Wednesday, July 2, 2014

David Gray, Bryan Adams, Bell X1, Mundy, Sophie Ellis-Bextor

Westport Festival of Music and Food 2014

The sun was the guest of honour for two consecutive days as 15,000 revelers made their way to Westport House for the third annual Westport Festival of Music and Food. The blue sky was a fitting backdrop for the 70-plus acts and events that performed across six stages, all of which prospered thanks to the high quality lineup and the record attendance.


Day One   

David Bridgeman got things off to a nice chill start on Saturday, with the Wicklow native delivering an acoustic blend of hits from the likes of Newton Faulkner, Lorde and Foster the people, among others, as the venue started to slowly fill. Bridgeman was soon succeeded by Paddy Casey who quickly broke into a collection of hits, most of which carried with them years of radio airplay. He delighted those parked in front of the Main Stage with their fold-up chairs with renditions of ‘Living in this town’ and ‘The lucky one’, which unintentionally doubled as an adequate description for the sun-blessed fans and the picturesque setting that is Westport House.

Over on the Marquee Stage, the first act to really get things going, while simultaneously proving that the festival’s second stage had a lot to offer, was the Hot Sprockets. The five piece blasted out an energetic blues-rock set that captured the interest of many first-time listeners who will no-doubt welcome the band as a new addition to Spotify playlists. 

Some time later in the same tent, the impeccably-dressed Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain surprised fans with a setlist that presented a version like no other of Daft Punk’s ‘Get lucky’ and a “spooky” presentation of ‘Misirlou’, known to many as the theme tune to the movie Pulp Fiction.

This year Norah Casey made a welcomed return as the MC of the Chefs’ Kitchen and kept a collection of the country’s most well-respected chefs on their toes for the weekend. Festival alumnus Derry Clarke of L'Ecrivain was one of the first chefs to highlight the central theme of the food tent – locally sourced ingredients. Although some of his ‘material’ was somewhat familiar from last year, Clarke’s onstage charisma with Casey set the tone for the fusion of light entertainment and culinary presentations that has come to be expected at the festival.

Saturday’s Comedy Tent line-up featured the exciting back to back billings of David Mc Savage and Ardal O’Hanlon. Most of Mc Savage’s ‘laugh until you cry through sheer mortification‘ set cannot be repeated in print, but rest assured the people got both what they expected and wanted. O’Hanlon then delivered a masterclass in standup comedy that was rich with both thought-provoking and observational humour. Meanwhile on the fantastic new RTÉ Radio 1 Off-Air Tent,  Oliver Callan gave an uncanny impression of the Taoiseach that left a few fans hoping that access to sensitive government information isn’t verified by voice recognition software.

By now, Croatian Cellists Luka Sulic And Stjepan Hauser, also known as 2Cellos were thrilling the slightly-sunburnt Main Stage Crowd to string renditions of Guns N’ Roses
and ACDC hits, the absence of vocals deterring few fans from a fully fledged sing along.

Soon after, Shane Filan, formerly of Westlife showcased his solo offerings with a sprinkling of more well-known hits with his new band. ‘Flying without wings’ and ‘Coast to coast’ were delivered in a quasi-karaoke style with many young men in the audience happy to attempt the vocal duties of the absent Mark Feehily.

Little Green Cars headlined The Róisín Dubh Stage on both nights of the festival, giving festival goers who were determined to avoid line-up clashes a second chance to hear the harmony-soaked hits such as ‘Harper lee’, ‘Please’, ‘Big red dragon’ and the beautiful ‘My love took me down to the river to silence me’.

Reports suggest that the Marquee Tent headliners, The Divine Comedy and front man Neil Hannon, suffered slightly from the crossover sounds from the Main Stage, but Hannon’s experience and showmanship shrugged this off soon enough.

Saturday came to a close with a captivating performance from David Gray, that saw thousands singing along to the familiar sounds of ‘Sail away with me’, ‘Every time I look at you’, and ‘This year’s love’. Louder and larger than life, perhaps at the expense of another stage or two, Gray’s performance and Saturday night climaxed with a well-received rendition of ‘Babylon’.




DAY TWO 

From behind some much-needed cloud cover the scorching sun greeted fans on the second day, shortly after the Clew Bay Pipe Band took to the Main Stage. One of last year’s favourites on the Marquee Stage, the popular band invited Mundy, Matt Molloy and Pete Williams from Dexys Midnight Runners to join them in their ascension to the centre spot.

One standout performance from Sunday came from Sophie Ellis-Bextor who debuted the first live airings in Ireland of her new album Wanderlust  at the festival. Half way through the set, the London-born singer, who was delighted to be at the Westport Festival of Music and food, emerged from behind a changing curtain to reveal a costume change that expressed with no uncertainty it was time for disco. Ellis-Bextor wowed fans with chart hit ‘Take me home’, a Nu-disco melody which included her own ‘Groovejet’, all topped off  by ‘Murder on the dancefloor’. She could be seen enjoying a well-deserved relaxing stroll through the festival grounds following the performance.


Mundy experienced some technical difficulties at his own set on Sunday afternoon, but nothing stopped the chorus of loyal fans that happily assisted with the likes of  ‘To you I bestow’ and ‘By her side’. Mundy joked that he had been out until 6 am with David McSavage on Saturday and then “woke up with a ‘savage eye’”. Anyone who encountered McSavage wandering around on Sunday might have questioned if it was indeed a joke.

A visible increase in festival goers on the second day of the festival put some pressure on the food stands around the arena, with large queues forming in the late afternoon. Once again the Saba stall proved to be very popular with revelers and the Cadden family were well equipped to meet the demand.

People were unsure what to expect from Sinéad O'Connor’s set before 6pm on Sunday, but a tweeted photo of O'Connor with bandmates shortly before set, which included Relish members Kenneth and Carl Papenfus, offered fans a notion of stability. What followed was a solid performance of songs such as ‘No man’s woman’, ‘Lay your head down’, and the warmly welcomed ‘Nothing compares 2U’. Not quite the singer she was in her prime, but a respectable performance nonetheless.

Back at the Chef’s Tent, Westport’s own Seamus Commons of Knockranny House Hotel proved, to me at least, that he would as been as comfortable in the Comedy Tent as he was in the culinary demonstration arena. Commons, who wasn’t short a sense of humour, demoed, among other things, the correct procedure for cooking rabbit in an almost full tent of audience members who hadn’t been lured away by the high-billed acts who had taken to the other stages.

Jack Lukeman, or Jack L as he is often known, closed out the nearby RTÉ Radio 1 Off-Air Tent with passionate performances of ‘Paint it black’ and ‘Georgie boy‘ to the delight of a few hundred fans who were determined to make the radio showcase tent a proper rock and roll stage before sunset.

As many of the crowd strolled towards the Main Stage to take their places for Kool and the Gang and Bryan Adams, the hotly tipped Daithí Ó Drónaí entertained an impressive sized crowd at The Róisín Dubh Stage on his own before being joined with guest vocalists  Liza Flume and Elaine Mai.

A delay from Kool and the Gang carried over into Bryan Adams setup time which ultimately saw the Canadian headliner’s set pushed back 20 mins. This gave many attendees the opportunity to pay a visit to Bell X1 at the Marquee Stage and bask in the crowd fueled chorus chants of ‘Rocky took a lover’, ‘My first born for a song’, ‘Four minute mile’, ‘Next to you’ and ‘The great defector’. The band got through most of this list before Adams had even got on stage. 

After a weekend of waiting, Bryan Adams rocked through the crowd favourites of ‘I do it for you’, ‘Best of me’, ‘Cloud number 9’, ‘Summer of 69’, ‘When you’re gone’ and ‘Run to you’. An over correction of sound in the aftermath of the David Gray performance meant that tonight the Marquee Stage was infringing on the Main Stage, causing Adams to joke if the band headlining there might be more comfortable playing on his stage. Adams impressed his many hardcore fans that had bought a sunday ticket just to seethe Ontario rocker and provided a suitable close to the weekend for others. The Westport Festival of Music and Food 2014 was topped off with the now signatory, lavish fireworks show that could be seen all the way from the Ballinrobe Road. As the last spark ignited the night sky, a question undoubtedly pondered by many spectators was ‘How on earth could this be topped next Year?’

No comments:

Post a Comment