Stevie G: Changing tastes for music festivals sees smaller more intimate events gaining in popularity

The next part of the summer music calendar in Ireland is dominated by the bigger music festivals, most notably All Together Now and Electric Picnic, which both take place in the next six weeks. These are two of Europe’s foremost music festivals at this stage, and both sell out every year in advance.

The festival scene has changed quite a bit in the last few years here, and many older music fans are now starting to head to the smaller more intimate ones that are springing up more regularly. That said, the two big festivals still draw from a cross section of age groups, though at this stage the Electric Picnic is very much more pop orientated than when it started as an underground electronic-based one-dayer in 2004.

Looking back now, you could be fooled into thinking dance music was in its infancy then in Ireland. But it couldn’t be further from the truth. Our club scene had roots going back as far as the 80s and even the 70s, but by the 90s clubs such as our own Sir Henry’s were as respected as any others across not only Ireland but abroad. We had a broad clubbing infrastructure across the country and personally I used to DJ regularly at residencies in Limerick, Waterford, Galway, Dublin and later Belfast. The festival era, however, didn’t really emerge properly till later in the 90s.

We had a taste of it in Cork when Féile touched down here in 1995. Ostensibly an indie rock oriented festival, it also reflected the pop and dance influence of the era and that year in Cork brought the now infamous line-up that included indie dance acts and electronic artists aplenty. The Stone Roses, Orbital, The Orb, Tricky, Moby, The Prodigy and M People all played Páirc Uí Chaoimh, but it was what was happening under the shadows of the iconic stadium that was arguably most interesting.

A packed dance tent hosted Massive Attack, Underworld, Carl Cox, Chemical Brothers, Laurent Garnier, Andrew Weatherall and many more DJs, many of whom later went on to Sir Henry’s as they hosted their own legendary weekender. It was a pivotal moment for dance music in Ireland, and in the following years Homelands and Creamfields helped establish the festival scene in a more regular way. We travelled en masse to the Sir Henry’s arena at Homelands, which hosted Harri, Joe Claussell, Eric Rug and others. Soon Oxegen brought the spirit of Féile back with a broader indie pop festival, and it was around then that the Electric Picnic came into being.

It was a festival that was initially more focused on the electronic and hip-hop underground, and at the time, the Electric Picnic started to offer more than just music to the festival goers. As it rapidly developed, the scope became broader, and stages such as Body and Soul brought more variety to the festival. Eventually, original visionary John Reynolds had to cede some of the control of the festival and during its recent transition into one of Europe’s biggest festivals it’s been run largely by Live Nation and others. John later brought much of the spirit of the original EP back into play in his creation of All Together Now, which is still less commercial as it continues its success under the Pod and Aiken promotions.

Both festivals will be huge this year, the Picnic hosting Gorillaz, Fontaines DC, Skepta, Zara Larsson, CMAT and others, while the All Together Now line-up includes Kneecap, Ezra Collective, Joy Orbison, Pulp, Disclosure and many more. As often, most of the fun is on the smaller stages where a whole host of DJs and bands will play and, at both festivals, there is a strong artistic presence across the platforms, though by the nature of its big size, EP is a lot more commercial these days. Both will be packed and many Cork artists and music fans will travel to them.

Many are going for more intimate gatherings these days too. I spent a Friday at a small festival in Goleen harbour last weekend, featuring largely local DJs and a very intimate crowd of music enthusiasts.

A slightly bigger but similarly in spirit festival took place in Ballyvolane House, where Love is A Stranger was sadly marred by the passing of one of the members of our local music community, Beanzy, who was a popular figure on the DJ scene here in Cork. Beanzy was a great DJ and he will be greatly missed by all of his family and friends. RIP.