Opening the main stage on Saturday with a dazzling popart splendour are Meltybrains?, and their deservedly renowned live extravaganza. The four-piece carry some electronic funk opening jams with unhindered energy and a surprising number of die-hards and passers-by assemble to groove in the green dell of the arena.
Meltybrains? are an overwhelmingly fun act to witness, the brevity of a midday slot allows them more immediate sound diversity, and they dip into heavier progressions from boppier jives with ease. Opening for And So I Watch You From Afar the previous night at the Olympia has somehow left them fresh-faced and sprightly, the hungover Saturday revellers actively trying to scrounge off their buzz.
An immediate three-person stage dive creates an impromptu conga line, and they strip from block colour ensembles into their signature white uniform underneath. It’s the best start to a second day a crowd could have asked for.
Cloud Castle Lake follow-up, but the energy dissipates in the transition. Alternative rock melodies make for a pleasant daytime soundscape, but it appeals as a set more suited to midnight than daylight. Their four-piece brass accompaniment function as a mantlepiece accessory in that they remain silent throughout. Eventually they do make sounds, and it's a fine complement to the backdrop of cloudless sunshine and actual castle.
Emily Longworth
Brandt Brauer Frick always have the potential to sneak in the set of the festival, and here they didn't disappoint. Despite an early doors slot at 5pm in the Midnight Circus tent, they ripped into a set of aggressive electronica, powered largely by the frenetic jazz drumming of Daniel Brandt. For the entire set, the pace never drops below blistering. It's an onslaught of synths, samples and drums, with melodic sci flashes brightening the way and enough low end to power a Berlin nightclub until dawn. These are immensely intricate songs, and the three piece mix, meld and shape the tracks organically, all nods, pushes and pulls. It's never better than on Ocean Drive. This is an all to rare proposition: no microphones, lash in as many complicated rhythms as you can, and filter it all through some odd time signatures; power the whole thing on live drums, ditch the backing tracks, and blow the tent away.
Laurence Mackin
Back on the main stage, Icelandic singer Asgeir and his band are operating at the opposite end of the scale. While his tracks on record are full of songwriterly craft, that can be tricky to get across on a Saturday afternoon of blistering sunshine on a Ballinlough hillside. An indifferent sound mix doesn't do the detail any favours, and the band don't exactly project crackling, fizzing energy off the stage. Despite this, there's enough emotion and charm in the songs to win over a crowd, and closing out a set with King and Cross and Was There Nothing is enough to rouse a hillside to its feet.
LM
Alo Wala stirs up with a ceremonious funk in the Midnight Circus and succeed in immediately drawing in the crowd of sun-strewn lawn-dwellers. For her first time in Ireland the Chicago-born Shivani Ahlowalia creates a quality hustle, a fierce rap fused wall of sound inaugurates the tent for the night. A prancing, energetic stage presence accompanies dirty, heaving bass arrangements and riles up spectators just enough to restore their faith in being able to carry on for a whole other night.
EL
In spoken word dens, Pettycash exceed themselves with a festival-tailored selection of poetic charm. A well-proportioned mix of satirical television pitches and post-yes vote commentary keep the fragile Bulmers lounge attendees wrapped up in a mentally safe place. Audience camaraderie is cemented at the mention of the "absolute snaily gardai" and criticism of "your well-paid straight white colleagues". Pettycash engages and entertains and restores the crowd with an evening vigour.
EL
Austra are something of a festival reliable at this stage. Their chilled electro pop, which has more shades of Scandinavia than their hometown of Toronto, warms up nicely as the set progresses. As ever, lead singer Katie Stelmanis is the main attraction, her supple voice lifting the set and these tracks out of the sometimes ordinary. A few technical glitches rob the set of momentum, and compared to some of the other more ambitious electronica on offer this weekend, parts of Austra's set start to sound thin in scope. Here, though, they are savvy enough to know how to punch it up for the final 20 minutes on a main stage hungry for a dance in the sun, especially with a track as whopper as Lose It to build around.
LM
Mmoth's apathetic arrival at Midnight Circus embodies a disengaged and unrepentant persona that never fails to disappoint. Backing visuals resembling the Windows 98 Media Player background mirror the deliberately underplayed effort in giving the crowd what they want. No hits are played and a conspicuously asynchronous guitar contribution leaves the dance tent underwhelmed, with intense nodding being the most receptive feedback in evidence.
EL
Sohn picks up from there with a soulful, incremental belter of a set. Well-placed transitions and an astute interest in his crowd regain the momentum of the arena. Orchestral sampling bleeds into strobe-laden anthems and an interactive spell between the man and his people imbibes the room. Midnight Circus is consummated as a dance tent hereafter. Abandon pop all ye who enter here.
EL
Goat's psy-gender brand of psyhedelic funk rock is quite something to watch. The band whirl around stage in face-masks and outfits like Aztec belly-dancing dervishes, or in the case of the conga player a somewhat unsettling fur and bone combo. Despite the atavistic stylings, the music beneath it is fairly ordinary: decent stoner rock, with plenty of groove, guitars drenched in wah wah, and the low rumble of a Rickenbacker bass. It's not exactly revolutionary, but it's oh so very Body and Soul.
LM
With the evening drawing in on Saturday, the dance music caliber clicks up a few notches. Clark taps into a similar energy vein as Brandt Brauer Frick, with a furious set of superlative techno, strafing the crowd with blood red lights and making the sound system earn its money. Shades of Clark's funky melody lighten a big, hard set of pulsing music, with blocks of distortion and decay pulling no punches. It's a very satisfying set of muscular music.
LM
As soon as the main stage is submerged in the novelty half-light of solstice nightfall, a subdued Super Furry Animals make their first festival appearance in six years. A sedated intro comes by way of autocue placards for the audience reading "woah" and "applause", while the seemingly unconcerned Gruff Rhys dismantles his (obligatory) Wacky Head Attire and the set meanders into a reel of half-hitting classics.
Opening tracks are not on the level of a reunion spectacular, instead they feel like self-interrupting and abbreviated throwbacks. Space-bop psychedelia is restored for Rings Around The World, but the soundwall wanes again soon afterward. A trippy, cosmic wind-up to their finale is the overall highlight, where their mounting energy ensures a chorus of audience response. The gig picks up until The Man Don't Give A F*ck is disproportionately prolonged and then interrupted for a ropey costume change (now they are yetis). The follow up to this is the display of more placards (“Prolonged applause”), instead of an elevated performance. Regardless, a dedicated faction of placid fans are quietly charmed by their adoration, while the masses seem a little disillusioned.
EL
Flight Facilities closing out the main stage on a Saturday night is an easy decision to make. They've got the soul, funk and warmth to keep the day's balmy buzz rolling past 1am, a cracking live show and set up, and even the cheesy flight outfits and intro safety message come across as charm itself. Having an album such as Down to Earth, which is all bangers and no cabin baggage, helps enormously, and Crave You goes down a predictable storm with the packed night-time hillside.
They've also got a judicious ear for a show-stopping cover or 10, but they don't let that overshadow their own material. This is a slick, professional and thoroughly enjoyable set throughout.
LM
All day, the Mother DJs have been entertaining the crowds in the forest, and the Sunday morning closing set, all glitter, bling and beauts, now feels like the best of festival traditions. It finishes earlier than planned, at 3.30am, suggesting that the site is struggling to deal with this year's bigger capacity, especially the cosier nooks of the festival's forests. Which is a shame, as it's the sort of set of music for which "one more tune" will never be enough.
LM
