Sun Sand Surf SEA SESSIONS!!
Just over half way to Donegal, we pulled in to Sligo to pick up supplies – rashers, water, batteries; your general food essentials. Oh and a wig for Martin. We'll get to that later!
Onward, up into Donegal, we arrive and there's no doubt - the area itself for a festival is unrivalled. Bundoran is one of the world's most famous surfing destinations, so the ocean is the town’s main source of income and you really do get a vibe of that when you walk around and it feels like a purpose built holiday village – or in this case, festival compound! The whole town becomes part of it, not just the fenced in area where the performers do their thing. Every pub, hotel, café and restaurant gets involved and the entire town was humming. Plus the weather was super scorchio so we were on to a winner!
One thing that definitely let the festival down was the lack of organisation. We couldn't find the entrance to the performance area, we couldn't find the campsite, ANYTHING. Both of us doing circles around Bundoran, necks craned out the window asking everyone for directions, but they were too busy having fun to notice. Eventually we got sorted, pitched our tee-pee tent, made friends with our neighbours and then hit the beach. That's when the wig came out.
So, for your visual delight, we wanted to have a little bit of fun with our videos for Sea Sessions. The sea is obviously synonymous with David Hasselhoff and Pamela Anderson, so we decided to re-enact the opening scene from Baywatch. GAS. Loads of people came up to us after and said they were watching in fits laughing. One Lifeguard even came down and asked us to cover his shift. That part might be a lie. After that, it was time to hit the music
We managed to be lucky enough to catch Director who are always good live and started off amazing. That is until their power went and they were on stage thinking 'Oh ok – they're all staring at us, what will we do?’. So they grabbed a drum stick each and smacked the hell outta those drums until power was restored and they could finish their set! Nice move. Then over we went to Paul Weller who...you'll never guess...had HIS power get cut as well! Frustrating for them, but everyone was cool about it and it got sorted and he played a brilliant set into the night that really got the crowd happy. We also caught Jonny Moy and Hypnotic Brass Ensemble throughout the night as well as catching some dancier tunes in the mini dance tent.
After making friends with some more of the goers, we all headed into the town when the music came to an end. We had a choice of two nightclubs, 'Paris' (in Bundoran! Seriously!) or 'Jumpin' Jacks'. We decided to opt for 'Jumpin' Jacks' because it seemed more up our street. Danced our little socks off in there ‘til the wee hours and rolled into our tent at a respectable hour for someone at a festival!
Day Two in Bundoran and we cooked some rasher sambos in the Atlantic Gale force winds which was tricky enough, but our neighbours all appreciated it! Belly's full, it was time to head back in and check out what else was going on. We found a man from the UK who’s mission in life it seems is to make the world's biggest love blanket by getting everyone to sign their name and message on these enormous yards of material he had. Loved his dedication. We intend on looking for him at the other festivals we go to.
Back in the performance area, and there was a bike stunt show just under way. These guys even went as far as removing the front wheel and still terrifyingly manage to hop around on just the rear wheel, doing a full set of stunts with just the one wheel! After that we grabbed a quick bite to eat before going checking out some more music. Just a little advice for you. When the woman from the Falafel counter says 'I think you're putting too much Tabasco on your falafel', you should listen to her. Or find out the painful, sweaty and slightly hilarious way.
After we'd stomached that lot, we headed off to get more of a music fix and found it in Cathy Davey. She wouldn't be one of our favourite artists, but the vibe was excellent and we enjoyed it. You know that new Discover Ireland ad with that really catchy tune in it?! Well, they are Irish girl duo, The Heathers who we also managed to bop out to as well as one of the festivals biggest acts, Tom Baxter. Sweet!
Overall the weekend was really good craic, definitely a festival worth checking out if you like a few of the bands on the line-up. People we spoke to mostly gave it a rasher rating of 6 rashers out of 10. They agreed with the disorganisation of things – it just didn't seem to have enough love put into it. Maybe that man could give them a lend of his blanket!
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Be right back.
Colm & Martin.
Posted: 13/07/2010 14:53:32 by
Colm & Martin
Filed under: Donegal, Festivals, Rasherfest, Rashers, Sea, Sessions, Surf, Colm+Martin