Body & Soul Festival 2018

IspeakcozIcan

ghostdancer wrote: »

where did they play? Son Lux cancelled on the Friday evening due to travel problems, so there was a special guest added on the Midnight Circus that evening, was that them? I would have gone had I known they were playing, but it doesn't seem anyone actually announced who the special guest was. it was only announced on Friday evening too, so I presume most people weren't aware of any changes.

I thought Tseghue cancelled. I went to the Midnight Circus when she was meant to be on and All Tvvins were playing.


Did Tshegue actually play?


That would be very disappointing if I missed it...

ghostdancer

IspeakcozIcan wrote: »

I thought Tseghue cancelled. I went to the Midnight Circus when she was meant to be on and All Tvvins were playing.


Did Tshegue actually play?


That would be very disappointing if I missed it...

she played later apparently

https://www.facebook.com/BodyandSoulIreland/photos/a.10150135048660514.404571.234755240513/10160440904870514/?type=3&theater

Due to travel issues Son Lux will no longer be joining us in the Midnight Circus tonight. Tshegue will now be performing from 23:15 to 00:15 with a very special guest taking the 21:45 slot.

poor communication from them. not sure why they moved Tshegue rather than keeping the same slot and having All Tvvins play during Son Lux's slot. they should have announced All Tvvins at some point too, rather than just some mystery Special Guest that no-one knew about.
neither B&S or All Tvvins themselves seem to have actually said that they were playing, on here is the first I've heard of it.

MJohnston

I hate this thing of only announcing changes to lineups on Facebook or Twitter during the festival. Stick a notice up on the lineup boards that are outside the arenas/tents instead, only eejits are checking social media during the weekend.

Tusky

Can we discuss the €6.70 pints? Criminal.

charlietully

Well, my first time at Body and Soul and what a weekend, beautiful weather, beautiful people, went as an alternative to EP and have to say although I loved my time at picnic this was more up my street, nice chilled vibe, not as packed and just cleaner all round if that makes sense. Plus only being an hour and half away from home was an added bonus, we arrived about 4 on Friday and stayed in campervan, no queue to get in, quick search of the van and in it was, we were parked up near the main entrance. Campervan area was grand, no complaints..... Friday we caught some of FAKAs set which had some made sounds, then went to see AV AV AV who were class but it took a while to get the sound right. Fever Ray was amazing, one crazy lass, brilliant, we then went to Pantha Du Prince who put on a class set. Finished up around 3.30 after some time at reckless in love.... Saturday went to see Pillow Queens were grand, went and chilled around the woodlands area and the walled garden which was lovely. That evening we seen Elaine Mai who was very impressive then Baxter Dury, I love his music and his band were great but he himself came across as a bit of a prick imo, making references to potatoes and drinking potato wine, my mate was from Scotland and commented if he done something like that at T in the Park he would have been booed of the stage. Friendlier crowd at body and soul though. ...Jon Hopkins was amazing as usual, great buzz for the rest of the night boogying the night away at the various stages. Sundays highlights were the trio of WH Lung, Shame and Bitch Falcon. Finished up around midnight due to the drive home. Fantastic weekend all in. Roll on Sunflower fest end of July.
BTW bumped into bodhrandude on Saturday, nice to meet someone from on here. Sound chap.

mimimcmc

ghostdancer wrote: »

she played later apparently

https://www.facebook.com/BodyandSoulIreland/photos/a.10150135048660514.404571.234755240513/10160440904870514/?type=3&theater


poor communication from them. not sure why they moved Tshegue rather than keeping the same slot and having All Tvvins play during Son Lux's slot. they should have announced All Tvvins at some point too, rather than just some mystery Special Guest that no-one knew about.
neither B&S or All Tvvins themselves seem to have actually said that they were playing, on here is the first I've heard of it.

We checked the time and it was tshegue that they were on instead of..
It made no sense that they didn't announce is anywhere, the only way we knew was walking in and I goes "that sounds like All Tvvins" and sure enough it was!
I follow them on insta and they put nothing up at all that they were there...

Did nobody see Kneecap? Seriously go and check them out, unbelievable stuff from the two young lads

MadYaker

That was a savage weekend, my first B&S and I’m impressed. Obviously the weather helped a lot but the festival site is beautiful and it seems to get a really nice crowd too. I didn’t catch that many acts on Friday because I didn’t really know that many and as it was my first time at the festival I was happy enough to wander and explore. I did manage to catch AV AV AV who were great once they eventually got going, bouncy electronica that was great to jump around to. After that we went to Neil Flynn on reckless in love I think it was, he was on late and I don’t remember it that well but I’m told I had a great time...

On Saturday we wandered aimlessly for most of the day, spent a lot of time in the woods hiding from the sun. We caught a bit of Shamir on the main stage who I didn’t think was great so we left there and went to Gus Daperton in the midnight circus, he was excellent, great voice and really got the crowd going. After him it was back to the main stage to get a good spot for Hopkins who was definitely my highlight. The more upbeat stuff is incredible live, Collider and Open Eye Signal in particular were amazing! We finished the night at another DJs.

Sunday for me was just too hot and after 3 days of it I was fcuked. I spent most of the afternoon asleep in the woods. Then when it eventually cooled down a bit I caught that crazy group of Icelandic women who’s name I can’t spell but they put on a great show, upbeat electronic type stuff with hip hop elements followed by James Holden and the animal spirits, I’m not sure how to describe the music but they were brilliant too. They some played some quieter guitar based tracks and a few bangers too, there was a load of them onstage. Closed out the night at Mano le tough. I was disappointed when everything finished at 2am, but we found a bit of a party at a little stage in the campsite for an hour or so. Anyone know what that place was called?

So it was an epic weekend and I’d love to go again but we’ll see what happens with Glasto being back on next year. I got some amazing food too, did anyone try veal and cheese toasted sandwiches from the food on board place? Unbelievable. Not perfect though, there were a few minor annoyances. Mostly the lack of ATMs and very few food places taking cards. Also it took us over an hour to get out of the car park on Sunday.

fuzzyduck4

Tusky wrote: »

Can we discuss the €6.70 pints? Criminal.

In fairness, unlike almost every other festival you could wander around the entire grounds with bags of cans so if someone choose to pay for drinks that's their own choice. Also I would think they'd make as much from bottled water as they would pints. Highlight of the weekend for me was wandering around campsites sipping on wine and talking absolute nonsense to an array of interesting likw e minded and generally chilled out characters, hands down the best festival I've been to in the last ten years.

MJohnston

Tusky wrote: »

Can we discuss the €6.70 pints? Criminal.

I mean, they mostly only punish day-trippers, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

More 'criminal', I thought, were the cocktail bars, which were largely rushed, watered down, and overpriced.

The real 'worse than Hitler' thing for me is that even with that weather, there still wasn't a single place selling frozen margharitas. What a failure.

Saying that, I did get a lovely Pina Colada sorbet from Goldenhill in the Walled Garden, but sadly alcohol-free.

mimimcmc

Tusky wrote: »

Can we discuss the €6.70 pints? Criminal.

I paid three euro on Sunday just for a small cup of lemonade at the Absolut bar just so I could have ice.. TWICE!

It was worth it...

Peesh89

Unbelievable weekend!

Got there early on Friday before they opened the gates - they had Us & You queuing on the left and General queueing on the right before they opened wristband exchangey area, then when it opened everyone had to do swap sides so Us & You could get to the far end. Such a mess but they'd fixed it later on according to the rest of our group.

Started off Friday evening with Sing Along Social, got everyone in party mode, then on to Search Party Animal who forever impress me! Caught AV AV AV which ended up being a one of my highlights of the weekend and then... Fever Ray - Holy S**t
We were walking by the Midnight Circus and thought I heard All Tvvins so I checked Facebook and saw the "special guest" change/mess around with Son Lux and Tshegue - was pretty badly done/notified.

Saturday day was just moseying about, hung out in the woods and Absolute for a while - few of us said it felt like Sunday for us. Wandered down to Reckless in Love in the evening to bounce around to Mother and then have our minds blown by Jon Hopkins and back to Mother until the wee hours.

Sunday was brilliant, chilled on the hill for Daithi and Soulé, then went to Joanne McNally in the comedy tent. I've never gone to a comedy gig at a festival, she is absolutely fantastic, could have listened to her for hours. Then on to Lankum with cold pints and food, loved Henry My Son!
Went back for round 2 of sing along social in the Woods on Sunday eve, gas craic with a crowd surfing Miggeldy Higgins. Caught some of James Holden later on in the night and it was good but I think we had our fill of cans and sun and we were all just sort of in a trance.

One thing that bothered me on sunday was the Reckless in Love stage not having set times for the Maeve guys. I really wanted to see Baikal and kept hearing a few of their tunes from afar every now and again and raging that we weren't there but didn't want to wait around there all day.

Fantastic weekend over all making random toilet/bar/food queue friends, talking absolute nonsense, laughing for hours and to top it all off I didn't end up getting sun burnt somehow.

bodhrandude

MadYaker wrote: »

That was a savage weekend, my first B&S and I’m impressed. Obviously the weather helped a lot but the festival site is beautiful and it seems to get a really nice crowd too. I didn’t catch that many acts on Friday because I didn’t really know that many and as it was my first time at the festival I was happy enough to wander and explore. I did manage to catch AV AV AV who were great once they eventually got going, bouncy electronica that was great to jump around to. After that we went to Neil Flynn on reckless in love I think it was, he was on late and I don’t remember it that well but I’m told I had a great time...

On Saturday we wandered aimlessly for most of the day, spent a lot of time in the woods hiding from the sun. We caught a bit of Shamir on the main stage who I didn’t think was great so we left there and went to Gus Daperton in the midnight circus, he was excellent, great voice and really got the crowd going. After him it was back to the main stage to get a good spot for Hopkins who was definitely my highlight. The more upbeat stuff is incredible live, Collider and Open Eye Signal in particular were amazing! We finished the night at another DJs.

Sunday for me was just too hot and after 3 days of it I was fcuked. I spent most of the afternoon asleep in the woods. Then when it eventually cooled down a bit I caught that crazy group of Icelandic women who’s name I can’t spell but they put on a great show, upbeat electronic type stuff with hip hop elements followed by James Holden and the animal spirits, I’m not sure how to describe the music but they were brilliant too. They some played some quieter guitar based tracks and a few bangers too, there was a load of them onstage. Closed out the night at Mano le tough. I was disappointed when everything finished at 2am, but we found a bit of a party at a little stage in the campsite for an hour or so. Anyone know what that place was called?

So it was an epic weekend and I’d love to go again but we’ll see what happens with Glasto being back on next year. I got some amazing food too, did anyone try veal and cheese toasted sandwiches from the food on board place? Unbelievable. Not perfect though, there were a few minor annoyances. Mostly the lack of ATMs and very few food places taking cards. Also it took us over an hour to get out of the car park on Sunday.

Friends of the Earth stage I think, there is talk of turning this maybe into a new Port Royal type area.

whelzer

B&S newbie, so here goes...

Great stuff
General vibe, no sense of rowdiness that I get at EP
Handiness of everything, , very easy to nip in and out woodlands to main areas and back
Jon Hopkins - great act
Fever Rey - unreal
Food on Board - hmmm, rice bowl, meat toastie and pork roll thing next to them.
Having a chat with someone and then meeting them again (and again) later on.
Joyful Noise and Sing Along Social - perfect timing for both, a huge crowd had gathered in the woods.
The tiny stage on the edge of the woods with the sofas - great spot any time we went in.
Sheer restraint showed by two young gardai to a gob****e arguing with them Saturday PM (I think) in front on main stage, he even knocked one of their hats off, how they held back arresting him is beyond me.
A massage @ The Sanctuary on Sunday - aahhhh, badly needed.
Colm ?? sunday afternoon on Pogoda, belting out deep south blues using home made 2 & 4 string guitars - very talented individual!
Av Av Av - great set.
Woodlands stage/areas in general - Hvmmingbird, Busy Twist, Ships and all those that played to 4-4:30am:):)
Security and stewards were sound - at least the ones that I talked to (all locals)
Eddie Lennihan - story telling dude on Bulmers stage, was something different!
Also enjoyed Saint Sister, BARQ, Le Boom (twice), Pantha Du prince, Wujow, plus many others...


Slightly annoying stuff
Q'd for 90 mins to get in and 60 to get out (at least there was banter on the getting in part).
David Keenan - his slot and choice of stage, was completely drowned out by Samgsung thing.
Leo Varadkar plonking himself 10 meters from me and proceeding to take off his shirt:eek:
Location/set up of main stage - I could write a whole post on this alone, possibly just my issue, missus does not agree...
Missed Soule (again), Lankum and Smerz - can't do it all!

Overall a very, very enjoyable weekend, the sun helped but reckon I would still have enjoyed it, as usual did not near the comedy or talks stuff...Would I go again? - probably, would I rate it higher than EP? probably not.

MJohnston

FAQ answers to remember for next year:

* If you have a single day wristband, they will stop you getting into the main arena from the campsites on a day where you shouldn't be there. Saw this happen several dozen times on Sunday. There's a single access point from the campsites for the main arena, so it's easy for them to police.
* No the booze limit is not strictly enforced at all, it's all about the glass bottles.
* They cut off access to the Woodlands at about 3:30am on Friday nights, maybe about the same on Saturday.

Any others, while we still remember them?

Peesh89

MJohnston wrote: »

FAQ answers to remember for next year:

* If you have a single day wristband, they will stop you getting into the main arena from the campsites on a day where you shouldn't be there. Saw this happen several dozen times on Sunday. There's a single access point from the campsites for the main arena, so it's easy for them to police.
* No the booze limit is not strictly enforced at all, it's all about the glass bottles.
* They cut off access to the Woodlands at about 3:30am on Friday nights, maybe about the same on Saturday.

Any others, while we still remember them?

* Security were randomly walking around Us & You asking to see wristbands as well as on the main entrance each time you leave/come back.

* Us & You is still definitely cleaner and quieter than the main campsite. But also its not full of boring people not up for the craic.

* Us & You had normal toilets this year!!

lbj666

Great weekend as usual. Highlight were the Fever ray and Jon Hopkins of course the weather and all the beautiful people who go it.

My only gripe is that the line up needs a bit more star power and is becoming more reliant on acts for their novelty factory or their socio political message rather than actually being good.

It gonna be interesting, if All Together Now is a success which ive no doubt it will be i think B&S will need to up its game if they are expecting 15,000 to come every year.

bleach94

Another first time B&Ser having a go...

There’s very little negative I could say about the weekend. Stayed in the Us&You campsite which was chilled and looked more spacious than the general. Loved the size of the place, how it didn’t take forever to get from one end to another but was still big enough to really explore.

Acts-wise, my girlfriend and I booked this without knowing many of the acts at all, but in the lead-up especially I found this even more exciting. Fever Ray was fantastic, saw the Altered Hours in the Bulmers Lounge around 1am which was a blistering performance. Well worth checking out for anyone who doesn’t know them.

Loved Baxter Dury on Saturday, his delivery and the little cadences of French pop really make what he does work. A cool guy. Saint Sister sounded beautiful on the Main Stage too.

Sunday I was rather hungover and ended the night early; however, got to see Reykjavikurdaetur, who were just incredible. I know there’s 7 or 8 of them onstage, but the energy between them and the crowd was something else. They looked to be having so much fun too, pouring champagne into the crowd and getting close up to the barrier. Saw Shame who sounded great but I’m still not sold on their stuff, a bit copycat or something and not sure what exactly they add themselves. Chronixx was super chilled although he was definitely in his own world and easily could have been performing anywhere (stupid criticism I know probably).

Visited the comedy tent for a while, Joanne McNally was hilarious as was Paul Currie, a Northern Irish guy who gave one of the most bizarrely hysterical shows I’ve ever seen; imagine a 6ft 5 dude with shaggy long hair and a beard running around in a boiler suit, dangling a Ken doll of himself on a stick over the audience and singing about having pandas for hands. Only saw him as I got talking to him at the barrier during Baxter and he said he was playing, he seemed cool so I checked him out and glad I did!

If I could do things again, I’d have arrived earlier on the Friday and really got to explore, as our first foray into the festival was for Fever Ray.

An absolute essay but glad to be a part of it this year and would absolutely go again!

botttlehead94

First time at Body & Soul and most definitely not the last. I went to the festival not knowing too many acts and was overwhelmed by the abundance of talent i came across over the weekend.

One of my favourite stages of the whole festival was probably the open mic at the Arbutus Yarn stage, such a chilled out atmosphere with the couches and the general vibe just made it feel like home. Saw a girl there on Friday her name was Amy, she was sang some of her own songs and played the piano, would love to find out her second name so i could find her on you tube it was unbeliavable stuff! I think that stage really captured the whole spirit of body and soul and for me it was not something i think i would have seen if i was at another festival so im so glad that i got to experience it.

The summer solstice meditation was a powerful moment for me and it really set me up for the next 2 days of the festival. After the meditation i just felt like everyone at the festival was one big family there to have a great weekend. It was the kind of vibe tat had eluded any festival i had been to before. I also got to see an unreal Improv group at the comedy tent, they had me in knots laughing from start to finish.

I dont have a bad word to say about this festival. I had an amazing time and met some amazing like minded people. It filled me with joy to know that there was so many kind, fun and caring people here in this beautiful country and i think credit is due to those who organised the event for creating this atmosphere. I'd really love to know where are all the body & soulers for the rest of the year. It would be great to try find some other events/workshops/talks/gigs that drew the same relaxed kind of crowd. I'd really appreciate it if someone could point me in the direction of such events. Or even suggest facebook groups etc.

I'd be interested in events that looked at things such as meditation, yoga, mindfulness, wellbeing, balancing (slackline,handstands,movement etc). also if anyone knows where some of the people who performed in Arbutus yarns stage have gigs that would be great.

anyway thanks for reading this essay of a post, hope your B&S was a good as mine

MadYaker

Before the festival I was thinking it was over priced but now I’m not so sure. Even though there weren’t too many big names, most of the acts I saw were all really good which is the main thing I think. As well as that the free flow alcohol policy surely costs them a lot in sponsorship. Obviously Bulmers still paid for the right to sell their drink, but I bet it’s a hell of a lot less than they would pay if there was no free flow alcohol policy.

Also, I think it’s pretty clear that they could increase the capacity significantly but they’ve chosen not too and for that I’m happy to pay a bit more for ticket because a provides a more pleaseant experience. Along with the lack of crappy sponsored areas like the Heineken and E Lites thing at EP the whole fest just has a more pleasant vibe to it. I’ve said in the past that I’d pay more for my EP ticket if they took this approach but I won’t hold my breath.

Effects

MJohnston wrote: »

there still wasn't a single place selling frozen margharitas. What a failure.

The poachers stand by the entrance to Reckless in Love was selling frozen Jameson and ginger ales. As close as you could get.

MJohnston

Effects wrote: »

The poachers stand by the entrance to Reckless in Love was selling frozen Jameson and ginger ales. As close as you could get.

ITS NOT THE SAME DAMMIT

mimimcmc

whelzer wrote: »

Q'd for 90 mins to get in and 60 to get out (at least there was banter on the getting in part).

eh....what? why would it take 60 mins to get out??

GingerLily

mimimcmc wrote: »

eh....what? why would it take 60 mins to get out??

Cars, the queue for cars was insane, there was some seriously dangerous stuff going on, some drivers going down the pedestrian paths to jump the queue

Ferris_Bueller

botttlehead94 wrote: »

First time at Body & Soul and most definitely not the last. I went to the festival not knowing too many acts and was overwhelmed by the abundance of talent i came across over the weekend.

One of my favourite stages of the whole festival was probably the open mic at the Arbutus Yarn stage, such a chilled out atmosphere with the couches and the general vibe just made it feel like home. Saw a girl there on Friday her name was Amy, she was sang some of her own songs and played the piano, would love to find out her second name so i could find her on you tube it was unbeliavable stuff! I think that stage really captured the whole spirit of body and soul and for me it was not something i think i would have seen if i was at another festival so im so glad that i got to experience it.

Try to look up Amy Dillon Music on Facebook and see if that is her.. have a feeling it is!

MJohnston

GingerLily wrote: »

Cars, the queue for cars was insane, there was some seriously dangerous stuff going on, some drivers going down the pedestrian paths to jump the queue

The traffic management seemed to be a bit lax in general - the signs on approach to Clonmellon on Friday were extremely confusing and wrong in many places.

ghostdancer

MJohnston wrote: »

The traffic management seemed to be a bit lax in general - the signs on approach to Clonmellon on Friday were extremely confusing and wrong in many places.

this has been a problem with B&S for as long as I can remember. signs are often wrong (there was one into Clonmellon that said turn left before the village which would have brought you completely the wrong side and the long way round, then another about 200m after saying head straight on), the ordering and organisation when you're in the car park itself is always a bit messy, I assume the stewards are volunteers with very little training/plan. The queues getting in are fairly dis-organised and a bit of a free-for-all, and then there's various issues inside, like the ATMs mentioned before.

from the cultural side, it's a great festival. from an organisational POV, it's quite poor in several areas.

MJohnston

ghostdancer wrote: »

there was one into Clonmellon that said turn left before the village which would have brought you completely the wrong side and the long way round, then another about 200m after saying head straight on

Yes, these in particular were really bad - the first one I saw so many cars follow, but I knew it was wrong. Then on the VMX/matrix sign they had buses turning left (towards Delvin), but all other traffic going straight ahead, when in reality it was all traffic turning left.


Also, I don't know why traffic from Dublin was told to go via Clonmellon/N52 when Athboy/N51 was a much better route.

bodhrandude

bodhrandude

bodhrandude

This one is a bit messy but I was in the throng weaving to the sound, plus we were sort of side to the stage but at the front too, so shot from an angle and a bit rather dark, but I wanted to capture Collider.