All Together Now 2023

Had a great weekend with a great group of friends, but found it a struggle on Saturday especially, the mud in places was dangerous and the organisers did very little with woodchip in areas that were dangerous. They were obviously unprepared. The ground seemed fine on Friday, we left Jessie Ware and went to Overmono then stayed there for Todd Terje, left 4 hours later to a quagmire and slipped and slided back to boutique. Missed a lot of areas and acts because the mud was so bad. Still, belter weekend, roll on ATN2024.

No they were on the same stage…

Brilliant weekend. Organisers should have done a lot more to make the place safer and easier to get around but apart from that had a brilliant time.

Highlights for me were Warmduscher, Caribou and Iggy. Thanks to this thread for recommending Warmduscher. Had given them a good listen before and loved their set. Caribou were fantastic and Iggy was the perfect way to close a great festival. Have seen the Stooges with the Asheton brothers and the raw power line up with James Williamson too. 1st time at an Iggy solo gig so was great seeing a mix of solo and stooges stuff.

Had a good weekend but music was poor overall. The late night situation really needs to be sorted out, multiple stages of the same boring electronica isn't good enough. If you're a dj and you don't see many dancing maybe you should change your set. Seriously needs more variety at night.

It appeared a bit more corporate to me this year also. The loss of the rocknroll cocktail bar on the way down to the house was noticeable.

Lovely Days stage had great sound but wasn't much to look at, expected more from the blurb description.

As usual for me Saturday was a struggle but was i on full power for Friday and Sunday. As mentioned already, lack of woodchip/straw in certain areas seemed strange.

A new layout yet again. Didn't locate Arcadia and Ealu La Gra until Sunday. One of the least painful walks from carpark to entrance i've had though, so that was a plus.

Beak were act of the weekend for me followed by Warmduscher and Iggy.

I'd go again but they need to up their game with the lineup.

Belter of a weekend.. f*ck the weather.. it's unfortunate but it shouldn't make or break a festival.

Have an amazing time with family - including some over from Australia and loved it!

Arrived Thursday and wandered into Bandstand / Lovely Days / Arcadia. Good vibe in the evening but was a bit tired to enjoy it fully.

Some great music on Friday and Saturday for me including Caribou (immense!), Barry Can't Swim, Overmono, Villagers (Conor O'Brien's voice is just unmatched IMO) and poppy fun from Sugababes.

Sunday dipped a bit for me musically - Max Richter wasn't doing it for me so went to Lovely Days for Wunderhorse but was the far side one of the stacks so music suffered as a result. Lorde was good fun, and Tourist was a bit too chilled for me. Wasn't feeling S*it Robot either.

But all for all - a solid year musically and very well run as usual.. met loads of sound people.

Myself and the OH got married in the inflatable church on Saturday in prep for the actual wedding next Sunday. So all eyes turn to that now.

Til next year lads!

Rest, recover, shower, repeat!

Had a great night Friday night, in late enough a bit of a boogy in that Schweppes area, then caught lankums set, had been looking forward to the Andrew weatherall tribute but there was hardly anyone there but those who were danced away in the pouring rain. Arrived back to campervan area soaked to the skin. Saturday was a mudfest and nothing done to help the conditions. Saturday I we caught cruel sister, Lisa O'Neill, her cover of black boys on mopeds I found very emotional as my sis is not well with cancer. Music can truly touch your soul. Seen some of caribou. Daniel avery and Jamie xx. Finished the night at AVA. Found it a little claustrophobic so headed back at 2am. Sunday was a nice chilled afternoon with Saint sister, didn't really get the max richter thing. Iggy was amazing and then an amazing gig by beak who just stumbled upon. Finished my weekend dancing to a set from Claire beck etc Al at the belonging bandstand. There was some lovely tributes to Sinead over the weekend. Its a hell of a journey from the north but great to be at a festival where you don't feel old. Will be back.

Cheers Thundercats.

Gretyl Hanlyn was super. Really endearing and a belter of a set.

Biig Piig felt like she was born to that stage. Really owned it. It would nearly be hard to imagine her in a small venue.

Thee UFO and Sun Mahshene, along with 2 other acts i don't know, are playing McHugh's in Drogheda this weekend Sat.12th. if anyone is interested.

First time at ATN, really enjoyed it! Haven't been to an Irish festival since EP 2013 so haven't much to compare it to, but it was a very nice atmosphere. Agreed about the muck on Saturday, they could have put down wood chips etc in the higher traffic areas. Had to pull a girl out of the mud on the way back to the campsite Saturday night.

The sound was very iffy in parts. Was standing right hand side of the main stage at the beginning Sugababes and didn't even realise they'd started. Moved to the left and it was a lot better. SOTW tent also had a lot of issues, Black Country New Road seemed to be having a nightmare. The bleed between The Well and the bandstand was very annoying too during the comedy acts. Lovely Days was grand for any acts I was there for. Didn't really explore many of the smaller stages, next time!

Some great gigs over the weekend, though the lineup was a little dance heavy for me. Very smooth getting in but had a nightmare getting out this afternoon, probably just due to us leaving at peak time though. Overall a great experience and will likely be back next year

Max Richter should have been on the main stage, had to move closer and closer to get a decent ear on it. The talking in the tent was insane for what the gig was and to be fair it's very hard to get a quiet crowd at a festival.

I know that it's insanely difficult to get it all right but the 25 min trek back to buses yesterday seems a bit unfair given the choice to use public transport and you get punished with the furthest distance to go.

All in all though a fantastic weekend and can't wait for next year !!!

I’ll echo other peoples points about Ping Ping Disco / Ealú area - defo needs a walkway from the main arena to reconnect it with the rest of the festival. Great spot but was too far away (especially as we were in camper van area and the mud situation made it less easy to wander)

Another observation was the lack of security. I think I got asked to show my wristband once (bizarrely on my way back to the camper on Sunday night!) and I didn’t see any bag checks whatsoever. I’m not complaining of course but seemed weird.

We met a bunch of girls who had had a Garda sniffer dog find some stuff in their tent, so just thought I’d mention that as someone on here ages ago was asking if that ever happened….

I found it strange that the camper van section had been moved back a field from last year - even though there was a massive empty space below where we were parked in 2022 - so it was a bit of an unnecessary slog up the hill. And there was only one water point - also miles away at the bottom of the hill. Water is heavy to carry!!

Moaning aside, it’s still a brilliant festival with fantastic friendly people and some great little areas in the woods to explore.

see y’all in 2024!

Summary: a good ATN. They’ve made a few changes. Not all of them have worked. But it’s still the best festival in the country.

Highlights: Overmono, Todd Terje, The Clockworks, Lankum*, Daphni, Sing Along Social, Claire Beck, Bacchus and the Big Beats, Tourist, Max Richter*, Queen Beatz.

The good: the venue overall.

• it’s still the most beautiful place to spend a festival weekend. While the walk from the campervan site was mahoosive, the hills and valleys of the place really add to the sense of a festival using the landscape as part of the experience.
• The Last City: what a beautiful little stage. Reminds me of a super-mini version of the Body & Soul stage. And, just like Body & Soul used to do at EP, they had a cool German DJ playing sweet house/disco beats until 4am.
• Cambium Club: again, it’s just such a lovely place to listen to music and dance. The venue itself creates a sense of togetherness. I’m not sure it’s possible to do anything other than smile.

The bad: geography changes.

• Ping Pong Disco is not the sort of thing that can be stuck off by itself in a corner. It needs foot traffic walking by it. You don’t deliberately go there; you just stumble upon it and check it out for a while.
• ELG: similar but different. Sticking this out in that little annexe of a place was poor.
• Arcadia: this was the worst change of the festival. It was in the perfect place beforehand. People could drift in and out; stay at the edges; when walking by even if you weren’t going in you could see the stag’s head on one side and the Arcadia Bug on the other; and you didn’t filter everyone through a tiny narrow dangerous path. Moving it to its own isolated area also - and this is purely a gut feeling based on experience of me and my mates - meant that some people just never bothered going there as it was so far from the main stages and there was a weird vibe there, especially later on. It was bumpy. Not nice festival vibes at times.

The frustrating: sound quality.

• This was the poorest sound quality at a big festival I can recall for some time, especially in the SKOW tent. Lankum and Max Richter really, really suffered. I was near/at the front for both and even up close the sound from chatter was just phenomenally loud. If they are going to book such artists they need to do their homework better.

The weird: did the bookers forget about early Sunday afternoon?

• There was very little on Sunday afternoon on the main stages. The Max Richter/Orchestra bit was more understandable as they needed to do a complete sound check for over an hour beforehand but why on earth was the main stage completely unused until 4pm? Sunday is always THE BEST DAY for chilling out, nursing your hangover, lying/sitting on the grass, and letting some gospel/reggae/otherwise gentle sounds wash over you as you gird your loins for another final run at hedonism of a Sunday. This was just weird.

The missing: the helter skelter.

• I don’t care if you don’t let anyone slide on it. Just bring it back as a giant festival ornament. That whole bandstand area seemed unfinished without our lovely striped helter skelter.

The “you need to change this back to the old way and you were lucky nothing bad happened”.

• I’m not sure of the value of having a sign for a tent to get your campervan wristbands when there are no camper wristbands. A good few people weren’t happy about this. And I can understand why. There’s some very expensive stuff up on that hill.

The surprising: good pint of plain.

• While I bring many, many cans with me to a festival there are times where you just fancy a pint. Fair play to Guinness because that was a darn good pint in the middle of the countryside even in a plastic cup.

The dangerous: walking.

• Walking should not be that dangerous. Friday night was lethal getting home. On Saturday getting from the main arena to Arcadia, funnelled through that path, was utterly stupid.

The amazing: free wine tasting.

• On paper, Bacchus and the Big Beats should not have been this good. But when you had some of the best wine importers in the country bringing out wine after wine, pouring it into your actual glass tasting glass made of real glass, with sommeliers doing blind tasting, and then you realise that you’re five wines in *and they haven’t yet got to the reds* you know you’re at something special. “Dance if you liked it”? Yes please. This was extraordinary, and good fun too. Oh, and they served snacks from Frank’s.

The “I remember you fondly, please return”: Road To Nowhere.

• I have very good memories of this tent. A lovely size of a thing and slightly out of the way, I’ve seen bands and seen DJs and it has always been good. Also it was a tent. With a roof. In a country where we get lots of rain even in summer. The Lovely Days stage is fine. But I’m not sure it’s an improvement.

The “I’m sure we’ll see you again but it was nice that we had a break from ye”: The wasps.

• They tried to make a brave comeback on Sunday but I think we will talk of ATN2023 as The Mud Year Without The Wasps.

They did have a path leading from Ealú to Arcadia open on Friday. For some reason they closed it off for the rest of the weekend so you had to go through the campsite.

I don't know, when I go to a fest quality sound is the main thing that grinds my gears.

Was thinking of atn in 2024, now not so sure.

Didn't go this year btw as have EP tickets

Another great year done and dusted. Agreed with others that the campervan area was a bit of a trek. Only went to arcadia once pretty early on Saturday night before the masses arrived. Some areas were dodgy with the mud after the deluge on Friday but weather rest of the weekend was grand. Caught a good few acts and had some fun dancing in Schweppes and rockshore tent

Great craic being woken up by our kids this morning at 5am 😁 anyway, such is life, See you in 2024!

As everybody said mud was an unnecessary pain in the hoop. its not like it hadn't been raining for the whole of July. it was a pretty good bet that you were going to need something to put down particularly in the heavy traffic areas.

We were in Bass camp. it was grand but no Pink Moon but then it was not pink moon prices so....

Highlights for me Iggy, Villagers, JamieXX, Sugababes (sound was rubbish), Dublin Gospel Choir, again sound was rubbish but G&Ts in the Sunday sunshine at the bandstand, cant beat it. Dipped in and out of Rockshore bar several times, great fun. Annie Mac in the rain. My discovery of the weekend was The Burma on Friday night. small crowd but they were great.

As @dingbat said the Bacchus wine tasting was great fun (Dance if you like it). An unexpected delight.

Guinness drinkers in our group said the pint was surprisingly decent for festival fare.

I wasn't overly interested in the line up this year but cant remember all the fab little places we wandered into catching a small group having a great time. The atmosphere was so chilled and friendly and you found yourself chatting to the friendliest randomers and having the absolute craic.

As a survivor of 2019, Getting in and out was easy peesey. The traffic management was superb. Well signposted from way out on the route. Big thumbs up for that.

In summary, it was a fantastic weekend, roll on next year. Don't regret one iota the decision to ditch EP for ATN. I'm leaving EP to the youngsters from now on. I hope they look after it!

The sound was an issue with some acts, but the majority I went to were fine. In particular the sound at lovely days for the likes of warmduscher and kojaque was superb. I thought even main stage was great for villagers, lorde (totally disagree with commenter above, thought she was great but each to their own) biig piig and Iggy. Bigger problems at SKOW throughout for sure, and Pilow Queens had trouble at the Circle. I would like a bit more variety after midnight, loved Daphni and James Murphy was good, but todd terje and the arcadia acts i caught were only ok. Anyway, for me the mud of friday night/saturday was a bigger prob than the sound and while last year was better, this was still a great festival weekend with an interesting and, at times, inspired line up. Don't be put off for next year.

Last shout to the sprints who were bloody brilliant at the circle on saturday.

Great weekend, but you'd be wrecked trekking through the mud all day. I'll invest in something more comfortable than wellies the next time.

I think the only thing worse than the mud, was having Rockshore as the only lager available.

Had a great time but thought it lost a bit of the magic & atmosphere that was there last year and in 2019 and has become a lot more corporate.

The selection of drinks was ridiculously poor. The fact you can't get a decent pint of beer on site is a disgrace really. Rockshore only serves around 1% of the crowd who have crap taste in beer.

Thought the food was poor too. €20 for a **** burger, chips and a drink in most places? C'mon, absolute piss-take having pretty much no decent meal options for much less than this.. Queues were crazy at stages... then some vendors looking to be paid by cash or revolut only after you queued 20 minutes to get to the top. A fiver for a coffee in a lot of places, absolute boll*cks. The only nice food I got was from Bish Bosh & the Dumplings place.

As mentioned, trudging around the site was a slog for the most part bar Sunday. That ping pong area just seemed like a ghost-town any time I went up there & poorly positioned.

Needs a really strong line-up up and at least hop house on tap next year to get me back. Will be keeping a close eye on Beyond The Pale as an alternative.

Agree that the bus drop off was way too far away this year. It was a slog getting in and getting back. If they had nice beer on site we wouldn't have had to carry so much!

Some outstanding sets by Iggy, Kelly Lee Owens, Lankum, Daniel Avery, Overmono, Warmduscher, Kojaque, Khakikid, Post Punk Podge, Ezra Collective, Bricknasty, EMA & Skatbard.

My highs: Warmduscher(the atmosphere in the rain was brilliant) Lankum, Caribou and Iggy....4 brilliant gigs to be at, the cameraman loved Iggy's female guitarist 😁 Shoutouts for Staples jr singers, Max Richter( the violinist especially) which also should have been main stage, Thee UFO, Claire beck, Daphni, Cruel Sister and Jamie xx

The atmosphere of the place is just great, didn't see one ounce of trouble, and just the general setup of the place was great walking from stage to stage.

The something to give out abouts: The mud obviously and the lack of urgency to do anything about with, the trek to Arcadia was insane on Saturday night because of it.

Reading that people in Wheelchairs had to give up and go home. Watching parents try and haul their kids around in carts in the mud.

My first time glamping ,while the tent was great for the rain and the guest bar the whole thing is just massively overpriced shyte. The shower block is a pistake. 700euro for an absolute basic setup, never again! I'd be staggered if it's that basic at other festivals around Europe, someone told us the Electric picnic has an actual boutique setup for glamping and is far better.

It's a great festival overall though, I'll definitely look at going back next year although I'd like to see a stronger lineup, Sunday afternoon had a big lull.

Also the private access to the bar and it's toilets, and the closeness of the car park, made it well worth the money for me.