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Irish Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Putting on an outdoor music festival in Ireland: ‘The bands saw they weren't going to be up on the back of a truck in Portlaoise'
When Philip Meagher, a solicitor and indie-rock fan, set out to create a music festival from scratch, he knew he had a lot to prove. He had no experience organising a big event featuring dozens of acts over multiple days – on a brand new festival site. But he was passionate about music and believed there was space in an already crowded calendar for something different. And so was born Forest Fest , a three-day event at Emo village, in Co Laois, that's laser-focused on concertgoers of a particular vintage. 'We were trying to fill a niche. We thought there was a market for a festival primarily focused on a more mature audience. And while we didn't want to go completely retro, we certainly wanted a nod towards artists on the road for a long time. READ MORE 'But we were very specific that we were only talking about bands that were still match fit – basically that they were bands that were still gigging actively, were producing new music, that were touring.' [ Forest Fest 2024 review: Golden oldies shine, Shane MacGowan's spirit inspires Opens in new window ] Meagher launched Forest Fest in 2022 with a largely Irish line-up. It has since expanded to include international acts such as Suede and James. This year's headliners, over the weekend of July 25th to 27th, include Franz Ferdinand and Manic Street Preachers . The challenge, says Meagher, was to put together a bill that reflected his vision of the festival as an event that appealed to over-30s yet did not wallow in nostalgia for nostalgia's sake. He didn't want to lean into the hellscape of glorified 1980s karaoke: the idea was to celebrate artists who were still forging ahead creatively rather than dining out on faded glories. 'The first year we were concentrating mostly on Irish acts. The good, big names, like The Stunning, Something Happens, the likes of those,' he says. 'In fairness to them, they were very open to taking a risk on a new festival. Obviously, they were taking a leap into the dark. We had to give certain assurances about the level of production and staging we were going to provide. 'When they saw the production team we had put together, and they saw the specification of the sound system, staging, the lighting, etc, that we were going to put in place … that was of huge comfort to them. They weren't going to turn up and be up on the back of a truck in the square in Portlaoise. That's with the greatest of respect to bands that play on the back of a truck.' These are challenging times for music festivals. In the UK last year more than 60 festivals were cancelled or postponed, up from 36 in the previous 12 months. In Ireland, where the circuit is obviously a lot smaller, nine such events were nevertheless cancelled last year amid rising overheads in music and ongoing cost-of-living pressures. Those tensions are felt across the industry. In the case of bigger festivals there is an ever more desperate scramble to secure one of the elite acts seen as having the star power to headline a major outdoor concert – think Lana Del Rey, who played Glastonbury in 2023, or Olivia Rodrigo, a headliner in 2025. It's a short list – and everyone wants them. Elite act: Lana Del Rey at Glastonbury in 2023. Photograph: Joseph Okpako/WireImage 'We're seeing a trend of festivals booking acts earlier. Primavera Sound , in Barcelona, announced its line-up in October, and it takes place in June this year, which means negotiations would have started before their last festival even happened,' Finlay Johnson of the Association for Electronic Music , a New York-based organisation with member companies in more than 40 countries, said in January. 'Others have followed suit. Partly, they want tickets to be on sale for as long as possible, but they also want to secure headliners, as there are fewer acts available.' Those headaches do not apply to smaller festivals – at least not in the same way. Still, regardless of scale, an attractive line-up is more important than ever. It can be the difference between a good year and an underwhelming one. If anything, such decisions are even more crucial when it comes to more intimate festivals. 'We need the headliner name on the board to excite people, get a bit of hype going,' says Katie Twohig, who, with her husband, Eoin Hally, programmes the three-stage, 800-capacity When Next We Meet festival , at Raheen House in Clonmel, Co Tipperary, which this year takes place on June 7th and 8th. Headliners: Pillow Queens are at this year's When Next We Meet. Photograph: Debbie Hickey/Getty The main acts include Villagers , Conor O'Brien's thoughtful indie songwriter project, and the postpunks Pillow Queens, alongside the cult alternative artists Paddy Hanna, Skinner and Morgana. Having a big name is important, and not only in terms of shifting tickets or drawing an audience from outside the locality. They also set the tone for the rest of the bill, Twohig says. The idea is to attract acts that have a complementary sound. If When Next We Meet booked the noisy Dublin postpunks The Scratch, for example, they'd have to ensure the rest of the day's line-up had a similar sensibility. The goal is to mould the feel of the weekend around those headliners. It all starts with them. 'We're absolutely thrilled where things landed this year. Villagers are the main band closing on Sunday. But also Pillow Queens, on the Saturday night, they'll be headlining. We feel like they're strongest line-up to date, and a lovely balance in terms of genres as well. And Pillow Queens probably have a younger audience, so it's a lovely scope there,' Twohig says. 'Sometimes it's hard to get that balance right. There's no end to the amount of great artists that are out there. When you're curating something, it takes time to get that balance right. Once you book one artist it narrows down your choices, I suppose, in the lower tiers on the programming. We're very happy with how it turned out this year. But some years we've been stressing over about getting the right fit.' As with so much else in the music industry, putting together a good festival bill is helped by having a solid network of contacts, says Emmet Condon, who promotes live music under the Homebeat banner and programmes Another Love Story , an intimate festival at the 18th-century Killyon Manor, in Co Meath, which has a capacity of about 2,000 people. (This year's festival is on August 23rd and 24th.) In the music business there are people who get involved because of the romance, and then there are people who are hard-nosed businesspeople. We tend to try and work with or find acts and people who have the same heart that we have about doing it — Emmet Condon Having started in 2014, Another Love Story remains the best-kept secret of the Irish festival year, though it has attracted many high-profile artists. This year the headliners are the Barcelona producer and DJ John Talabot and the Co Wicklow songwriter Fionn Regan . 'I have been running shows as Homebeat for 15 or 16 years now. I've been active as a booker and a promoter for a long time. I've worked as a booker for things like Body & Soul,' says Condon, referring to the Westmeath festival last held in 2023. 'Over a span of time you build up contacts, and people trust what you do.' The bigger acts Another Love Story has attracted, according to Condon, include Talabot and, last year, the German electro supergroup Modeselektor. It has also hosted people like Alabaster DePlume, the acclaimed jazz and spoken-word artist, and the famed fiddler Martin Hayes, 'who would be luminaries in their own right'. It takes work to reel in these international artists, who may have festival offers from around the world. 'For us to attract them to the smaller stage, we have to work pretty hard to deliver what we do each year. And then to sell the dream of the thing to those people. 'In the music business there are people who almost inevitably get involved because of the romance, and then there are people who are hard-nosed businesspeople,' who want to make money. 'We tend to try and work with or find those acts and those people who have the same heart that we have about doing it.' With smaller festivals, there are no blockbusting stars to draw the audience. It has to be about something more than that. 'It started as a relatively small thing and has grown into a relatively substantial adventure each year,' Condon says about Another Love Story. 'As it's grown, as a booker, the opportunity has been to increasingly fill the space and create a narrative of sorts through music. 'We're not a massive festival that has massive headline acts, obviously. My favourite thing about the whole thing is the spreadsheet that I get to keep and hone – like my baby – from one September, when one festival ends, and straight over to the next part of the year. 'It's a joy to create a mood piece, using music throughout the whole weekend, and to kind of create an arc of experience and the soundtrack that fits around it.' In the case of Forest Fest, which has a 12,000-person capacity across three stages, Philip Meagher had a clear vision: a festival that would appeal to those whose wayward youth is well behind them and are perhaps starting to weary of megafestivals. He had worked as a solicitor for the late John Reynolds, the much-respected Irish promoter who established Electric Picnic in 2004. It was being at that festival, which has drifted towards a younger audience over the past 15 years, that made Meagher decide there was a niche for music lovers who had aged out of Stradbally weekend. 'The main acts that we have are obviously of a very, very high standard. They have a huge international standing. The curated bands that would support them would be of a similar quality but wouldn't quite have, perhaps, the international standing that the main acts would have. 'And that would filter down into the other supporting stages, where we would have acts slightly smaller in standing and then supported by the best of up-and-coming Irish and international acts,' he says. 'We have very, very strong new acts coming from the UK, coming from Ireland, coming from the US – giving them a chance. And they're appreciative of the fact that a lot of them are getting their first big festival experience – and playing on the same bill as the likes of the Manics and Travis and Dandy Warhols. 'They're going to meet them all and learn from them and see what it's like to be a rock god for the weekend.'
Forbes
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Q&A: The Kooks Luke Pritchard On New Music, Fatherhood And More
MATLOCK, ENGLAND - AUGUST 02: Luke Pritchard of The Kooks performs on Day Two of Y Not Festival 2024 ... More Pikehall on August 02, 2024 in Matlock, England. (Photo by) U.K. indie rock favorites The Kooks are a classic example of the phrase, 'If you know, you know.' They have a dedicated U.S. following, their shows are always a great time made of loyal, hardcore fans who've been with the band, oftentimes, a decade or more. Kooks frontman Luke Pritchard does not take that for granted at all. 'The idea that people care that we're making a seventh album is so cool,' he says. They just released Never/Know, the seventh record, this month and began a North American tour this week. I spoke with Pritchard about the album, losing his father when he was a child and more. Steve Baltin: It's been a long minute since you toured the U.S. Luke Pritchard: We did a couple of years ago, but I don't think anyone knew we were there. It was sort of under the radar in some ways, but it broke everything up a bit. We're coming back in May and excited to get back into it, man. Baltin: Let's talk for a second about family life. How old are the kids? Pritchard: Yeah, it's definitely changed things up. One and three. So, we jumped straight in it's in the trenches as they say, but yeah, it's wonderful. They're just these perfect beings that brought magic into our lives. It has changed like the whole process and everything. It's kind of funny; I thought it would be different. I knew it'd be hard and easy and all those things but nothing quite prepares you for it. Baltin: Serj Tankian, who's a friend, put it best, he said, "Whatever you thought you ever knew about being in love, just forget it. What you feel for your kids is totally different." Pritchard: Yeah, exactly. It's indescribable and it also, in some ways, I think it's exactly what I needed in my life at that right time. There's a release as well because all of a sudden you get the purpose, which sounds all cheesy and everything, but you've got this purpose. But also you don't have time to overthink and at the same time I was getting into meditation and coming into a wholesome time in my life anyway and it just frees up that energy in your brain where all of a sudden, you're not even number one or number two, you're like fourth down on the list in a way. I think that's cool, man, it touches something spiritual. Baltin: A lot of people have talked about the fact that when you have a kid, too, all that music s**t doesn't matter anymore in a weird way because who cares what someone thinks about your song, as long as your kids are healthy and cool. Pritchard: Yeah, exactly. It levels everything out in that way, doesn't it? And the things that used to get under the skin don't touch the side anymore. But I think even deeper than that, it's just on a musical level as well. I found the joy of it definitely opened me up. And I think you're right. I think the new album, particularly for me, is a real expression of being very fed up of always being told that everything's doom and gloom and this sort of swirl of negativity every day. I feel very lucky and grateful to have this young family and I can't afford to be like that. I've got to feel the joy, I've got to be positive and optimistic for them. And I think that that really helped with the music creation in every aspect. There are so many challenges, but when you're able to put food on the table, to be healthy when that's the main goal, that's a beautiful thing. Baltin: Tell me about the writing of the new album. Pritchard: I'll start at the beginning with the new album. We've done a lot of different albums where we went different, especially sonically, I was on stage, and I was playing our old song ''Ula' and I just had this epiphany moment on stage. I was just seeing everyone still connecting to this tune. I was just thinking about what I was hitting on and I thought it's been a long time since I really wrote a bunch of songs on my own like I used to do, especially on the first day. I would be in my family home bedroom and I used to write the song and then if I remembered it in the morning I would be like, 'That's a good song.' I work with a lot of producers and that is then the modern way it's very collaborative. I said to my wife, look, I'm going to be around, we're going to be hanging out with kids. But I just need five days where I can go into my studio room and just really start some new music. And it just flowed, I all of a sudden found my identity again a bit. A lot of people told me it reminds them of the same energy of the first album, and I think that's maybe why. I sprouted all these songs, I wrote pretty much the whole album, in terms, of the lyrics and melody all in this very short period of time. Baltin: Did you find fatherhood come into the writing of this album? Pritchard: 'If They Could Only Know,' for example, is a sweet story in the song. It's a simple, cool concept I think a lot of people relate to, which is just about how in my life I've had a lot of turbulence, and I have been quite unhappy and really happy and a bit crazy and torn and maybe having quite a chaotic life and then figuring it out and finding wholesome and having a family but wishing the people that didn't ever see me get to that point, could see it. So, I put some comedy in, I was trying to channel a bit of Ray Davies and British humor, and I put missing my granny's cooking and mentioned my dad, who, passed away when I was a kid. I had this amazing moment with my first born, cause Wesley, our second kid, he hadn't been born at this point when I was writing the song. My dad died when I was three. And I always thought, he never knew me, he never knew anything about me. And my one connection with him was music. I think that's the only reason why I ever did this and why I had such belief in myself was I had to do this because of my dad. All I had left was a Les Paul deluxe and a bunch of records and I this was my connection, my only real sort of ambition was because of my dad. Anyway, once I had Julian, I when he got to three I realized, 'Oh my god my dad knew so well.' I was like, 'If I died today the connection I have with my son are the memories. That's like a universe.' It was a very powerful feeling and I think that feeling runs through quite a few of the songs; 'Never Know,' it's that and I named the album after that song because it's all about that gratitude for what you've had and what you have. For me that the most traumatic thing in my life was my dad dying when I was a kid. And I think that there's finding the joy of the time I have with him. Baltin: When you look back now at songs you wrote 15, 20 years ago do you find your dad in there in ways that you didn't recognize at the time? Because so much of writing is subconscious. So, now that you realize now your relationship with him, my gut is that probably was always in there. You just were not able to see it yet. Pritchard: Yeah, I think that's really insightful and giving me goosebumps in a way because I think you're right. I think psychologically when starting a family a lot of that stuff got brought up and I think, especially in my first couple of records, there's a lot of angst, even if it's like you're talking about a girl, and then all of a sudden this angst comes out. It's like the primal scream kind of thing. And I think that's quite clear to me now. There are specific songs like "See Me Now," for example, which is on our fourth record, which is literally a letter to my dad.
Washington Post
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Washington Post
For indie rocker Perfume Genius, performing is the antidote to isolation
On the eve of his latest North America tour as Perfume Genius, Mike Hadreas is focused, he says, on finding 'the perfect stackable chair.' 'I'm concerned that my chair is too heavy,' the indie rocker explains. 'I want to be able to lift it — and throw it, potentially.' Figuring out the stage choreography — and how the chair fits in — is something Hadreas says he'll workshop throughout his tour, which kicks off in Phoenix on May 30. The 43-year-old singer-songwriter, who came to prominence in 2010 with an emotionally raw debut album, will perform a WorldPride concert at 9:30 Club on June 7. Hadreas is speaking on a video call from his home in Los Angeles, between sips of Diet Coke. He loves the stuff, he says — so much so that the soda was featured in the music video for 'It's a Mirror,' the lead song on his new album, 'Glory.' Hadreas declines to reveal just how many Diet Coke cans he drinks each day. 'But it's a lot,' he says with a smirk. This tour comes about two months after the March release of 'Glory,' Hadreas's seventh studio album as Perfume Genius. The energetic, grungy, guitar-laden album explores themes like isolation and anxiety, death, and the anticipation of grief. Hadreas's earlier music grappled with issues like homophobia and sexual abuse. His latest album is born out of fears that first reared their heads during the covid-19 pandemic. 'Death just feels like something that's going to happen to me. And it didn't used to feel like that,' the Seattle native says. 'It became like an obsession.' The song 'Left for Tomorrow,' for instance, sees Hadreas imagining a life without his mother. The song's themes took on new relevance when his beloved Chihuahua, Wanda, was killed by a snake about six months after the album was completed. But writing about those fears helped, Hadreas says, because it gave him a way to channel his emotions. 'It just becomes like a relief,' he says. 'I feel way more confident and smart when I'm writing than I do just walking around town.' That's also part of the point of the album. Rather than conquering your fears, perhaps it's enough to simply live with them, he says. 'The music is better when it feels risky and you feel a little like you don't have the answers,' he says. 'It's like exposure therapy. Actually saying what you're afraid of, instead of frantically trying to not be afraid.' Though isolation is a central theme of 'Glory,' producing the album itself was more of a collaborative effort than some of Hadreas's previous works, he says. Among the contributors was his longtime partner and instrumentalist Alan Wyffels. And while Hadreas has a tendency to self-isolate, especially when he's writing music, he says he also appreciates that going on tour pushes him to do the opposite. 'It's my job to be more extroverted for a while,' he says. 'Tour is how I'm social. It forces me to be less isolated.' June 7 at 6 p.m. at 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW. $41.
Associated Press
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
Music Review: Virtuosic guitarist Ty Segall finds a new sweet spot on his laid-back 'Possession'
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Much of the virtuosic guitarist Ty Segall's prolific career has been characterized by a sludgy, almost primal, intensity. But his 16th LP crystalizes a new, less-aggressive era for the indie rocker, as he trades in his additive synths for strings and horns — all while maintaining his singular garage-psych. 'Possession' isn't Segall's first album to reel in his trademark heaviness. Following the release of his 2021 record 'Harmonizer' — the apex of a Black Sabbath-inspired, electronics-assisted sound he had for years — the singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist has mellowed out and gone more analog in the myriad solo projects he's released since. There was his 2022 mostly acoustic album, 'Hello, Hi,' as well as his instrumental 'Love Rudiments,' an avant-garde, percussion-focused record, which he dropped less than a year ago. But with 'Possession,' Segall seems to have found a kind of sweet spot that balances force with restraint in this new phase of his discography. His signature psychedelic sound and distorted guitar solos are still there, like in 'Shining' and the album's title track. But the songs are also subdued and refined, with a surprising arrangement of strings and horns on songs like 'Skirts of Heaven' and 'Shoplifter.' Despite that addition of new instruments, there's a kind of back-to-basics sound to the record, bringing to mind the soulful, easy-listening rock bands of the '70s like Cheap Trick and Steely Dan. This album also marks a lyrical shift, thanks in part to the fact that he co-wrote it with his longtime friend, documentary filmmaker Matt Yoka. He brings a clear narrative framework to Segall's poetic, sometimes opaque, writing style. 'Neighbors' daughter sentenced dead / her toes directed downward / The washer woman a victim too / the village's obsession,' Segall croons of witch trials on 'Possession,' the only song on the album which Yoka wrote solo. That emphasis on storytelling also brings a kind of depth to the songs, which often wade into poignant themes like, mortality and success, topics not often overtly broached on Segall's previous records. 'What you gonna do when the money's gone / And everyone you know is dead,' Segall sings on 'Fantastic Tomb.' 'When you're standing naked on the lawn / You think about the life you led.' And while he brings in highbrow instruments like cellos, pianos and trumpets, there is plenty of discordance. It matches the existential dread of songs like 'Buildings' and 'Alive.' And yet, the album maintains a kind of laid-back sensibility in comparison to much of Segall's earlier work. Last year while promoting his 14th solo LP, 'Three Bells,' Segall told The Associated Press that he was trying to be less prolific. He's since recorded an album under a new band with Color Green's Corey Madden, Freckle, as well as two more solo LP's, including 'Possession.' Segall's failed resolution is to the benefit of his fans, even as he pushes himself into creative directions he's yet to go before. ___ For more AP reviews of recent music releases, visit:
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
REVIEW: Pixies at Manchester Apollo
Somehow, Pixies appear to be speeding up as they get older. Saturday (May 24) night's show at the Apollo is their sixth in Manchester in under three years; they were here as recently as last March, for a three-night stand at the Albert Hall that saw them play the two lesser-heralded albums from their heyday, Bossanova and Trompe le Monde, in full. Now, they're back to facing forwards again with a new record, The Night the Zombies Came, their first with new bassist Emma Richardson. READ MORE: 'I went for a cheap €1 beer at a Benidorm bar - despite being warned against it' READ MORE: 'I flew on the hyped Global Airlines A380 from Manchester to New York and it was extremely bizarre' It is largely of a piece with the other records the band have made since they returned to the studio in 2012: taut, melodic, and enjoyable while it lasts, but largely lacking the bite that made the Pixies of the late 80s and early 90s one of the most important bands in indie rock history. Happily, said bite is in plentiful supply; this is the final show of a six-week European tour, but any lingering suspicion around fatigue is blown away by an opening salvo of classics. The first 15 minutes alone finds room for top-tier hits ('Monkey Gone to Heaven', 'Wave of Mutilation') and beloved covers, with a fierce take on The Jesus and Mary Chain's 'Head On' and a moving rendition of 'In Heaven Everything Is Fine' from David Lynch's Eraserhead, in tribute to the late filmmaker. Pixies played that song the first time they came to Manchester, when they played the International in 1988. Frontman Black Francis is not normally given to interaction with the crowd between songs, but he pauses to recall that the band assembled their first road crew here, and dedicate 'Here Comes Your Man' to Chas Banks, their first tour manager, who died recently. As Francis tells it, Banks explained his retirement from the road by saying that he'd calculated he might only have another 500 Saturday nights left. And Pixies played Saturday night like it was their last; tearing through the golden era of their catalogue with an almost unnerving ferocity. The highlights arrive thick and fast: a brooding, atmospheric 'Gouge Away' and searing takes on 'Cactus' and 'Bone Machine' are all candidates for the night's standout, although 'Tame', 'Caribou' and 'Debaser' are reminders that there are few more exhilarating sounds in modern rock than when Francis summons up his scream. Join our Manc Life WhatsApp group HERE The final third of the set is an onslaught of favourites and makes up for the fact that they play six new songs in succession before it, leading to a little bit of a mid-set lull. Richardson's prominent vocal role on the penultimate track, an increasingly frantic 'Into the White', suggests she is now properly a part of the fold as opposed to a hired hand, but it's the febrile onstage chemistry between Francis, guitarist Joey Santiago and drummer David Lovering that serves as the most potent reminder of why Pixies remain so cherished after nearly 40 years.
