Fantastic day out at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham for
the inaugural In The Meadows. As with
all these multi-stage events, choices have to made, you catch a bit of one
artist here, and another there, and hope you manage to catch your ‘must-sees’.
First up was Syrian bouzouki player Mohammad
Syfkhan who played his lengthy pieces backed by programmed beats and
occasional singing. He created a fairly unique
atmosphere, and there was a sizeable audience who had arrived early enough for
the first act of the day. From
traditional Syrian music to traditional Irish music on the East (main) stage
with Cormac Begley. Begley played
a set of traditional tunes such as The Banks of Newfoundland and Gallowglass on
an assortment of concertinas. He told
some droll, laconic tales of his life growing up between songs, even giving us
his own rendition of Horslips’ Dearg Doom.
There followed a brief visit to the In The Middle stage for Ana
Palindrome, an Irish four-piece consisting of two violin players, along
with keyboards and some beats, they played moody pieces such as Tumble and will
be one to watch later this year I suspect.
Back to the West stage for John Francis Flynn,
who played a rousing set to a packed-out tent.
Opening with The Zoological Gardens, his set was a mixture of solo material
and material with his band, both for his own compositions and more traditional
material. His own Mole In The Ground,
with Flynn on guitar along with a drummer and double bass got the audience
dancing, while My Son Tim will have pleased those of a more purist folk
persuasion. Flynn rocked out on tin whistle
for Tralee Gaol. An energetic set
finished with the more chilled-out Shallow Brown which featured gorgeous
harmonies and a brooding version of Dirty Old Town. A man having a serious moment.
We managed to catch some of a seriously loud set from Mercury
Rev, where Jonathan Donahue and co powered through a good portion of their
much-loved Deserter’s Songs album, belting out Tonite It Shows, Goddess On A
Hiway, and Holes rising out of the noise.
After powering through Bob Dylan’s Love Sick they finished with Tides of
the Moon and a euphoric The Dark Is Rising.
A sprint to the main stage then for Mogwai, who
opened with the first song off their debut album, Yes! I Am A Long Way From
Home for a career-spanning set, and seriously upping the guitar quotient. Stuart Braithwaite and co seemed genuinely
delighted to be there, and an early highlight was a soaring version of I’m Jim
Morrison, I’m Dead where they stretched out the tension to a blissful, noisy midsong
climax. When the band are locked into
this kind of groove it truly feels like they can do no wrong. They also showed they can do straightforward,
vocal rock with Ritchie Sacramento, before summoning up the ghosts of early
Cure with a zonked-out Kids Will Be Skeletons.
Newer material such as the quintessentially Mogwai-sounding Dry Fantasy
and a ground-shaking Drive the Nail reverberated right into your soul. Hunted by the Freak featured Maria Sappho on keyboards
and distorted voice, substituting ably for the unavailable Barry Burns. After the lengthy epic Mogwai Fear Satan they
finished off with the borderline metal of Old Poisons. It's easy to take Mogwai for granted as they have been around nearly 30 years. While no longer the scary, confrontational
rockers of old, they were still able to get most of the audience feverishly
nodding along. Happy Songs for Happy People,
indeed.
A detour to the West Stage to the catch the tail-end
of Black Country, New Road, who it appears have completely left behind
the post-rock, Slint-inspired stylings fo their early material and now feature
sweet, prominent vocals, flutes, violins and what sounded like brass on some almost
‘musical’-inspired material such as Turbines/Pigs and Dancers. They didn’t quite connect.
What to say about headliners Lankum? The trad-inspired collective, who curated the
day have been getting some serious attention and the evidence of this it’s
absolutely merited. They opened with the
dark, menacing Go Dig My Grave and Radie Peat and co could do little wrong
after that, with it’s bone-shaking percussion and eerie drones. Clear Away In The Moring had some jaw-dropping
harmonies and the band were clearly having the time of their lives. Palestine got plenty of mentions as you might
expect. A dark-as-fuck The Rocky Road to
Dublin had many in the audience singing along.
The band were joined on squeeze box by Cormac Begley for Master Crowley’s
before the set climaxed with the towering doom-folk of The Turn, finishing off
with a lengthy noise portion. Sonic
Youth eat your heart out. They remade
The Wild Rover as their own with Radie Peat in fine voice and were rejoined by
Cormac Begley for the final hooley of Bear Creek.
Such intricate music, it was an awe-inspiring set,
nothing false about this Lankum! The weather
stayed fine for the day, and this generally added to the overall good vibes on
what proved to be a highly enjoyable event.
