Castlepalooza: IT’S AT A FREAKING CASTLE! In Ireland!
If you like your festivals more electronic and less jamband, get yourself to Ireland next July for Castlepalooza. You will not be disappointed.
To say that I was excited about going to Castlepalooza would be a massive understatement. First off, IT’S AT A FREAKING CASTLE. Seriously. A legit, old school castle. Second, it’s in another country. Ireland, to be specific. I’ve never been to a festival in another country. I was very interested to see what would be different.
Castlepalooza is in its 10th year and now tops just over 5,000 attendees. It’s held at Charleville Castle in Tullemore, Ireland. The castle was built in 1641, almost 400 years ago. That’s some serious history. It’s a three-day festival held this year on July 1st-3rd.
Unfortunately, we were only able to go on Saturday. Loading up in the car, we drove (on the wrong side of the road) through an absolutely amazing countryside following the signs to Tullemore. Eventually we approach a roundabout, and my passenger suddenly yells, “There! Look!” and we see one of the tall stone towers of the castle rising over the forest off to our left. We circle the roundabout and see a big sign that says “Castlepalooza” with an arrow pointing the way.
We pull down the drive and get directed to parking, all the time amazed at the site of a castle rising over the trees. A CASTLE!!
One thing I have to mention here is that it rains in Ireland. A lot. Just about every day. It never really poured rain while we were there, but it drizzles frequently and occasionally gets heavier or lighter. So when we park in a grass field I’m suddenly realizing I should have worn boots instead of hiking shoes. This is going to come up again.
We grab a few things and head to the music. Almost immediately I spot something, and I unfortunately realize this may not be all that different from music festivals in the States – a semi-conscious reveler and some event medics on an ATV. I will say that for the entire time we were at the festival this was the absolute only person I saw even vaguely out of control. However, it was essentially the first thing we saw before we even got into the event. Signs direct us further into the forest in the direction of the turret we still see peeking out over the treetops.
After a short walk we hit the ticket gate, which was one of the easiest I’ve ever been through. It was very well organized. Just past the ticket gate was the camping area – tents to the right and RVs to the left (though they call them caravans). Some vendors were set up here as well, selling food that was familiar, yet different.
Then it was into the forest itself and onward through some thickening mud before, suddenly, after a welcome sign, the trees parted, and we were in the courtyard of the castle.
The main stage stands off to the side of the front entrance to the castle, butting up against one large tower. It makes for a very impressive sight. Irish band All The Luck In The World was playing as we walked up. They are alternative Irish band that had a very atmospheric, edgy sound. We grabbed a Guinness from the beer tent and listened to a few songs. Their music filled the courtyard quite well with a mix of acoustic guitar, bass, drums, fiddle and keyboards coming out in a lush wave of sound.
We then headed into the castle because yes – you get to go in!
We entered the castle to see a large staircase with a massive chandelier at the top leading to an open door with laughter flooding out. Turns out comedy team Scene of the Rhyme was onstage when we got there. The stage was set up at one end of a long, narrow room with an amazing, intricately carved ceiling, two giant-sized fireplaces and a heavily worn wooden floor. There were four people on stage taking turns telling stories that had audience members roaring with laughter. The room had been cleared of most of the furniture. People were seated on the floor, some were standing, and a few were even sitting on some of the furniture that was still in the room.
After that wrapped up, we left that stage and found another open room next door that had a piece of paper with “Morning Room” printed on it. Turns out this was what would have been the Music Room of the castle. It was a large room with another absolutely amazing chandelier, couches and chairs scattered around a fireplace and a large table being used as a children’s craft area. People were relaxing, charging up phones and generally taking a breather. We talked to the couple running the children’s activity, and they were doing free Origami lessons for the kids on that day.
We headed back out of the castle to explore the rest of the grounds. We tromped through more mud, though thankfully most of it was not very deep or thick. We quickly found another stage – this one a dedicated comedy tent called the Vodafone Laughter Lab. One thing I really liked at this tent and that I wish more festivals would adopt – they had a large banner printed up with the schedule for the whole weekend displayed right there. Next to the tent was a field set up with picnic tables, games (Including giant Kerplunk!) and a curious sight I saw many times around the grounds: painting on pallet wrap. In many areas around the grounds I saw pallet wrap stretched between posts or trees or anything really and being used as a giant canvas for artists to paint on. It’s a unique medium that allows for a lot of flexibility. Some of our new Festy Friends even donned MFN stickers!
After heading out from there we decided we were ready to sample some Irish festival food. What better way to go than with Fish and Chips? We found a vendor next to the beer, and with a fresh Guinness we ordered our food. While talking to the girl behind the counter, we soon discovered she actually lived in the Castle. She gave us some good background and a few good stories of the place while our food cooked. I have to say, this was by far the best fish and chips I had while in Ireland! Thanks Katie!
Freshly fed, we headed off to explore more of the grounds. We ran into Mr. Tayto, who is the mascot for a very popular brand of potato chips (Called ‘crisps’ in Ireland). We then found the ‘Centre Stage’ tent. There were a large number of people packed in to this tent listening to a pair of DJs. Upon talking to people and asking some questions I quickly found out that a local legend was on stage. Turned out the DJs on stage were Kavus Torabi (striped shirt) and snooker legend Steve Davis (black hoodie) who DJs under the name Thundermuscle. Everyone was extremely excited to hear this set, and the packed tent showed it. The two of them together worked a combination of pads and turntables weaving together a continuous set of beat-heavy electronica.
We then squished through some much deeper, thicker mud on our way over to yet another tent just in time to catch a really good sounding duo playing acoustic guitar and electric bass. The songs were unique with a great backbeat and more lush sound that should be possible with just those two instruments. Come to find out, these were two members of the band Malojian. I spoke with them a bit after their set, and they invited us to come hear their full band set later on inside the castle. We also met a couple people wearing shirts that simply said “Repeal” on them. After speaking with them they told us about a swelling movement in Ireland to repeal the 8th amendment in their country which limits women’s access to reproductive health services including abortions. Interesting that the debate on that rages in their country much like in ours.
We then explored more of the grounds, coming across small art installations as we searched for the remaining stage on our schedule. We made a complete loop of the place, going back into the castle even and still never found the final stage. We met lots of great people though. Turns our Irish Festival people are just as friendly and happy as American fest folks. We stomped through lots of mud, dodged the constant on-and-off rain and caught a little bit of lots of great music. Then we encountered something that truly made me realize we were not at an American music festival – the snooker stage got going. Yes, they had an entire stage dedicated to snooker games. With the table set up on a stage, cameras pointed down at the table and big-screen TVs mounted on either side so the crowd could see. And what a crowd it was. The stage was packed. People were yelling and cheering and jeering the players. It was amazing. It didn’t hurt that the main player was Steve Davis (the DJ mentioned earlier) who is considered to be one of the best snooker players of all time (he was ranked #1 in the world for seven straight years) and is absolutely loved in the UK. Then we moved over to the main stage where The Slow Readers Club kicked off a set. This was an interesting band to come across. Their sound reminded me of ’80s band New Order blended with early 2000-era Beck. They drew a crowd that danced in the mud and rain and seemed to really connect with the band.
Rain started to fall a good bit harder, so we headed back inside the castle to the indoor stage where Malojian was kicking off a set with the full band. This was my favorite set of the day by far. Malojian is a four-piece band from Ireland that combine a bit of the intense lyrics and vocals of early Neil Young with a modern very slightly pop style of music that all blends together very well to create these beautiful, lush songs. They just recorded their latest CD This is Nowhere in Chicago with Steve Albini. They played a great set – running through a number of songs off the aforementioned CD to a crowd that clearly loved every moment. People were swaying and smiling and singing along to many of the songs.
After Malojian we headed back down the staircase where we ran into a wonderful girl named Monica. Turns out she is also friends with the family that live in the castle and comes over from Long Island, New York, to stay with them for a few weeks every year to help put on Castlepalooza. She started telling us more about the castle including her own personal ghost story. She then took us to a few parts of the castle that were being used by staff to show us a few of the more interesting details and relate another good ghost story. I cannot thank you enough for talking to us, Monica. You are awesome!
Then it was back outside where we caught Overhead The Albatross on the main stage. This was another great band. They reminded me a lot of Mutemath or perhaps a bit like moe. if they went a lot more electronic. They are an Irish instrumental act that delivers very high-energy jams. It was during their set that everyone around wanted to play with our hoop that we brought. It was a great opportunity to talk to more people and hear more about everyone’s experience so far. Luckily, this also gave us the tip we needed to finally find the last stage. It turns out that the fenced-off area next to the main stage guarded by security was not actually a backstage area but was just a very poorly laid-out entrance to a stage. It looked for all the world like you weren’t allowed back there, and in fact every single person I asked about it once I found out all said the same thing. The rain started to come down much harder, so we decided to go check out this final stage. The Courtyard Stage was another DJ area though much smaller. There was a very small crowd back there, but no music going on while we were there.
By now it was late evening, the rain was coming down much harder, and we had a long drive back across Ireland ahead of us, so we made our way through the mud, back through the forest and out to the parking area which was now thoroughly soaked and muddy. Aside from the poorly laid out stage mentioned above, the only other thing I found poorly done was the parking exit. It was all the way through two rolling fields that by now were mud pits. I was seriously amazed we made it out without getting stuck. I felt the car sliding all around as we went up and down a few small hills and then had to hope and pray we could coast up the final muddy ride to get to the road which we did – though just barely.
All in all Castlepalooza is a remarkably unusual event in a venue that is beyond fantastic. I mean – IT’S A FREAKING CASTLE!! I sincerely hope we get to go back one day. If you have even the slightest interest in visiting Ireland and are looking for a time to go – do it in July and go to Castlepalooza. You won’t be disappointed!
