It’s fair to say that Ireland has no shortage of festivals at the moment, with almost every weekend from May to September marked on the calendar for an al fresco celebration.
In fact, there are so many taking place that music fans are being forced to make some tough decisions – with Sea Sessions, Body & Soul, The Script at Croke Park and Fleetwood Mac at the 3Arena all taking place over the space of three days.
While some of our intrepid colleagues took a trek to Bundoran for the annual beach festival, we got up bright and early on Sunday morning to head to Ballinlough Castle and experience one of the summer’s most interesting offerings.
First established by Avril Stanley as a hugely popular addition to Electric Picnic, Body & Soul went out on its own six years ago and its eclectic selection of music, speakers and activities has ensured that its become a firm favourite on the festival scene.
Unsurprisingly, given its roots, the festival is often compared to the early days of Electric Picnic and the capacity has been steadily growing year on year as its reputation travels.
Eschewing traditional headline-grabbing acts for a more bespoke approach hasn’t hampered the mass appeal either, as both weekend tickets and Sunday tickets were sold out well in advance this year.
One thing that is instantly noticeable on arrival on site is that the atmosphere is very relaxed. Once through the initial security search, the festival operates a ‘free flow’ approach to alcohol and allows revellers to bring their own supply to all areas of the site.
As well as making the event a lot more affordable, this also takes away the need for security checkpoints around the main area and facing a quick wristband check instead of a lengthy queue for a pat-down is a massive plus when you’re feeling a little delicate and in need of coffee and a hug on day three.
Despite this relaxed approach to BYOB, there was no evidence of an increase in anti-social behaviour or over-eager consumption to our eyes and it could be that when there’s no pressure to ‘pre-drink’ in the campsite to avoid expensive arena prices, people are happy to pace themselves and enjoy the other activities on offer.
The Main Stage music offering on Sunday was one of the highlights of the weekend, with a set from Derry’s SOAK proving the perfect backdrop for a sun-soaked day.
Natalie Prass was, without doubt, our favourite performance of the weekend and was followed by Virginia songwriter Matthew E White, who entertained the crowd in the site’s natural amphitheatre.
There was also plenty going on around the site itself, with Sunny Jacobs (who spent seventeen years in prison for a crime she didn’t commit) among the most interesting additions to the Wonderlust stage and a solid line-up of comic relief in the Vodafone Comedy Tent.
As with all festivals, a lot of the best discoveries are made when you go off-radar and every nook and cranny of the site was home to some weird and wonderful performer to keep you entertained.
The Absolut ‘Midsummer Nights’ bar, designed by Burning Man artist Shrine, was one of the most striking elements of the site itself and the DJ line-up ensured it was a very popular spot over the course of the day and night.
Despite the trojan efforts of festival promoters all over the country, there are two elements that can ruin even the most meticulously planned event – the weather and the state of the toilets.
Luckily, there was only one or two errant showers on Sunday and the festival was bathed in sun for almost the entire day.
Better still, the toilets were among the cleanest (by festival standards!) we’ve seen at a large-scale event – with toilet roll and hand sanitiser in each one we visited. It might sound like a small thing but keeping that level of attention to detail on the third day is quite unusual and definitely something to be commended.
After sampling some grub from the wide range of food outlets (shout out to Wok n’Roll for being our failsafe spot for a nightly feed) and making a trip to the Midnight Circus, it was off to see Nightmares On Wax and Leftfield on the Main Stage before a late night wander in the woods.
We were hugely impressed by our first trip to Body & Soul and it was great to see so many families enjoying the event, with the Family Campsite and the Soul Kids area both being given the thumbs up by the parents we met.
Will we returning for Body & Soul 2016? Most definitely.
