Body & Soul Festival 2014

I'm no sound engineer nor do I notice these things usually, but Jon Hopkins just sound "off" to me

bodhrandude

I took this clip of Hopkins, it was absolutely rammed hence the moving camera, the microphone is not the best now but the sound to me was amazing, perhaps its the crystal mdma that made the sound distorted for you.

bodhrandude

bodhrandude wrote: »

I took this clip of Hopkins, it was absolutely rammed hence the moving camera, the microphone is not the best now but the sound to me was amazing, perhaps its the crystal mdma that made the sound distorted for you.

Usually that stuff has the opposite effect!

pearljammer14

Me and the Gf camped for the weekend, Friday we found an amazing camping spot down the hill, and went off into the madness to have what we thought was going to be a filling gourmet meal in the decadent dining area, we were met by the sparkly host who turned out to be a scam artist cause he and his crowd charged us fifty bucks a head for....awful food and shoddy service......me and my Gf were nearly top of the list for dinner and basically were ignored, watching late comers who held up dinner for everyone, served before us,..two radishes pulled from the ground, artichokes, tiny quail, then beefcheeks with leaves......I had a wally attention seeker from Derry with a ghetto blaster and a megaphone beside me, who at one point stepped up onto the table to show off, and then his lady friend started to get sick under the table....we got out of there because the next thing on the menu was spotted dick, and we didn't fancy that, after watching a nordy puking.

We had a great time all in all, we went into the forest and watched the fire performance, and got caught up in a spontaneous orc drum circle, where we lost our minds dancing in the darkness only lit by orange flame and scattered eclectic coloured fairy lights.
Music was amazing, and the whole set up was very impressive. Loved the reggae, saw Gerry fish in person, party bus kept us rocking all night.

The downside was the toilets, they stank, but I had the luxury of the bush, the Gf and most of the women had to suffer those toilets.

Sunday night was a bit ropey with total knackers arriving onto the campsite hassling people for stuff, nicking little tents, but all in all security did a great job.

I just pity the amazing clean up crew.

Thanks for a great 1st festival body and soul!
I got a great tan, tripped titles and had the time of my life.

We drove ten minutes up the road on Monday and checked into a hotel......the bath was legendary after a camping festival.

Thomas D

pearljammer14 wrote: »

Me and the Gf camped for the weekend, Friday we found an amazing camping spot down the hill, and went off into the madness to have what we thought was going to be a filling gourmet meal in the decadent dining area, we were met by the sparkly host who turned out to be a scam artist cause he and his crowd charged us fifty bucks a head for....awful food and shoddy service......me and my Gf were nearly top of the list for dinner and basically were ignored, watching late comers who held up dinner for everyone, served before us,..two radishes pulled from the ground, artichokes, tiny quail, then beefcheeks with leaves......I had a wally attention seeker from Derry with a ghetto blaster and a megaphone beside me, who at one point stepped up onto the table to show off, and then his lady friend started to get sick under the table....we got out of there because the next thing on the menu was spotted dick, and we didn't fancy that, after watching a nordy puking.

Perectly encapsulates the modern festival. Bull**** airy fairy gourment meals for ****.

bodhrandude

pearljammer14

pearljammer14 wrote: »

Me and the Gf camped for the weekend, Friday we found an amazing camping spot down the hill, and went off into the madness to have what we thought was going to be a filling gourmet meal in the decadent dining area, we were met by the sparkly host who turned out to be a scam artist cause he and his crowd charged us fifty bucks a head for....awful food and shoddy service......me and my Gf were nearly top of the list for dinner and basically were ignored, watching late comers who held up dinner for everyone, served before us,..two radishes pulled from the ground, artichokes, tiny quail, then beefcheeks with leaves......I had a wally attention seeker from Derry with a ghetto blaster and a megaphone beside me, who at one point stepped up onto the table to show off, and then his lady friend started to get sick under the table....we got out of there because the next thing on the menu was spotted dick, and we didn't fancy that, after watching a nordy puking.

In fairness, what were you expecting for that price and location? Its not the Royal Ascot

jmauel

My tuppence!
I have been to every Body & soul festival and I thought it was the best one. Very well organised, they took on all the feedback from last year. The free flow drinks policy was very successful as in there was definitely less binge drinking in the campsite and generally I saw much less casualties over the weekend than you would normally see. Im not sure drink sponsors would be as pleased though, bars were definitely less busy.
Many many music highlights, Alle farben was amazing as always , I have seen him many times and Im a big fan of his, but his set on Sunday night had huge energy. Its a pity he lost some of his crowd to Caribou , but that was always going to happen. Anyway everyone that stayed for the entire set got to see him blow the roof off the midnight circus. Jon Hopkins was also amazing, I just couldnt go far in the tent becasuse of the crowd, but wow! John Grant I had never seen before, but was also blown away by him, and lovely to see Conor O Brien up there for Glacier. I had never seen King Kong Company before either but they were fantastic fun, booming energy to wake us up after two days of partying hard. And my final highlight was a friend called Kevin Hughes who played at the Happy Pear on Sunday evening 5-7, amazing tunes in the sunshine for the lucky crowd who happened by. Cant wait for next year!!!!

dice3344

Thought that they did well to retain the relaxed typical "Body and Soul atmosphere" this year with the increased numbers. Wouldn't like to see it grow to more than 8,500 though-it got very busy Sunday evening and there was a bit of a crush after Caribou finished with people trying to get into the forest. The atmosphere in Midnight Circus on the Saturday was amazing, Mount Kimbe & Jon Hopkins was great! John Grant seems like the nicest guy too and it was nice to mix up the music genres for a while.

The toilets were mostly ok, apart from the steel contraptions they had in the general camping area-they were horrible. I'd be well prepared for manky portilooes, that's to be expected. But these were pretty bleak, a few people I know experiences "splash-back" from the person next door. Plus some didn't have a roof, and the first one I used on the Friday was missing a panel under the toilet seat so if you were a bit well it's not an exaggeration to say that someone could fall in! (shudder)

Went up to chill out in the shade on Sunday morning near the campervans and the entrance and saw around 9 people hop over the fence without bands not a problem. We ran into a few people over the weekend who snuck in pretty easily so that might be something they'll have to look at..

Brilliant weekend overall, hope they'll keep the same drinks policy it really made a difference.

lynchy

jmauel wrote: »

My tuppence!
I have been to every Body & soul festival and I thought it was the best one. Very well organised, they took on all the feedback from last year. The free flow drinks policy was very successful as in there was definitely less binge drinking in the campsite and generally I saw much less casualties over the weekend than you would normally see. Im not sure drink sponsors would be as pleased though, bars were definitely less busy.
Many many music highlights, Alle farben was amazing as always , I have seen him many times and Im a big fan of his, but his set on Sunday night had huge energy. Its a pity he lost some of his crowd to Caribou , but that was always going to happen. Anyway everyone that stayed for the entire set got to see him blow the roof off the midnight circus. Jon Hopkins was also amazing, I just couldnt go far in the tent becasuse of the crowd, but wow! John Grant I had never seen before, but was also blown away by him, and lovely to see Conor O Brien up there for Glacier. I had never seen King Kong Company before either but they were fantastic fun, booming energy to wake us up after two days of partying hard. And my final highlight was a friend called Kevin Hughes who played at the Happy Pear on Sunday evening 5-7, amazing tunes in the sunshine for the lucky crowd who happened by. Cant wait for next year!!!!

I was at the happy pear for that myself and I agree with you. I thought it was super super fun

.ak

Still recovering from the weekend. Was absolutely excellent, best festival weekend I've ever had, just everything came together nicely. Weather definately helped... although I got the square root of f'all sleep because it was far too hot to sleep in a tent.

Thought the sound for Jon Hopkins was perfect, although I was right up the front. A few friends complained about Mount Kimbie and said the bass was too distorted but they were at the back of tent, so maybe there was a sweet spot near the front.

Highlights for me were Jon Hopkins, the wood area in general, naps in the walled gardens, losing my mind at Caribou and that 'yes we just won the world cup feeling' when the Hidden Agenda lads played Samba de Janeiro world cup song as the last track of the festival in the Reckless at Love stage. People lost their minds, it was hilarious. Barmey.

Ferris_Bueller

Only thing I would say is if Body & Soul plan to expand the festival they would need to put in extra stages or else make the current stages bigger, there were times over the weekend where certain stages felt too packed I thought, I rarely ventured into the midnight circuis tent because it felt very claustrophobic in there whenever it got busy. The drinks policy probably adds to this because realistically there is never a need to be back in the campsite when you can bring your drink with you to any stage.

Went out to the car on Sunday for 2 hours to charge my phone and saw at least 10 lads hop under a fence and sneak in, seemed very easy. I thought on Sunday night there was a noticeable change in the crowd, a lot more 'heads' around the place but still saw no trouble, a lot more Gardaí on site on the Sunday too. Toilets weren't ideal but then again they rarely are at festivals.

It was my first time but honestly think that this could be the best festival in the country, personally preferred the music at festivals such as Life and EP, but Body & Soul really hit the nail on the head with everything, fair play to them.

.ak

There was defo a few 'heads' around allright, but none of them seemed to be in the main arena, just floating around the campsite.

All in all there was no trouble that I witnessed anyway, although I did hang out in the boutique area with my mates who were staying there for a bit, and we lost count of the amount of people that were trying to sneak into the festival. On the friday alone the security we were talking to caught 135 people trying to get in, and that was just through their area in the boutique side.

There was a lot of extra security on the Sunday, so yeah it seemed to help. Everybody was in good form though, so there was no hassle at all.

Unfortunately I can see the festival going down the EP route, you already would be pushing things by calling it a 'boutique' festival. It's going to get bigger and messier. The key is to keep the acts low key, and not have them as the main reason you want to go down. Tbh I only saw a handful of acts over the weekend, buzzing around with your mates and discovering new things in the main arena every day was far more interesting than any of the music. Although as I said, Jon Hopkins and Caribou blew me away, really good stuff.

dice3344

.ak wrote: »

There was defo a few 'heads' around allright, but none of them seemed to be in the main arena, just floating around the campsite.

All in all there was no trouble that I witnessed anyway, although I did hang out in the boutique area with my mates who were staying there for a bit, and we lost count of the amount of people that were trying to sneak into the festival. On the friday alone the security we were talking to caught 135 people trying to get in, and that was just through their area in the boutique side.

There was a lot of extra security on the Sunday, so yeah it seemed to help. Everybody was in good form though, so there was no hassle at all.

Unfortunately I can see the festival going down the EP route, you already would be pushing things by calling it a 'boutique' festival. It's going to get bigger and messier. The key is to keep the acts low key, and not have them as the main reason you want to go down. Tbh I only saw a handful of acts over the weekend, buzzing around with your mates and discovering new things in the main arena every day was far more interesting than any of the music. Although as I said, Jon Hopkins and Caribou blew me away, really good stuff.

Do you think it's worth it to go for the Boutique camping? How did your friends find the location and atmosphere etc.?

Dick Turnip

First off, best festival I've been to I think. Just had a great time.


The good:
Us&You campsite - good toilets, good neighbours, good security & plenty of space. if there were showers it would be perfect.
Open drinks policy - just takes so much hassle out of the event and means you're not skulling cans/bucky at the arena entrance like at other festivals.
Reckless in love stage was excellent for both Mother & Hidden Agenda.
Woods area in general actually. Really liked My House also.
The ease with which you can meet friends
Didn't see any trouble all weekend although a mate had his wallet stolen from his tent one of the nights.

The bad:
Toilets & showers in the regular campsite, way too few. Some people said they had to queue for 2hours for a shower.
The tailbacks on Friday to get parking on Friday were beyond ridiculous. It took longer to travel the last mile than it did to travel the rest of the journey from Dublin. It seemed to be as much down to bad layout and organisation within the car park leading to tailbacks a few miles out the road. Need to sort it out.
Felt a bit too cramped on the Sunday, in the woods, main stage, walled gardens especially so.

The issues with the toilets/showers and traffic could be sorted relatively easily too I'd imagine but all in all it was a brilliant weekend, still buzzing from it!

Dick Turnip

Was at Hidden Agenda stage for a good while after Caribou on Sunday before wandering off elsewhere for the rest of the night. Raging I missed this at the end!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8dDGqSjFPA

bodhrandude

Max Romeo


Craic in the woods.


Reckless in Love Stage, Friday night.


Cool art installation in the woods.

Granite Head

Great weekend - weather really made it.

Had my 9 year old with me and was very happy with" family camping" set up. B&S took on board the complaints of last year.

From the family camping area witnessed a few "jumpers" particularly Sunday, but in fairness security seemed on top of it.

Music wise dipped in and out of a number of acts, really enjoyed the woods. My "surprise" act this year was My name is John and God knows it.

Agreed - it got too busy from Sunday afternoon and I would not like to have had that volume of people all weekend (particularly with a little'un in tow).

rickyjb

lbj666 wrote: »

Looks like Airlines did their best to try and ruin the weekend.

James Holden lost his synth
Caribou had to borrow a korg controller
Jon Hopkins lost his pants.

Is that why James Holden was cancelled, because he lost his synth? Ha.

Alle Farben made up for it anyway.

roll

bodhrandude wrote: »

Max Romeo



Cool art installation in the woods.

it certainly was quite cool-and we had the misfortune of watching a group of mostly girls smash it up in the space of a few seconds on friday night - when i asked them what the fxxk they were doing they just said that that was what it was there for and ran off... i agree it was good weekend on the whole, especially with the weather but i'm a bit surprised at all the good vibes on here as a lot of stuff annoyed the hell out of me....

Hoochiemama

roll wrote: »

it certainly was quite cool-and we had the misfortune of watching a group of mostly girls smash it up in the space of a few seconds on friday night - when i asked them what the fxxk they were doing they just said that that was what it was there for and ran off... i agree it was good weekend on the whole, especially with the weather but i'm a bit surprised at all the good vibes on here as a lot of stuff annoyed the hell out of me....

Like what?

CdeC

roll wrote: »

it certainly was quite cool-and we had the misfortune of watching a group of mostly girls smash it up in the space of a few seconds on friday night - when i asked them what the fxxk they were doing they just said that that was what it was there for and ran off... i agree it was good weekend on the whole, especially with the weather but i'm a bit surprised at all the good vibes on here as a lot of stuff annoyed the hell out of me....

Ar*eholes!!!!

Hate that stuff, why not just enjoy it.

Amazing weekend, left early on the sunday as there was a lift going. Shouldn't have.

Rfrip

Heard that alright....can't understand that mentality in people. Ugh

What grinded your gears at the wkend??? I hadn't one low point

CdeC

Nothing really bothered me at all.
A lot of the complaints on here make sense now though and yeah it was jam packed on the Sunday with the walled gardens being particularly wedged.

Hardly bought a drink all weekend with the free flow policy but that would've chanced if I stayed down the sunday.

bodhrandude

roll wrote: »

it certainly was quite cool-and we had the misfortune of watching a group of mostly girls smash it up in the space of a few seconds on friday night - when i asked them what the fxxk they were doing they just said that that was what it was there for and ran off... i agree it was good weekend on the whole, especially with the weather but i'm a bit surprised at all the good vibes on here as a lot of stuff annoyed the hell out of me....

Yeh I seen some of the discretion of that installation too, kids running amok in it and running off with some of the art, their mother running after them and screaming at them to put it back. Perhaps the festival has the same philosophy as some of the others behind the installations such as Mandala Nature which was across from the Arbutus Yarns Yurt, THAT no art is permanent, the art solely on display is for the weekend only and festival folk may do what they wish with them.

lbj666

I thought it was bit too busy all weekend. A lot to do with the free flow booze in fairness. The 6,500 last year was enough. Another problem is that the site doesn't go around in a loop, which just leads to bottlenecks.

The festival is at an interesting point, they are no longer a well kept secret. They have the potential to grow even more if they wanted to but that could risk losing the atmosphere that they have. I think given who they are they will be more conscious of keeping that atmosphere than most festival organisers.
I hope they freshen thing up every year though and not run stale or take stuff out like the picnic did.

Saruwatari

lbj666 wrote: »

Another problem is that the site doesn't go around in a loop, which just leads to bottlenecks.

Bang on here, meant to comment on that. I thought I'd just missed the second exit/entrance the first day. Was it always laid out that way?

Frigga_92

Haven't seen much mention of Goldfrapp - what did you think of them? What was the set like?
I would've gone just for Goldfrapp (have seen them a few times now) but I couldn't get the time off work

Fi H

26sdrawkcab wrote: »

Haven't seen much mention of Goldfrapp - what did you think of them? What was the set like?
I would've gone just for Goldfrapp (have seen them a few times now) but I couldn't get the time off work

Totallyboring! you didnt miss much

bodhrandude

lbj666 wrote: »

I thought it was bit too busy all weekend. A lot to do with the free flow booze in fairness. The 6,500 last year was enough. Another problem is that the site doesn't go around in a loop, which just leads to bottlenecks.

The festival is at an interesting point, they are no longer a well kept secret. They have the potential to grow even more if they wanted to but that could risk losing the atmosphere that they have. I think given who they are they will be more conscious of keeping that atmosphere than most festival organisers.
I hope they freshen thing up every year though and not run stale or take stuff out like the picnic did.

I reckon the Midnight Circus was a health and safety issue especially on Saturday night during Jon Hopkins, the tent should be opened up more the openings are too narrow. Security should have been placed at the entrance like the way they are at the Little Big Tent at the picnic, with a one in, one out policy as the crush inside that tent was scary.