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Castlepalooza <castlepalooza>

"Boutique Music & Arts Festival!"

	Media Reviews 2008	445 dni temu
	The Irish Times Small is beautiful in republic of Palooza "IT'S ONE of the best independent festivals I've been to," said Sam Kelly from Tullamore from his perch at the back seat of the aptly named Castle Baloobus yesterday, painted up and parked on the grounds of the Castlepalooza two-day festival. The bus provides shelter for passing revellers and is an alternative venue for all-night parties away from the campsite. "The castle, the woods," Kelly gestures expansively to take in the majestic surroundings, home now to this tiny boutique festival for three years running. "It's our place." This sense of ownership is part of the Castlepalooza plan, with organisers intent on keeping things intimate even as the numbers grow annually. "We deliberately keep it small because you can look after people that way," said Cillian Stewart, the festival's organiser and nephew of Dudley Stewart, current resident of Charleville Castle and a member of the Charleville Castle Heritage Trust. "It's more like an intimate party." Party headliners this year included Republic of Loose, Fight Like Apes, Kormac and a DJ set from UK powerpoppers Mystery Jets, all of whom appeared on the slightly larger of the festival's two tiny, frill-free stages. For an €85 entrance fee, festival-goers also got to wander about several rooms in the 17th-century castle itself, with a plush ballroom emptied out to cater for those taking a break from the sounds or the weather. The latter, however, was on Castlepalooza's side this year, with sporadic showers blowing over quickly to make way for blue skies and some unexpected appearances of sunshine. Despite the merciful conditions, many still made their way indoors to avail of the sundry services in the Purple Morning Spa, where the sun streamed in from the early hours. "There's no recession according to these books," said Adrienne Sweeney, the spa manager, who extended her opening hours to cater for the manicure- and massage-hungry clientele. While many arrived for the bigger names on the eclectic festival line-up, surprise hits of the year included South African rockers The Parlotones, singer-songwriter Joe Echo, and Kilkenny drum maestro Rarely Seen Above Ground. Others were happy to entertain themselves, with a SingStar tent providing karaoke opportunities for wannabe rockers. Yet it clearly wasn't just the music, or the massages, that kept campers happy. "It's brilliant because it's so small and so intimate," Dubliner Rachel Rispin explained. "It's like a baby Electric Picnic." High praise from hardcore festival-goers who wandered cheerfully among the tents and tottered the small distance between stages, enjoying the surroundings and the magical castle that the money raised from their entrance fees will help maintain, hopefully, for plenty of Castlepaloozas to come. The Irish Independent: Another castle gig proved more successful this weekend, with the third annual two-day Castle Palooza finishing up in Tullamore last night, after over 2,000 festival-goers parties at the town's Charleville Castle. Hot Press: Set in the shadow of picturesque Charleville Castle, indie extravaganza Castle Palooza certainly takes place in prettier surroundings than most other festivals . Still, such events have a habit of developing into drunken mudbaths regardless of their location, so the music’s quality is the only genuine indicator of their excellence. And Castle Palooza fared quite well in this regard. The Laundry Shop were the first Main Stage band to catch the eye on Saturday (the first of the event’s two days). The group’s languorous, melodic chug – like Pixies songs played at half-speed – provided a likeable soundtrack to the festival’s sunny opening period. The Boudoir Stage also threw up some decent performances.Black Daisy breezed through a charming set of streamlined pop-punk originals and indie-unfriendly covers, the best of which was a spiky take on Britney’s ‘Crazy’. Still, the group’s tentative onstage presence and palpable lack of confidence undermined their music’s foxy prowl a touch. The Main Stage provided most of Saturday’s remaining highlights. Red Kid’s frenetic set of laddish, ska-inflected rock was the first genuinely uninhibited performance of the day, while Boss Volenti provided somewhat moodier – though no less appealing – charms; the group’s wired, intense brand of hard rock jibing nicely with their solemn, black-clad stage presence. Kormac’s nightfall set was, perhaps, Saturday’s highlight. His music is a cheery mixture of light hip-hop beats and colourful brass, but the crowd’s attention was drawn mainly towards The Fortune Cookies – the barbershop quartet that fronted the performance. Dressed like Southern gentlemen from the 1920s, The Cookies provided stylish, note-perfect vocals that were sparingly employed, but all the more tantalising for it. Sunday provided further highlights. Singer-songwriter Paul Hourican delivered a beautifully-impassioned early-day set, while The Dirty Epics injected a little energy and pizzazz into proceedings; hot pants-sporting frontwoman Sarah Jane Wai O’Flynn providing the focal point of a set that climaxed with a storming rendition of ‘Pony’. But it wasn’t until a little later that the festival fully sprang into life. The Chapters’ energetic brand of pop-rock and Robotnik’s onstage water-gun antics paving the way nicely for Fight Like Apes, who were Castle Palooza’s main attraction for many attendees. The Apes did not disappoint, and anticipation for their upcoming debut album has now reached fever pitch. MayKay is certainly one of the wildest, weirdest frontwomen around, and the chemistry she shares with her glassy-eyed, little-and-large bandmates certainly comes into its own in the live setting. The band’s buzzing, keyboard-driven pop is perfect festival fodder – now let’s just hope it loses none of its charm within the confines of an LP. The Republic Of Loose’s DJ set was, perhaps, a tad anticlimactic; a sharp contrast with the brazen brilliance of their live shows. For now, Fight Like Apes are the kings of this castle.
	opublikowane przez Castlepalooza