Excuses Excuses

GOOD GRIEF. IS IT MARCH ALREADY? 2014!? WHATT!?!?!!

Bless me father, for I have sinned. It's been fecking ages since my last blog post.


I KNOW excuses mean nothing but I have SO MANY of them goddamnit; at least have the decency to hear me out.

Here are some things that have happened in the last couple of months:

• I got an internship working for a hip, upcoming, shiny new music website. It's called www.choorpy.com. I write the odd blog there, and do some fabulously boring admin stuff, alongside organizing cool gig/artist/promotion related work.
• I am currently in the process of coordinating with various music festivals for the summer. Friends of mine and I, together a hugely bad influence and far too braisen with our ambition, are touring Music & Arts Festivals throughout Ireland and the UK, and a couple odd ones further afield, with our circus theatre/street performance act 'Flocked in the Head'.
• I have somehow, somewhere along the way, managed to set up my own Events Management and Promotion company. We're called Tennis Court Hop Productions (TCH Productions) and jaysus man, there's a lot of work involved. I'm tied up booking bands, sorting advertising, social media, selling tickets, coordinating with the venue; it's all gigantic fun and brings out my two finest qualities; list-making and worrying. www.tchproductions.com. Check us out, our website is only gorgeous.
• LOL, I'm actually doing my Leaving Cert. too. So, while everything is terrific fun and my CV is looking well; I'm also in school all day and pretending to be studying all night. BUT the world waits for no man and I shall not be chained down by a week of exams in June. It'll be graaaand (she said).

Yeah, I know excuses don't cut it, but still. Sympathy points? No? Nothing?

I suppose I'll just say a couple of Hail Mary's and hope for the best.

REVIEW: INDIEPENDENCE ☆☆☆☆

Venue: Deer Farm, Mitschelstown, Cork, Ireland.

August 2nd-4th, 2013



INDIEPENDENCE. A small Music & Arts Festival, nominated for 'Best Small Festival' at European Awards 2013.

 'The Farm', as it's fondly known, is absolutely ideal for a festival of it's kind. 

• The ground is flat, and the earth is pretty absorbing (i.e. it'll take a nice bit of downpour before your tent goes the full Titanic). Something to do with the mountainous Galtee region it lies in.....or something that sounds a lot cooler than what I just said.
• There are lots (and lots and lots) of trees- behind which one can escape the dreaded port-a-loos, or just escape in general. 
• The campsites are spread out and well signposted, for when you've been kicked out of the main arena at 4am and you realise that everyone else went with the cheapest possible option of tent in the Argos catalogue too.

The Arena was totally diverse, there was something for absolutely everybody -

even this guy.

• The Canadian Main Stage was where all the 'big acts' played. By 'big acts' I mean headliners such as De La Soul, The Fratellis, Bell X1, Bastille, Kodaline; the list goes on.
• The Maxol Big Top Stage, a circus tent, essentially, housed the likes of Beardyman (AMAAAZING), And So I Watch You From Afar and Hudson Taylor.
• Bacardi Oakheart Arena (who, for the record, made a damn good mojito) and the Darkness Graveyard catered for the dance/house/techno lunatics within us all, the latter being more.....well, "Darkness Graveyard"-y.
• The Bier Halle- complete with Oktoberfest benches- was my personal favourite. Upside down umbrellas decorated the ceiling, the acts were mainly unsigned, up-and-coming bands (such as Walking On Cars).
• The Hot Press Tent interviewed most of the line-up in front of whoever wanted to come along could do so. (Not to be recommended when it's 2 o' clock in the afternoon, you're still drunk, and the most intelligent thing you can thing of saying to the Fratellis is 'The Fratellis are so-'*runs away*)
• There was also a Silent Disco- which you should totally consider sneaking into without headphones and dancing in the silence- it is practically an outer-body experience. Or so I'm told.

Even the food was top class.

Cleverly, I bought an early-bird ticket, so the whole weekend only cost me €70.

As goes with the territory, festivals are pretty objective. 
So while I had the time of my life, and did some pretty ridiculous stuff, and would recommend it wholeheartedly- not everybody would agree, and there were some downsides too.

• The port-a-loos were di-sgust-ing. I understand that it is nobody's fault (apart from those charming sink vomiters) but jeeesus, they were septic. 
• I was unsure/uncomfortable with the presence of the family campsite/the kids, running around with earmuffs on. I mean, really?? Is your 4 year old son going to thank you for seeing drunken twenty-something-year-old-guys declaring their love for each other in a pile of vomit and Canadian beer glasses?
• There weren't enough bad points to make my bullet-pointed argument seem necessary. This is unacceptable, please adhere to this complaint for next year.

Overall, it was sheer brilliance. The lineup, while nothing spectacular, had some real diamonds. It was the extra touches, the "festivities" that really made it stand out. Check out www.indiependencefestival.com, and keep an eye on when early bird tickets for next year go onsale.

It's definitely worth the gamble.