In the first big musical weekend of the summer, many options awaited the average punter up and down the country. In a weekend where Rory Gallagher songs rained supreme up-north and where fruit of the forbidden nature was dominating the headlines and twitter feeds in the capital, strawberry was the fruit of choice as we attended Strawberry Fest in Enniscorthy, Co.Wexford. The festival can be traced back to the Strawberry Fairs of old. In it’s new incarnation, The Strawberry Festival will be in its second year in operation. Last year, they opened it’s gates for free in an audacious attempt for publicity and it worked a charm as large crowds flocked through it’s gate. This year, they command one of Ireland’s most reasonably priced 3-day passes (€50). This year sees an impressively bigger stage play host to notably bigger artists as the weekend began.

Friday

The bank holiday pilgrimage from Dublin was kind to us as we arrived only a little bit later than expected, just in time to catch The Original Rudeboys. Last year saw The Original Rudeboys lose “their festival virginity” at the first Strawberry Festival as the lads explained in an interview for the festivals website. The guys have grown and matured quite considerably as a live entity in that time while also picking up a great bunch of screaming support along the way. The next step is to wean out some of the countless covers they perform during their set. All well and good having the whole crowd sing back verbatim the chorus lines but there must be some disjunction when the lyrics are not your own.

Maverick Sabre was next on the main stage to headline the first night of Strawberry Festival 2012. This gig was a sort of spiritual homecoming as Maverick grew up down the road in New Ross, Co. Wexford. The crowd welcomed him home with open arms as the festival saw it’s biggest crowd of the weekend. Memories served as the first song in a set full of hits. As he played Open My Eyes, it becomes apparent that Mr.Sabre is a real musician as he flows and dances around the soul vibes coming from his spectacular backing band. His peculiar accent, mixing Irish with London and Jamaican, sounds pitch perfect throughout every song. Just before he performs Sometimes, he declares to the crowd: “this is probably the proudest moment of my career”. A poignant introduction to a remarkably special song. A song that he wrote when he was only 16 about him moving from Ireland to England. The songs lyrics hit an emotional chord with the crowd as Maverick smoothly delivers the lines: “Settling was hard when you’re treated like a lump of shit. Saying you were black and tan and come for what you fucking did” and “I hate that history, I hate that Union Jack. I’ll never speak for any man or any flag”. This raised the crowds voice immediately and got their spirits up. Some members of the crowd indulged themselves in a bout of fisticuffs, only for Mr Sabre to stop mid-song and basically tell them to cop on. Extra brownie points for you Mr.Sabre. Singles like No One and Let Me Go gave the fans an opportunity to adorn the hometown hero with noise before I Need closes off the perfect act on the perfect stage in Wexford.

Saturday

As we rolled from our tent in a near deserted campsite, everyone instead choosing to stay at home and travel, we made our way to the main stage to see The Barley Mob. “You do what you want in this life” roared out over the main stage as we tried to shake the bags from under our eyes. The Barley Mob are fast becoming the must see-feel-good band of the Irish festival circuit and today was no different. Due to heavy rain in the morning and a sparse downpour in the afternoon, the crowd in front of the main stage was modest to put it lightly. With lyrics such as: “Free your mind and shine” to “you’ll never be lost when you’ve got music”, they really do embody the joyous feeling that overcomes festival go’ers, regardless of the colour of the sky. Stand Up Rise Up, their latest single was the best of the bunch on this occasion. While Adam Daly, their exceptional front man, couldn’t lure the sun out on this occasion, he got each and every crowd member dancing to his concoction of Dublin infused reggae beats.

The ever-present and adored Aslan appeared very early on the Saturday afternoon in order to make another gig appearance somewhere close by. Despite playing so early, Christy and the lads gave a rousing performance that shook The Strawberry Fest main stage to it’s rafters. In the lashings of rain, Christy hand-signaled his way through the wide range of hits that Aslan possess. Crazy World blared out while Lucy Jones really took the plaudits on this occasion. A special moment cropped up as Christy sang with a bride-to-be for the duration of the song. Aslan, they still got it.

Key West impressed and confused in equal measure as they played songs such as Road to Damnation and In The Fight For Love with the latter being particularly impressive. However, something seemed amiss throughout the performance as the lead singer returned to his specially made wine-stand between songs and raised his glass to the crowd, most of whom were 10-15 year old girls eating Strawberry’s and cream. Something didn’t sit quite right as the performance and crowd interaction seemed forced and unnatural.

The Hot Sprockets sprang the “wish I had caught their whole set” moment of the day as the vastly underrated band played to a packed Oxjam tent behind the main stage. A band with an abundance of stage presence, attitude and country folk swagger that keeps you hooked the whole set through. Songs like Honey Skippin prove that this band are heading the right way.

The Minutes confirmed themselves as by far and away Ireland’s best true rock and roll band. It’s such a breath of fresh air seeing a band put so much effort into their appearance and pulling off a look that ties in so aptly with their style of music. They were unfortunate with the rain and the timetable placement, resulting in a poor turnout. Nonetheless, the band gave the powerhouse performance we all know and at this stage, expect to see.

Saturday’s big headline, the legendary Status Quo were about to take stage. With rumours of backstage hissy fits and general rock and roll behaviour, the Quo took to the stage to a reasonably large crowd. Those who came, chose to brave the near torrential rain, all in search of the legendary 12 bar-blues playing gods. With the iconic white Marshall amps stacked to the rear of the stage, the band of grey-haired journeymen took us on a whirlwind tour of nothing but the hits. The infection to dance and shuffle like your Mam and Dad came shooting through the whole crowd as the rain only dampens the ground, not the spirits. Rollover Beethoven, Rocking All Over The World, In The Army Now and Whatever You Want, just some of the timeless tunes serving as the dance track to our wet and wonderful evening.

Sunday

The last day would throw up all sorts of festival and musical contradiction as the main stage would play host to an entirely different set of acts than the previous two days. The majority of the main stage acts would have a heavy pop leniency, with even The X-Factor bandwagon rolling into town early on. Amelia Lily, the mercurial 3rd place contestant from last years show came to the stage, alone. To be brutally honest, it was awful. The curiosity to see any sort of progression took over as we endured the double X-Factor onslaught. This performance was obviously aimed at young children, as any adult or music lover would have been appalled. The kids seemed to love jumping around listening to tedious Katy Perry, Jessie J and Rihanna tracks with nothing but a Tesco backing track for company in the background. Hands down, one of the worst musical offerings I have ever witnessed at a festival.

I hoped and presumed that Marcus Collins would at least have his own band to accompany him. What we got were two sailor clad backing dancers pretending to play the trumpet. The only saving grace was that Marcus was playing covers from his recent album release, even if he did totally swipe an existing cover of The White Stripes – Seven Nation Army by Ben L’Oncle. See Ben’s version here and Marcus version here. Musical blasphemy I tell you. The only glimmer of hope came as Marcus played his only original song of the set, his new single and last chance of musical credit – Mercy. No comment.

Thank god for We Town Criers on the Oxjam stage, single-handedly reigniting our faith in music. A real honest quality exudes from this Roscommon based band. With songs such as Grind and Medousa, they have powerful songs that could draw a crowd. Although, it is with Switch Flicker, that they really shine, showing that passion and commitment to a performance is key. Keep an eye out for We Town Criers at one of the festivals over the summer.

The Kanyu Tree continued the pop theme from earlier but in all more delightful way. One of the most likeable bands to grace an Irish stage this year with their pop musings so infectious and tight. The three-piece sibling team construct such effortless pop remedies to simple modern-day feelings. They owe so much to music gone by but also have that originality in an electro-synth ridden music scene. Perfect Irish pop, the best an Irish audience can see no doubt. Radio and Shelf Life, the bands two hit singles, rise above all other material on show. If the band can stop belittling themselves on stage with comments such as: “We’ll be gone soon so you can hear The Saw Doctors and Bressie, they’re much better”, they should be able to garner a reasonable and enthusiastic following in anticipation for their second release.

The Saw Doctors came and played their usual all action set as the Wexford crowd reacted in full voice. The usual euphoria surrounding songs such as N17 and I Use to Love Her was clear to see. The guys even managed to squeeze in Michael D Rocking In The Dail for good measure. It was at this point I ventured toward the Oxjam tent for the last time of the weekend to see Seven Summits. The Northern Ireland band proved ample cover away from all the Irish dancing and screams of “Play N17 again”. An inspired journey it turned out to be as Seven Summits thrilled and surprised from the outset. Songs like Burning Heart and Someone showcased this bands vast talents. Most certainly a band on the radar from here on in.

The last act of the weekend would see RTÉ poster boy Bressie take to the stage to a packed Enniscorthy crowd. The set itself took a long time to kick into gear with the cold crowd not yet feeling the Bressie vibes. It took a cover of Martin Solveig’s – Hello to get the final act of the weekend underway. Quickly followed by Breaking My Fall, a track that proved a massive hit up and down the country. It’s no wonder why this track went down as a crowd favourite, with it’s catchy chorus and simple lyrics. He then dipped into The Blizzards back catalogue to rework some of the old hit singles such as Fantasy and Trouble. Animals was up next as Bressie accompanied the track with a visual show laden with riot footage. A political message from squeaky-clean Bressie? It didn’t work as Bressie broadcasted visuals of violence and beatings to a prepubescent crowd. An embarrassing rendition of Wonderful World would lead us into a peculiar ending to a festival as Bressie sang Can’t Stay Young. A rather depressing song about watching your friends growing old without any message of hope or solace. The most comforting message we receive is a meaningless – “but hey”. A rather dubious note to end a weekend festival as the crowd sings the horrible lines: “it’s hard to watch your friends grow old, but Hey, you know ,you can’t stay young forever.”.

The Strawberry Festival has it’s massive strong points and it’s small weaknesses. In terms of organization, it is one of the best I have seen outside of Dublin in recent memory. A weird array of different acts on the main stage lineup across the weekend leads to confusion as to what kind of festival this is. As a daily visit ticket, this festival makes sense. However as a weekend camping entity, this festival isn’t so well-rounded. Most Strawberry Festival attendees commuted to and from the festival each day, in some cases only returning for one or two acts. Disbarring the bad weather, this resulted in very poor attendances throughout the weekend. This won’t bother festival organisers as they have sold the tickets but it leaves us, the crowd, with a very bare atmosphere. Considering how much the festival has grown, I believe the small details will be ironed out over years to come and I look forward to Strawberry Fest round 3!

 

Photos kindly supplied by Dara Munnis.

You can also see the full gallery here.

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