'n' roll dotage. Groove Armada skilfully straddled the lines between dance, rock, jazz and funk, delivering a well-paced set that had the crowd undulating gently in response.
Up at the Ambassador, Australian band The Vines delivered a volatile concoction to the moshing hordes, a deadly mix of explosive riffs and imminent danger. Central to their massive appeal is singer-guitarist Craig Nicholls, a hyperactive wild man who lives on a diet of McDonald's and Coca-Cola and whose unhinged stage presence constantly teeters on the edge of breakdown. He was in flying form, tearing through songs from the band's debut album, Highly Evolved. On the face of it, The Vines' music sounds like ordinary 1960s-influenced guitar rock, but as Nicholls recklessly swings his guitar around and somersaults across the stage without missing a note, it's plain he's got star quality. Let's hope he doesn't go burn out too soon.
On Sunday night, the Detroit band Electric Six started a disco inferno at the Village, as a sweaty crowd raised a head of steam to the band's sleazy funk-rock sound. Their recent top 10 hit, Danger! High Voltage, was the lure, but dirty disco tunes kept the mercury levels dangerously high. Next door in Whelans, their Detroit neighbours Soledad Brothers were preaching the gospel of electric blues and working themselves up to a righteous religious frenzy. Guitarist-singers Johnny Walker and Oliver Henry were backed by drummer Ben Swank - and, with the odd burst of asthmatic sax from Henry, that's all the trio needed to spread the word. Glad I made it this year.
Kevin Courtney
