Cois Fharraige 2008 Weekend Review

What can I say only Magic! The festival was run perfect in every aspect, The food/ Music/People/Organisers/Sponsors/Security/Drink/Kilkee Natives and the weather even behaved, check the blue sky above.

The buzz that surrounded the seaside was amazing and it rubbed off on everyone there including the bands. I have never seen bands such as Travis in awe of a crowds reaction and buzz.

In this weekend overview i will try and share some of the magic and some highlights that went on down there. I will give individual reviews of the main acts later in the day/week depending on if I fall asleep (I am shattered!)

I have plenty of pictures and videos to share so hold on in there please.

The pubs and streets were lined with people throughout the weekend and on Saturday they closed the main street it was so busy with people. It seems every pub had a live band of some sort and the festival atmosphere was unreal with many festival goers just staying in town all night it was so great.

However two minutes walk from the main street the big blue tent awaited us. I believe it is the same tent used for The Marque in Cork and for the festival in Galway. Once in the tent grounds the crowds were offered malibu on tap and coors , burgers chips and so on. I must say thanks to the really nice sony promoters who were giving out prizes throughout the weekend. I bagged myself a new sony w350i phone and two t-shirts , cheers!

FRIDAY

The first band to grace the stage to a very small audience was The Kanyu Tree. Its was very unfortunate that the crowd wasn't bigger as they missed a real treat of the weekend. With a sound and voice akin to phil collins the band really enjoyed themselves and started a fantastic weekend of music.

The crowd was spilling into the tent nearing the end of there set and on came The Coronas. If you haven't heard this crowd on radio yet you must go check your ears and with that radio fame came the crowd and they gave us one hell of a show. It was great to see homegrown talent like these guys and they played what seem to be a set of constant crowd pleasers.

The gap between band provided everyone with a great chance to sample free malibu. A stamp was givin to you if you got a free glass but the rain for once this year helped me out :) as the stamp washed off just in time between bands.

With a nice helping of booze on came my highlight of the Friday night The Futureheads. They were simply amazing. Every note they played was class and they played an unreal set of classics and newbies. They definitely blew everyone out of the water and amazed the crowd.

A very impressive stage rig was put up for the headliners as a huge flashing Z was adoring the stage as The Zutons appeared. They were clearly on form and flew threw a set with complete festival professionalism. I will give a full review of them later in the week.

SATURDAY

The buzz in town will be hard to beat on Saturday night as we sat out on the main street watching cover bands and actually getting sun burnt!

Some of the Munster team were present if you looked out carefully , as you could spot Thomas O Leary and obviously pick out Paul O Connell in the crowd.

The day was so nice people just stayed in town all day enjoying the buzz and the tent was empty almost when I arrived for the first act of the day, 28 Costumes. It wasn't the first time for this Liverpudlian band as they played the inaugural festival last year. They played a nice set with some really good riffs that are all available on their myspace. They thanked the GAA team for a lend of the pitch and interacted with the crowd throughout.

The Broken Family Band arrived out and ran through the set quickly I have to mention I missed a lot due to a refill , sorry guys but it had to be done. They have a serious back catalogue and they are worth checking out.

Kila arrived out later with an impressive lighting rig behind them and they amazed me throughout. I honestly wasn't expecting much from the band But I was in awe of there talent. The sound that they made that night was unreal. Irish with a splash of Reggie was just what the doctor ordered and they were a really great surprise of the weekend. They are playing dolans in late October and I sure will be attending again.

Seasick Steve arrived out to a packed out tent and played an unreal set which included highlights such as bringing a girl up on stage to sing here a song and his storys between songs were amazing, If you didnt like the guy that night there was something wrong with you.

Supergrass entered the tent minus there cool light show from Paris which I was a little disappointed about but the sound and set ripped the Paris gig to shreds, they completed rocked the place earning them the best of the festival so far. I will also write a full review of these guys soon.

SUNDAY

A lot of the crowd were gone home with work looming the next day but Kilkee was still packed as ever. Got myself some recovery lunch and a perfect spot to watch Waterford destroy the cats. This wasn't to be the case as Kilkenny recorded the biggest winning margin in all-Ireland hurling history. It was still impressive to watch them at work and no team in the world would have beaten them on the day. It was nice to say that limerick put up a bigger fight last year. Right back to the subject at hand, first up on the Sunday, Joe Brown.

A disappointing number of people showed up and it was visible by Joe he wasn't too happy but he soldiered on through a small set and he sounded great. He left early leaving a big gap for Ocean Colour Scene to take his place. Simon and Oscar arrived out to again a disappointing amount of festival goers. He laughed that wearing his ran bans doubled the crowd. These guys would usually have a sell out crowd and it made the gig really intimate with the two lads conversing with the crowd. The played all the classics and as the set went on the crowd grew in size. By the end of the set the place was full and the singalongs were getting louder!

Natty arrived out to a very lively crowd and he was just amazing! I had seen they guy on Jools Holland some months back and his stage presence and music was enthralling. The Bob Marleyesc singing mixed with Ska Rock got the crowd dancing throughout and put on a unreal show , I will be purchasing his album as soon as possible.

Starsailor arrived out and were so pleased to just be there as they were drafted in due to the coral canceling. With a really good attitude the lads sailed through a set of old numbers that everyone instantly remembered. They played some new stuff and looks like they are still going strong in the music department even if the selling isn't going too well.

They made way for the most anticipated few hours of the weekend on my part. One of my favourite bands was about to play one of the best gigs I was ever at. Travis played to a crowd of people that even made Travis look small. The atmosphere in the tent was beyond words and the band were blown away by the noise of us. A big review of Travis will be posted shortly.

The weekend was amazing and i will hope they go for a third effort at this festival and from everyone point of view it was a real success, well done to all involved.