Well, it had to happen. There’s only so much rain that the sky can hold in its swollen grey belly before it has to spit it all out. Alas, for once all the weather apps were in agreement – it was going to be a washout. And it was.

Now in its ninth year, Castlepalooza is touted as the “best little festival in Ireland” and there are many reasons why this might be true: its location (one hour from Dublin, one and half from Galway); its setting, with the haunting Charleville Castle as the backdrop; the ease of navigation, all of the stages being within a couple of minutes of each other; and the quality and variety of the acts, with a strong Irish influence. On the negative side is the cheeky €15 charge for the car park, which caught most people by surprise, and, considering the size of the festival, the distance of this car park from the venue and campsites – a good 20 minute walk.

­FRIDAY

Whether the decision was calculated or fortuitous, the scaled-down operation on the Friday night proved to be astute, with heavy rain continuing all night, the Metro Herald Stage, in a marquee, was the only place to be, and that was the only stage hosting live music on the night. Arman Giorgio took to the stage as the Metro Herald tent became packed for the first time, mixing well known tunes by the likes of LCD Soundsystem and Muse with big techno beats, all of which was lapped up by the crowd.

By the time JB The Deejay took to the stage, the tent was properly packed, as much to get out of the rain as anything. He kept the party going, probably playing to one of the easiest crowds he’ll ever get, which meant that it was all teed up nicely for Norman Jay. A steaming tent of revellers were taken on a bewildering trip by the BBC DJ with everything from Millie Small, Aretha Franklin, Marvin Gaye and Soft Cell, all mixed with some deep house and bouncy techno. Rain? What Rain?

Subsequent efforts to find the Sharkashack tent, where the party was promised to continue into the wee small hours, proved fruitless with beffudled punters pointing each other in every direction.

SATURDAY

As festival-goers awoke to the sound of heavy rain on the roofs of their tents on Saturday morning you could almost hear the collective sigh across the campsites. What was soggy the previous night was now verging on swamp-like conditions. There are reported sightings of crowds of campers packing up and going home already. Sure ‘tis only a bit of rain.

Buffalo Sunn

With the main stage now open for business, the question was whether anyone would be bothered to stand in the rain or under the comically small canopy in front of the stage. Anyone who did would have been rewarded with a very impressive performance by Buffalo Sunn whose harmony-rich folk rock recalled a more up-tempo Fleet Foxes, their refrain of “you left me helpless in the pouring rain” proving unwittingly apt.

SlowPlaceLikeHome

SlowPlaceLikeHome didn’t fare so well in these conditions, their dreamy soundscapes being suffocated by oppressive cloud and rain. The performance never took off and frontman Keith Mannion seemed uninterested in trying. Granted that their music is clearly sunny afternoon material, but this Ireland and we had expected more.

Affleck

Meanwhile, over on the Metro Herald stage, the oddly-name Affleck are making ill-advised use of a violin over their electronic arrangements, which doesn’t work at all. Bizarrely, two of their songs are based on the Minecraft video game. The second of these, Super Happy Ending, is actually brilliantly euphoric, but one song was not enough to rescue the entire performance.

Fox Jaw

The Main Stage was suffering some technical problems throughout the day, with audible vocals proving particularly elusive. Battling these issues and the weather were Fox Jaw, whose lead singer, Ronan Mitchell, has the same louche swagger and deft guitar playing as Josh Homme. In fact, with your back to the stage you’d be forgiven for thinking Queens of the Stone Age had made an impromptu appearance. Far from mere impersonators, Fox Jaw set out their stall with some panache, despite the sound issues meaning that it was difficult to make out, or distinguish between, the three guitars. New single, Hijack, closes the set on a high.

Synaesthete

This was the first “moment” of the weekend. Anyone who was lucky enough to be present for Synaesthete’s performance on the Metro Herald stage already knows they witnessed something very special. Like Florence without the Machine, she took to the stage solo and had the crowd in the palm of her hand from the off, with looped vocals, samples and live drumming, she made more sound on her own than most bands can. The only afternoon performance that elicited calls for an encore, she is a hugely exciting talent.

Dublin Afrobeat Ensemble

Back on the Main Stage the thirteen-strong party band that is the Dublin Afrobeat Ensemble manage to lift the crowd above the weather with their high-energy set. Either they didn’t notice it was raining or they didn’t care. With members from Cameroon to Cabra, their eclectic sound has everyone dancing, bouncing, splashing. They are irresistible.

King Kong Company

King Kong Company are totally unexpected, totally original and totally brilliant. Their surreal performance has the wide-eyed crowd in the Metro Herald tent begging for more. With live musicians mixed with samples, big beats, and a masked frontman (and, latterly, frontwoman), there is a carnival atmosphere in the tent. It really is fantastic stuff.

O Emperor

It’s fair to say that acts in the Metro Herald tent fared better in general than the main stage acts who had to deal with a largely miserable crowd. O Emperor were one such act, and they put in a solid, earnest performance. Quite a few new songs featured which would have disappointed those hoping to hear tracks from ‘Hither Thither’. However, in a totally unexpected turn, they played a pitch-perfect cover of Bowie’s Let’s Dance which was bizarre only because of how identical to the original it was. The sentiment worked though, and the crowd dutifully shuffled their feet.

Sleep McEvox

Unfortunately, Sleep McEvox,  whom we had expected to have us dancing all the way through his set, failed to hold our attention. While he started strongly, the repetitive beats, which seemed unending, soon had us wondering what else was going on. Looks like the first part of his pseudonym is not ironic.

Gruff Rhys

So it was that we were watching Gruff Rhys sitting on a quite a comfortable-looking stool, strumming his guitar and singing in his own laconic way. Here was a man whose position at the top of the bill clearly had more to do with reputation than expectation, and while it would perfectly pleasant to listen to from a balcony seat in the Olympia, on a rainy Saturday night at a festival it didn’t work. No doubt, die hard fans of his will have enjoyed the set, but for the objective observer it was a bore.

Chatting afterwards, something is different, something is missing. We realise it has actually stopped raining for the first time since Friday evening. Reinvigorated we go in search of the elusive Sharkashack but find that it has just closed. When it is pointed out that there are DJs scheduled until 6 a.m. the Hi-Vis Helpers merely shrug. Foiled again. Ah well, there’s always tomorrow.