Electric Picnic 2012 - Misc

So in the end it was the best thing ever. The weather was brilliant. The bands were fantastic. I saw the Cure for the first time, along with Sigur Ros. I bumped randomly into friends once in a while of the weekend, only to loose sight of them on the crowd hours later.

Did we mention the weather was brilliant? And the people and the artist, the food....

Sorry if you weren’t there !

Violonist

The Salty Dog .... stranded

Recycling in Body & Soul

Play some tunes

Tree fruits in Body and Soul

Under the sun in body and soul

Relaxing in Body and soul

Body And Soul

The Main Stage

The logo

Electric Picnic 2012 - Day 1

So in 2012, I finally set foot in the Electric Picnic ( http://electricpicnic.ie/ ) , the yearly Irish music festival held in Stradbally Hall.
After setting camp in the morning - I arrived quite early, avoiding all the traffic, people had promised me - i went for a quick around the place, even found the salty dog.
The first band was on the main stage: Alabam Shakes ... good, but as I enter a tent I got stunned by the performance of a fuming "Willis Earl Beal".
The first day finished with the XX tremendous and an unexpected volcanic and eruptive performance from Sigur Ros to close the night.

??

Willis Earl Beal

Willis Earl Beal

Roots Manuva

The XX

Sigur Ros

Artists Seen

• Alabama Shakes
• Willis Earl Beal
• Roots Manuva
• Grizzly Bear
• Grandaddy
• The Jezabels
• ???
• The XX
• Sigur Ros
• Ed Sheeran ( only the end with a tremendous version of "Chasing Car"

Tieranniesaur Tier-repetita and Dolans Summer Party

For the third time this year, I had the pleasure to see Tieranniesaur live, this time in Dolans for the Summer Party. A great event with a gret line up from the Windings, to Girl Band .. basically a 5 euro well spent.

The sun and an almost clear blue sky even invited himslef for the party before the darkness.

There was also a presentation of an interesting compilation:
Strange Passion - Explorations in Irish Post Punk, DIY and Electronic music 1980-83:

 http://www.nialler9.com/album-week-strange-passion-explorations-irish-post-punk-diy-electronic-music-198083/

Tieranniesaur ready to take the main stage in the warehouse

Tieranniesaur

Another band I've seen recently in Bourkes was Girl Band (Update now renames Gilla Band):

Upstairs: Girl Band

Upstairs I also discovered Melodica Deathship, you can listen there here: http://mdsdub13.bandcamp.com/

The night line up, feel free to check them out:

• Warehouse Stage (Curated by Out On A Limb Records):
  Crayonsmith // Dead Red Light // Elk // The Jimmy Cake // Jogging // So Cow // Ten Past Seven // Tieranniesaur//
• Upstairs Stage (Curated by windings)
  Dott // Girl Band // The Great Balloon Race // Land Lovers // Magic Pockets // Melodica Deathship // MynameisjOhn // Percolator // windings
• Bar (Curated by A Love Supreme): DJs, Acoustic Sets, Collaborations.

Nouvelle Vague in Dolans

Last saturday I had the extreme pleasure to be in Dolans, for another great gig. This time it was "Nouvelle Vague" a french concept band, the coolest to the extreme....
I am still subdued on this sunday morning...

Nouvelle Vague on Stage - Instagram

Airy ... and dancing... with themsleves

Singing

French Woman ... lethal and dangerous ;)

French woman ... quirky and talented

Bemused audience and Fascinated crowd

Songs played ( from what i remember , sure  I am forgetting some ):

• Love Will Tear Us Apart (Joy Division) 
• Ophelie est zoophile ( Jad Wio cover )
• Putain Putain (Arno)
• Mala Vida ( Mano Negra cover )
• Too Drunk to Fuck (Dead Kennedys) 
• Making Plans for Nigel (XTC) 
• Teenage Kicks (The Undertones)
• Ever Fallen in Love (Buzzcocks)
• Dancing with Myself (Billy Idol)
• Master and Servant - (Depeche Mode)
• Blister in the Sun - (Violent Femmes)
• God save The Queen - (The Sex Pistols)

A taste of their music :

My SeaSessions 2012

I went to my first SeaSessions in Bundoran last weekend.
It is a very vibrant, cool music festival, down by the beach, exposed to the Atlantic fury.

Weekend Pass

Brilliant line-up:

KAISER CHIEFS, THE MINUTES, REV RUN (RUN DMC) & DJ RUCKUS, THE CORONAS, SIMON & OSCAR (OCEAN COLOUR SCENE), HOT 8 BRASS BAND, BITCHES WITH WOLVES, DELORENTOS, THE ORIGINAL RUDEBOYS, JAPE, WE CUT CORNERS, TOBY KAAR, TIERANNIESAUR, DUNE COLLECTIVE, CRY MONSTER CRY

I headed up ( 3 and half hours drive ) Friday afternoon, after ensuring I had a proper tent in order. 

Once there, after parking into some unofficial field ( this would cause some epic muddy departure later ), I set up my tent, near the Tramore boys and girls.

cosy camper

After a couple of drinks, we headed off to the gig tents, and started to enjoying the first bands ( notably the minutes ).

Finished off Friday night with the Kaiser Chiefs, brilliant, even if i missed 4-5 songs - including "I predict a riot"... or may be it was a perfect timing - due to event independent of my own will .. and a lovely red haired called Heather - if it was ever to be her name - only to ( most likely ) never see her again.

On Saturday, we awake in the mud, and were back on the drinks, I focus my attention on the North tent, and we had a great gig with TierAnnieSaur ( check their album on band camp ).

TierAnnieSaur...

Tierannisaur...

Fashion sense, how not to wear sunglasses:

No fashion sense

Hot 8 Brass Band on the main stage... warming us up to the sound of Marvin Gaye song

Sexual healing ....

The coronas on main stage:

The coronas...

Lessons learned over the weekend:
#1: All bits are important in a tent... especially the tiny piece which goes on top, and prevent rain to get down through the vent.
#2: Take Monday off, you'll need it to rest after, despite the sleeping till 12am everyday.
#3: Never ever ask a girl's name after making out with her. Loud music is not a valid excuse, nor bad hearing.
#4: Even if you take your ticket alone, you always end up, meeting friends.
#5: A Nissan micra is not a car made for offroad driving... even if mine is quite good in the mud.
#6: Many girls always try to look pretty and stylish, even in the mud and in the rain... which is an impressive feature at times ( Remind me of Clisare video on camping )


Anyway I loved the SeaSessions, and will definitely think of coming back next year ( probably with a Monday off, so i can enjoy the Sunday bands ).

Franz Ferdinand in Dolans

Another brilliant gig this week, in Dolans, with the fantastic Franz Ferdinand, a great music set, all the hits and four cracking new tunes, on the top of that.
As Stuart Clarke puts it:

The morning after the Franz night before! They were deadly, as was Dolan's and Limerick in general. What a venue and city!
— Stuart Clark (@stuartclark66) May 20, 2012

Franz Ferdinand have been the band of my first years working in Grenoble, transitioning from my student life. Great tunes, all full of memory. Brief another amazing night in Limerick :D

The setlist was :

• Cheating on You / Do You Want To / Tell Her Tonight 
• Right Thoughts / No You Girls / The Dark of the Matinée 
• Brief Encounters / Fresh Strawberries / ??? / Midnight! 
• Take Me Out / Ulysses / Trees & Animals / 40′ 
• Outsiders / Jacqueline 
• Encore:
• Michael /This Fire

UPDATE:
You can also read the excellent review of the gig on the Blog IndieLimerick:
http://indielimerick.blogspot.com/2012/05/franz-ferdinand-live-at-dolans-limerick.html

A good start for the Month of May

Bank May Holiday, with his now traditional Riverfest, was planned to be a busy weekend. The weather at times was menacing, but everything turned out great.

All started out with a chill out session on Friday night in the infamous Wicked Chicken, all with good tunes and excellent company (K & P )

The infamous Wicked Chicken....

We could not end up the night like that, so off we went finish ourselves to the Costello, his sticky carpet, and relax dance-floor, made some brilliant encounter down there, from past DJ (now teacher of the place) to Mr Scruff gig's friends.

Costello godess overlooking the dancefloor...

Water the drink of legends ;)

Definitely the perfect warm up for the long weekend.

On Saturday the big BBQ cook off, took place on Arthur Quay's, we manage to preserve ourselves a table, well guarded by bubbles gun.

Almost shining on a busy Arthur Quay...

Nice free food, and free music along with great people, mostly musician and psychology student, with the odd intrusion from work colleagues.

After an afternoon baking in the - at times - sun, it was time for me to go to Thomond Park, to enjoy a game of Rugby (Munster vs Ulster )

Munster Mascot

Munster on the attack....

This end up my day, but from what I heard the festivities were to continue long after my departure.

I had an excuse to leave early (10pm), as I was going diving in Doolin the following day.

On sunday morning, I arrive in Doolin, after escaping the gates in place for the Great Limerick Run.

Stoned view from Doolin pier

It did not take long to launch the boat, and off we went to the Aran Island ( Inis Mor ) to dive the wormhole ( I am still in the process of editing the video, so wait for the next post ).

In the afternoon we went for another one, along the Cliffs of Moher, under the sun.

The Cliffs viewed from the sea....

Once we were done, we had to take care of the boat, and after complicated exchange with some locals ( not facilitated by the foreigner accent of our diving club - including mine ), we ended up finding a suitable place to park it overnight. And it was time for fulfilling dinner.

A bit later, I had the extreme pleasure to be join by G&T in McDermott pub , around some nice guinness, enjoyable trad music session, for a nice chat. And it was not till well past 1AM that we had to say goodbye.

Guiness for strength in McDermotts

The legendary G&T

Up came monday, after a restful night - not enjoyed by everybody due to the weather conditions. 

And we were off, for another dive, this time  the club boat was hosting many guests from different clubs ( Cork SAC, Burren, and Ennis )

Aughinish Boat

Delightful dive, starting with an impressive wall of Anemones displaying all their colors in patches ( Orange, Yellow, Purple, blue.... ).

Aughinish Diving boat making way for the happy hooker.

And on our way back, we were greeted by a jumping dolphin, following us up to the pier.
You can actually read a bit more about this May dive weekend on the Aughinish website:
http://www.aughinishdivingclub.com/news/159-dolphin-the-cliffs-and-worm-hole


Some more....

Happy Hooked in Doolin ... ( the ferry  name ;)

The Cliffs viewed from Doolin....

How to end the week well

Underwater summary of the week

Found in newfie, a natural smiley...

Well, it has been a great week, with the escapes to the beach Tuesday and Wednesday. I was back in town Thursday night, with the usual concert in Bourkes. This time it was Rarely Seen Above Ground ( R.S.A.G. ).
A brilliant artist drummer, I was quite surprised by the performance in a very good way.

leaflet Bourkes

RSAG in Bourkes

Friday, was quiet at home, watching TV and chatting on FB. A bit of rest before having a rugby day, watching the French league, with a worrying prestation from ASM - hopefully it will be better next weekend - then heading saturday night to Thomond Park for the Munster-Leinster game. Not a great rugby game infairness but the ambience in Thomond is always good, even if the boys in blue managed to calm down the public.

Munster pre-game mascot

Sunday morning brought by the sun, which was perfect for a nice spin to Kilkee. A full good hour snorkel, a nice hot chocolate cake and small catch up with the diving buddies....

Anemone in Newfie

Under ....

Checking out the divers down below....

Me

Nice hot chocolate cake

In summary: good music, good company, the sun, the sea, some rugby game... what else can you ask for.