So the move from Lugalla, Wicklow to the more central location of Royal Hospital Grounds in Kilmainham mattered little on the day as the music was taking place in a large tent. It would have been nice to be surrounded by mountains but I’ll gladly trade the setting for the sunny weather we got yesterday. The actual site was a little small and like a cramped Electric Picnic which lasted for a long afternoon and evening complete with flags and a small massage area. One bar for 5000 people? Hmmmm.
The Jimmy Cake and Soulwax were both good but it was all about Kraftwerk who were fun, fun, fun but in a tightly controlled and very German way. 2 hours of music non-stop. The setup is impressive. Five projectors were utilised to show their unique visuals which is a huge selling point for me. Imagine the same show without them? Occasionally you still wonder what exactly the four of them are doing on that stage (their line-up was without Florian on this occasion, instead replaced by a Kling Klang studio technician) and I’d love to know exactly but they’re still totally iconic and relevant. Before their mechanical versions were brought out for ‘The Robots’ there was a humourous minute where the curtain wouldn’t close over. Epic curtain fail. Similiar setlist to Minimum Maximum with some other tunes thrown into a different order. I loved it. Oh yeh, where did DJ Mehdi play? I missed him somehow.
Show Intro
The Robots
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005 . He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Cara Magazine, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, founder of Lumo Club, club promoter, event curator and producer of gigs, listening parties & events in Dublin.
Kraftwerk live? Holy shit I’m jealous.
Despite my messy head I had a killer time at the gig on Saturday. Was definitely worth nerding out at the front from the end of Soulwax to have a good spot. Like you said – one bar for that many people probably deterred me from leaving my spot.
I missed Medhi but I heard he was just playing off to the side of the stage in between acts or something.
Did anyone see Boxcutter?
DJ Mehdi was at the wee dome tent. Epic man that he is. Should have seen Ralf’s face when he walked off and the curtain was still open.
Someone got a teutonic bollocking, for sure.
I worked it out last night while I was sleeping that Mehdi played in the dome and woke up with that in my head yesterday morning.
No Boxcutter unfortunately! Made it in for the Jimmy Cake
Busy played at the side of the main stage just before Kraftwerk but Mehdi played the smaller tent I discovered afterwards…boo!
Boxcutter was on far too early so missed him!
Great sets from Soulwax and Kraftwerk and apart from the bar situation I had a great day.
important, influential, seminal, god-like, blah, blah, blah. the year is 2008 and it follows that watching/listening to kraftwerk offers us nothing except nostalgia for events unwitnessed. i actually got more from watching/listening to a clown (according to his garb and makeup) alternating between spinning platters and playing sax. soulwax? well, c’mon. shi-ITE, of-course.
all this negativity even though i was one of the few who experienced no problems at all in getting loaded up with booze and top quality food (thanks, rob).
would’ve been better off staying in and renting a pizza & eating a dvd to the value of €69.50+