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We’ve Only Just Begun 2024

  • 18-07-2024 10:55AM
    #1
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 9,390 ✭✭✭


    https://www.whelanslive.com/event/weve-only-just-begun-2024/

    The last festival I went to was either Lisdoonvarna or Castlebar when I was 17 or 18, and at this stage of my life, the thought of using a plastic toilet for the weekend fills me with absolute dread so I have avoided them.

    However, a 3 day festival that’s a 20 minute bus ride from home, where all the bands are just starting off and the tickets cost €15 was music to my ears.

    Anyone else going?

    Starting this thread to garner interest and hopefully provide a diary of the bands playing.

    Bring it on!



«1

Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 4,891 ✭✭✭Stillill42


    Yep, looks great, fantastic value. Might dive in myself.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 95 ✭✭RangerToby


    Deffo check out Shark School and Thanks Mom.

    Caught Shark School at BTP in June - Promising bit of grungy punk

    Thanks Mom where at Forest Fest and equally a promising rock angst and cracking female vocals but the Drummer makes this band with brilliant fill and beat variations in all their tracks

    Screenshot 2025-09-26 175316.jpg Support Independent Festivals!



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 9,390 ✭✭✭Gloomtastic!


    And we’re off! An 8pm start. 12:30 finish I believe.

    IMG_5899.jpeg IMG_5900.jpeg

    Decarteret

    5-piece from Cork, late-teens, funk/r&b, very proficient. Very confident lead singer, lovely voice. 

    Great start……



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 9,390 ✭✭✭Gloomtastic!


    Maria Kelly

    As soon as she said she sings sad songs, the whole audience just moved forward. 🤯

    IMG_5902.jpeg IMG_5901.jpeg

    We’ll see……



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 9,390 ✭✭✭Gloomtastic!


    Despite being so laid back, she has the audience in the palm of her hand. Folksy/blues.

    1st toilet break: 4 minutes there and back



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 9,390 ✭✭✭Gloomtastic!


    Why don’t older people go to small gigs?



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 9,390 ✭✭✭Gloomtastic!


    Quick (that took ages) dash upstairs to see….

    Emma Noodles

    Hmmmmm.

    IMG_5907.jpeg

    Back downstairs quick….



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 4,891 ✭✭✭Stillill42


    Heroic reportage, Gloomtastic. Keep it going!



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 9,390 ✭✭✭Gloomtastic!


    Amy Michelle

    Such a clean sound. Singer/lead guitar, second guitar and a bloke squatting on the floor playing a box. To come across this effortless takes talent. Lead singer’s voice is amazing despite her saying she was losing it. My favourite so far. 

    IMG_5910.jpeg IMG_5911.jpeg


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 9,390 ✭✭✭Gloomtastic!


    Quicker dash back upstairs cos I think I know where I’m going now. Only caught the last number from

    Ezra Williams

    IMG_5912.jpeg


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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 9,390 ✭✭✭Gloomtastic!


    Niamh Bury

    Country/folk/trad singer who writes some really good tunes with some nice original riffs. 

    IMG_5913.jpeg


  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 9,390 ✭✭✭Gloomtastic!


    Downstairs finished about 11:15. Home to bed, work in the morning…..



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 430 ✭✭CoffeeImpala


    This was a very stripped back set-up from when I've seen her before and as you've said she was very good as a result. I wasn't sure if it was the act I'd seen before until she switched from the acoustic to the lilac electric.

    I also don't seem to have a note of having seen her at EP22 despite clearly remembering having a conversation with Mucker while watching the performance. I had to go find the post to be sure I wasn't losing it. Now that the track and other commercial pop bits have been dropped she sounds much more like what I was expecting back then. I doubt tonight's set-up is their usual one.

    https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119588726/#Comment_119588726

    To fill in the gaps for upstairs:

    Dream Boy - These were very good. Let's call it indie rock of some description. I was little distracted making arrangements for next weekend but would definitely catch again.

    Emma Noodles - Not quite there yet but maybe has potential. I wouldn't be paying to see them just yet.

    Ezra Williams - There was a lot of chat between songs that took a while to die down once the song started. Wasn't as good as I would have expected given the potential evident in the Smoothboi Ezra days. Playing with a bigger band in Fishtown on Friday at 7.

    Violet - Vocals, Drums, and keys/synth. Reasonably entertaining pop with a strong vocal.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 9,390 ✭✭✭Gloomtastic!


    Great night’s sleep. Did it rain? It may have done…..😋



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 9,390 ✭✭✭Gloomtastic!


    8pm start, on the button.

    Dose

    Hmmm. The keyboard player had an interesting voice.

    Forgot to take pic. It’s Friday! 😎

    Next…….



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 9,390 ✭✭✭Gloomtastic!


    Rachel Mae Hannon

    They should lower the instruments so her voice can shine. They’re drowning her.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 9,390 ✭✭✭Gloomtastic!


    IMG_5918.jpeg IMG_5917.jpeg IMG_5919.jpeg

    Yep, still happening…..



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 9,390 ✭✭✭Gloomtastic!


    €10 in Whelan’s for two bottles of 0.0 lager.

    Bands are on and off in 15 minutes. Exactly as a concert should be. House controls all the sound system/engineers and drums. Bands just bring their instruments.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 9,390 ✭✭✭Gloomtastic!


    IMG_5920.jpeg

    set list



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 9,390 ✭✭✭Gloomtastic!


    Cela …….

    Just getting better and better, killer guitar playing. 



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 9,390 ✭✭✭Gloomtastic!


    That was worth the €15 alone. Lead was fantastic and totally owned it but the guitarist was fantasticer, those sounds!



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 13,349 ✭✭✭✭Electric Nitwit


    Loving the reviews Gloomy, they'll inform my commute soundtrack next week

    Did you catch Shark School? I like what I've heard so far



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 9,390 ✭✭✭Gloomtastic!


    Cruel Sister

    At last a bit of Noise! 



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 430 ✭✭CoffeeImpala


    That'd be Sara from Pillow Queens playing keys/synth in front of an audience for the first time because the usual musician was on honeymoon. I arrived a little late as they were starting a slow song which didn't really sit well with me. Thankfully for the rest of the set Lizzie's "Bitch Falcon" vocal really shone through. Significantly improved on the last time I saw them.

    Rachel Mae Hannon seems to be going for a different interpretation of her music every time I've seen her perform. Tonight's lounge singer style was not for me.

    Thanks Mom, Shark School, and Cruel Sister were all really good.

    Celaviedmai was quite energetic but I wasn't paying a whole lot of attention. I arrived down halfway through their set because I watched Stella and the Dreaming, who's music was (as described by someone behind me) "so beautiful", until the end. I then left quite quickly to get back upstairs for Shark School.

    Spooklet to finish . I'd previously seen her perform at another multi stage event and left very quickly to catch anything else. With no other options I sat down and let the bassy track wash over me. Probably not an act I'd choose to see again but I was enjoying the music by the end.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 331 ✭✭Granite Head


    Thanks for the reviews Gloomtastic!. What were the crowd numbers like? Hopefully it is a success for all involved.

    2025 Gigs and Events: 808 State, Houseplants, Dara O’Briain, Los Campesinos, Kawala, Brian Jonestown Massacre, Real lies, Frank Turner, Big Piig, Borderline Festival, Sun Mahshene, Novelle Vague, Fat Dog, La Femme, The Weather Station, Ben Ottewell & Ian Ball, Tindersticks, Spiritualized, Six Organs of Admittance, Coco & Clair Clair, Divorce, Moonlight the Philip Lynott Enigma, Lambrini Girls, Primal Scream, Flaming Lips, Ispini na heireann, Viagara Boys, King Creosote, Get Down Services, Soccer Mommy, Throwing Muses, CMAT/Morgana/Biird, Supergrass, Camera Obscura, Stereophonics, In the Meadows Festival , PiL, BTP Festival, Gang of Four, Lucy Dacus, Sparks, Mogwai, ATN Festival, Throwing Muses, Matt Berninger, Michael Shannon & Jason Narducy, Kneecap/Fontaines DC, Clap your hands and say Yeah, Vantastival, Self Esteem, For those I love, Bluetones, Declan O' Rourke, Robert Forster, Stickinthewheel, Houseplants, Greg Davies, Jack Dee, Richard Hawley, Gillian Welch & David Rawlings, Elaine Mai, Turin Brakes, Luvcat, Baxter Dury, Perfume Genius, John Bishop, Ardal O’Hanlon, Joan as a Policewoman, MBV (Secret), OXN, 808 State, My Bloody Valentine, Wet Leg, Hugh Cornwell, Gary Numan, Starsailor, Balthvs, Arvo Part, Caribou.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 9,390 ✭✭✭Gloomtastic!


    Downstairs was quiet on Thursday but nicely packed last night. Upstairs was packed on Thursday so imagine it was even busier last night but I stayed downstairs all night.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 9,390 ✭✭✭Gloomtastic!


    https://open.spotify.com/artist/4c61VuJuumv26ISGZ4VzcO?si=8eaoJubfS-KwkRc1zKwgGQ

    Thanks. Here you go for starters. You can’t make out that guitarist from the tracks but he was amazing live.
    Shark School were upstairs so missed them.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 13,108 ✭✭✭✭bodhrandude


    Strange name for a festival sounds like it was taken from Slade's Xmas hit. 😀

    If you want to get into it, you got to get out of it. (Hawkwind 1982)



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 9,390 ✭✭✭Gloomtastic!


    I think it’s a great name, even though some of them have been going for years.


    Just realised this morning when watching a promo for it on YouTube that all the leads are female/non-binary. 🤯



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2, Paid Member Posts: 9,390 ✭✭✭Gloomtastic!


    IMG_5938.jpeg

    Kick-off in 4 minutes



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