Into the West

MUSIC Memorable Westport Festival strikes right chord

A feast for the senses at memorable Westport Festival


Owen Sweeney had an action-packed two days in Westport House

Day One
This year’s Westport Festival of Music and Food was a fantastic success as 12,000 people gradually made their way through the gates of Westport House over the course of the weekend. The crowd consisted of regular festival-goers making their annual pilgrimage, weekend ramblers looking for something a bit different, and of course a strong constitution of families taking advantage of the very attractive ‘under 12s go free’ offer. We were told the sun would be out by lunch time, and indeed, it made a special appearance at 2.30pm.
The Westport Festival of Music and Food had always promised to offer something for everyone, and in the end, no-one could argue that the variety of acts and food offerings didn’t cater for a wide variety of tastes. Saturday’s Chefs kitchen was a delight, with the inaugural slot featuring L’ecrivan’s Derry Clarke, hosted by former Dragon’s Den star Norah Casey, enticing punters into the purpose-built kitchen with little effort.
Republic of Telly’s Bernard O’ Shea was one of the first big name draws to the Comedy Tent on Saturday afternoon. As he performed alongside a large ‘Parental Advisory’ sign it was clear that this tent would be the only non-family element of the festival. O’Shea had no problem getting laughs even with the stage’s handicap: the all-too-close proximity to the Roísín Dubh Stage. 

"It actually sounds like the QE2 s coming into port,” he joked as the sounds of Funeral Suits set attempted to drown out the comedian’s sound. The Comedy Tent naturally had to get louder, but in doing so the nearby children’s entertainment area “overheard a few choice words”, as a young parent phrased to me afterwards. Naturally this referred to Reginald D Hunter’s provocative, yet hilarious, set.

Decisions to be made
Over on the Main Stage, the Blind Boys of Alabama attempted to get things going. The soulful hits and fantastic musicianship received a warm reaction from the growing crowd but the band’s delivery of ‘Way down in his hole’ from the TV show The Wire got the biggest response. The Stunning brewed up a storm and got the Marquee Stage rocking and singing while some people had made a noticeable compromise of only seeing the first half of the Stunning and then the remainder of ABC.
The Waterboys got the first real sing-along going on the Saturday with ‘Fisherman’s Blues’ making an early appearance in the band’s setlist. Mike Scott’s jokes about last year’s downpour of rain and a story about how he had earned permission from Christy Moore to play ‘Raggle Taggle Gypsy’ as part of their hit list loosened up the crowd who were clearly holding it in for one man.

Although the Roísín Dubh Stage lineup was packed with some of the biggest names in the modern and up and coming Irish music scene, the arena failed to draw a meaningful crowd during the day time. This changed in the evening when ‘Le Galaxie’, kitted out in disco ball hoodies, injected the stage with an insane amount of adrenaline. Their hit song ‘Midnight Midnight’ led whispers of “I usually don’t like this thing, but this is great,” from spectators. Front man Michael Pope’s synthesised shouts of “Can you hear me Christy” and “Don’t forget your shovel” got a big laugh, and simultaneously reminded some folks that it was time to jog across to the main stage.
We clearly caught Christy Moore on a good night. The Kildare man dished out the banter and crowd pleasers that were all beautifully accompanied by Declan Sinnott’s seamless guitar work as the crowd clapped along to fight the evening chill. Highlights included ‘Don’t Forget Your Shovel’, ‘Ride On’, ‘Joxer’, ‘Chicago’, and a rendition of ‘Lisdoonvarna’ that had the festival crowd at their peak of excitement for day one. 

I interrupted Reginald in the press area for a chat and overheard some of his very strong terms of endearment being said to Norah Casey, who awkwardly tried to laugh it off, while everyone else in the vicinity just laughed.

Day Two
The festival’s closeness to Westport’s town centre provided a short walk to the grounds each day, and in doing so helped nurse some sore heads on Sunday after revellers easily kept the Saturday night going through to 2am thanks to the special exemption across Westport.
Over the weekend, the main attractions of Westport House were open to the public for free. The family-filled crowd were delighted to get a glimpse and make use of the House’s Pirate Adventure Park, Swan Pedaloes and Westport House Express Train.
On the walk up to the Comedy Tent it was encouraging to see a circle of children and their parents enthralled by a children’s entertainer as they participated in a game, their hands full of accomplishments from the Crafts Tent.
In the Comedy Tent Barry Murphy, AKA ‘Gunther’, showed us the true power of laughing at ourselves and made the plight of the country’s economy a reason to laugh hysterically while cementing ‘Pixie Head’ as an acceptable phrase.
Meanwhile, at the Marquee Stage, Damien Dempsey’s wide smile during his Sunday performance let the crowd know they were doing a great job harmonising to hits like ‘Apple of My Eye’ and ‘Almighty Love’.
I only caught the end of Squeeze, but if the crowd’s reaction to ‘Up the Junction’  is anything to go by, the band were Westport’s cup of tea.
There were a number of converted vans and busses offering fantastic food, but in terms of refueling, the weekend’s winner was definitely Saba, with the Cadden family’s pink van having the two longest queues in the festival. The hungry revellers were kept entertained by the 10 foot high walking Mannequins of Kurt Cobain, David Bowie and John Lennon while they waited for their noodles and curries.
Then there was Imelda. Looking fab and assuring us we would be suitably rocked, the Liberties legend raced through a set that consisted of sweet love tunes like ‘Kentish Town Waltz’ before, in full swing band glory, belting out tracks like ‘Roadrunner’ and ‘Johnny Got a Boom Boom’. The whole field was dancing, children on top of parent’s shoulders happily clapped along as Imelda proved she could easily have pulled off top billing if required.

Stage by stage
While surveying Imelda’s loyal subjects bopping and shaking, I had a quick chat with Kieran from Delorentos who admitted that it would be nice to transplant some of this crowd to the Roísín Dubh Stage for the band’s headline slot later that night. He needn’t have worried. By 9.30pm Delorentos had the biggest crowd at the Roísín Dubh Stage for the whole weekend. You could see the lads were delighted. I quickly lost my female festival companion who joined the group of young women who were planted firmly in front of dashing bass player Niall Conlan. The crowd’s recognition of hits like ‘Care For’ and ‘Bullet in a Gun’ showed the band’s rise to success in recent years.
The sprint to Elvis Costello and the Imposters was one of the best decisions I made over the weekend. The Main Stage crowd was in their element and listened intently to Costello’s stories and admired his guitar collection that belongs in a museum. Joined by Squeeze’s Chris Difford, the band’s closing set featured ‘Oliver’s Army’ and ‘Pump it up’. At this point no one was sitting down and even the most conservative of people let it all shake to (What’s So Funny ‘Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding. No sooner had the band left the stage when one of the most impressive fireworks shows I have seen in a long time ignited the night sky, leaving the Westport House glinting in the glow of the multi-coloured explosions. Shouts of “Thank you” could be heard as festival-goers took it all in one last time before heading home. “Same time next year” is no doubt trending on twitter.