Beyond the Pale 2026 - 12-14th June

All right here we go lads, I've Had some time to chew the cud and let the energy settle… its nerdy review/account time🧐

*excuse the poor pics - I rarely take the phone out and if I do its 5 seconds out, snap and back in the pocket.

Thursday

Rocking up to the campervan field a day early was very welcome addition, early birds like us had a bit of a ticket scan issue (previously bought via ticketbooth) but the main man on duty was a gem and got us sorted very quickly along with the others. We got set up in the first row in a prime edge spot with some lovely neighbours both sides, off to a good start; One side a couple from Kildare that were back at a festival for the first time in 25 yrs post kids and on the other side a young couple from Cork pre kids regular world Alt festival goers. Then there's us in the middle mid-kids (but BTP is our own and we leave him behind for this one 😅) Drink, food and sharing experiences into the evening. Then a wonder into the arena towards dusk to grab wristbands + check out the layout expansion and how the final bits of build were going.

Campervan field doubled up on two locations of portaloos + urinals but only one stand pipe at the top end along with double the shower units. A needed increase, even last year it was pushing it a bit and this year with more attendees they were all well used.

Friday

Clearly still a backlog of building, dressing, signage etc to be done when we headed in - fair enough, its had been well wet in the lead up and to save the arena ground some things were pushed late in the build. Respect to the teams on an keen mission cracking on with this into the evening (and into Saturday) around all the revellers

Opening with Chalk was a feast for my ears waking us up out of our lazy day stooper. Quite the exciting sound and visuals + performance especially with a live drummer. For anyone that's heard them before, its a cross between Underworld and mid-era Prodigy with a off kilter and dark undertow. On so early so really looking forward to seeing them again at Stendhal as a headliner late into the night. After this, Whizzed over to catch the end of Dug for a bit of decompression and then popped back to get food and more drinks.

Next up we bounced about a bit catching the end of AEMak' and then Ela Minus. With MoodyMan having missed his flight we mooched about hit the StrawberryFields tent for a dose of sillyness with the Hoes of Trallee, some food and then over to the actual Dose band at the Outpost stage… as usual with my preference for checking out the new/unknowns I spent alot of time here over the weekend. They were fun. Then caught the end of Cartin at PucFada, also fun. One moan by this point was that the urinals at Cirrus were not open all night

So I was looking forward to seeing Caribou for the first time on a big festival stage , Got there 15mins into the set and I don't know what was up we just weren't feeling it stayed for a while chilling on the fallen Oak tree taking it in and people watching, chatting with others... Perhaps because we had just bounded from Dose and Cartin and should have had a bit of down time pallet cleanse. Anyway we left and checked out Roe Byrne. He probably gets this alot but looked about 14 (but is 21!) awesome voice and establishing his sound clearly been at it a while and could give a few mega popstars a run for their money. That was probably the energy break we needed. Hitting PucFada getting sweaty with Hot Bouzouki Summer. Mad energy there jumping, shouting with equally hot and sweaty fellows. Phew! Tinlicker were the perfect finish for the night after that and we wound down.

Saturday

Snoozing late and feeling unusually fresh, apparently Rhubarb cider and Whiskey doesn't give you a hang-over. 🤗 Showers, The intentions was to head out for SharkSchool & Boolaboom but time went on with a big fry-up, chats and drinks with neighbours got in to find that the main stage was running about 40mins late and Selective memory about 20. This was the start of the mess and complete rearrangement of our plans for the rest of the day…

Took in a bit of Stomptown Brass then went to the Outpost which was running on time to see RunTheRed.

Loving the sound of this six-piece. The addition of the violin makes for a great sound along with the lead female vocals. The Far right Guitar/Keyboard player (Anna? I think her name was) seems familiar and was very much playing the quiet matriarch of the band with all the visual looks, nods, eye cues and such, make me laugh.

Stage time delays continued to mess things up so grabbed a bit of Mr Scruff, popped back to van for food, drinks restock, Back for a bit of The Sabres of Paradise dipped into the first three songs of Birrd and then went to See full set from Cliffords. which got our spirits back up. More time mess ups meant we kept on our toes make sure we weren't going to miss our must sees so dropped in on comedy till Kormac came on.

He had a way more complex arrangement than I was expecting relative to his tracks. This seemed to be noticed by others and we were all loving it. Once finished we mooched over to Outpost to see the rest of Zeztra. They were good fun Alt pop just getting started.

Time for van trip, food and drinks and back out for Primal Scream…. Yeah… shouldn't have done that, I think that may have actually ruined them for me now! So went to see the rest of Phoeno ( seen him a few times, got a few songs that bop. Food, drinks and boogie at Cirrus and at bangbike before checking out Mischa & the Bear. Pretty good live and the songs i've not listened to before were good too. Very dreamy airy vocals & electro pop. Needs tightening up and bit and balancing out the levels as it got a bit mashed up at some points.

And then… Then it was what I've been waiting something like 20+yrs. To see Soulwax live again and with the new album. What an immense set 🤩. These guys are masters of sound and the arrangements were something else!

We took it all in from the centre of the barriers in-front of the sound stage. Mashing together the most recent album tracks with a few all-time bangers. Having three drummers/percussion produces such a powerful punch. Mel was blown away by it all, her first time seeing them live (as SoulWax) and never really listened to the back-catalogue.

Shout out to the couple of lads next to us that helped me do a bit of people movement with a couple of wasted guys that were stumbling into us and a couple of other groups of lady's near-by. Whiskey was shared in celebration when the offenders got the cue and left.

I don't use the word often, but they were epic. Nothing was going to be better than that so we headed back to the van on a high.

Sunday

Ok so had a bit of a hangover this time - Electrolytes on call, a shower and another fryup, we started another day of slight stage times delays mean our plans no-longer aligned and there were more clashes with our must-see list….

Got out and laid down in the sun at main stage for Madra Salach. We've seen them a few times (first at PucFada) and here they are hitting the main stage with genuine appreciation for their journey. They wouldn't be something I would listen to on pre-record but live I'd never miss them since first encountering them. One of those bands you know?!

Back to the van for drinks and caught up with our post-kids neighbours who had to head off that afternoon. They had splashed on the RoundTower VIP area, they said they didn't think it was worth it and the only selling point that they got it for was the "propper toilets". With a bit of jiggery pokery we liberated the wristbands so we could check it out and give it a review ourselves….

Knowing main stage was running late again we headed back out for Jessica Doolan.

Great Lounge/Jazz sound and cracking voice. Her band was apparently a rapid gathering of session players with only one rehearsal. Well they killed it and Mel said she liked the band more than the lead artist herself.

Then it was off to see the rest of Horace Andy and we decided to check it out from the RoundTower area. Well, yeah if we'd paid for that we'd be a bit miffed also…. I could see how the covered lounge but would be nice in the rain but the toilets were nothing special and were not being actively attended, the bar was zero ques and about 15 people behind it and they didnt have BeaverTown at it 🙄. If you were sitting in the bench area then the entrance signage/branding for the area was blocking the entire view. No seating in the area where you could see it or on the upper platform. Slight unfortunate also was that all you could smell in most of the area was the trailer toilets with the wind direction! The best thing about the whole area was the amazing veteran Ash tree in the middle. I would say that with some adjust,ments to the sightlines, seating, positioning of the facilites, if WiFi access was included and the toilets where properly attended it would go a long way to being a better offer.

Back to the music… Picked up a bit of New Dad, The start and end of Max Cooper, (holy moly that end of the set was absolutely deadly dropping Prodigy Poison into the mix) and the first third of Of Monsters and Men before going to the legend that is MikeD.

Poundingly hard, heavy, banging set. His group is loving it, we're loving it, everyone is loving it.

Time for food… by this point the crowds had noticeably started to thin out with many having to leave to be ready for Monday workday. We went to the Outpost to see a curiosity I had been intrigued by with some of the pre-listening when scoping out the line-up… Evan Gildersleeve

So this was a kind of atmospheric, wall of sound synth manipulation, layering of sounds, loops and haunting vocals peaked by electronic drum breaks built into various crescendos. Tough break for this guy with everyone either riled up or pilled up for the last blowout in the techno/Club cucu area and other small tents or mellowing out at Father John Misty… It was only us there for the first 10mins before a handful of others drifted in and out of the back of the tent. A couple of the Overhead, the Albatross guys joined us to soak it up. He really gave it is all and you could see the passion and emotion behind the tracks and performance. The fact it was so empty made it even more profound and emotional Quite a little journey I mostly closed my eyes and soaked it up.

And then, staying at the Outpost, it was possibly the best closing act (for me) for a festival. Overhead, the Albatross. A few of you will have heard me say this before; I've been all in on these guys since first seeing them at Vantastival in 2017. I try to see them atleast once a year somewhere.

So much energy from these guys now. After a year+ of some big tours in China, massive receptions at big festivals, packing out ArcTanGent, brining the house down at Damnation and supporting We lost the Sea on tour. Back on home ground this was possibly the last chance to see them in a small intimate setting which made it that much more special… The tent had filled up to the max and was spilling out the sides.

We were front and centre. We moshed, We belted out, We cried. What a perfect finish to our weekend.

My hot takes 🤐 …

Shittest stage - Cirrus Garden - Oh how you have fallen from grace, even top notch artists for me couldn't keep me there or make up for how far down in my books it went compared to being the top the last two years. Needs a return of the Circular sound array, get the dressing and lighting sorted and correct the positions of the ancillary speakers at the Absolut bar which basically created a doppler effect in some positions and were out of sync by a 1/4 second leading to a lovey 🏇 clippety-clop if you were that side. The alternate side was being right next to the portaloos and urinals.

Most surprising - MikeD - I mean, he's a legend right? but alot of legends languish in legacy. That man is not languishing. He is thriving, the new material is banging, nice dips bordering on jungle with that infamous MikeD-istortion sound. The crowd a the end said it all. If you were there, you know.

Day visitors can piss off 😶 - hear me out! I'm not saying everyone is like this as a day visitor but its very noticeable how the vibe changes on the Saturday (not so much on Sunday thankfully) with an increase in louty and over-drunken behaviour. The place gets treated worse by day visits IMHO… Its not isolated to this festival and I think its just more noticeable as small fests. I know its not going to go away tho, day tickets are a useful revenue stream.

Biggest vibe - Cliffords - I just can't place it but the set and crowd was an absolute vibe in the tent.

Most Overrated - Caribou - Ok this one is gonna put up some peoples noses! It just wasn't doing it for me and felt with all the hype around it, that probably built it up too much.

Most Humble - Kormac - The guy was a gem really stoked to be there, really thankful, loving the crowd feedback, seemed genuinely surprised at the positive reception he got. Chucked out some vinyl at the end of the set. Honourable mention of Madra Salach would easily fit this bill also, they've come some way in a short space of time and they recognise it.

Very minor grumbles:

• Urinals not being open at all locations in the arena lead to the loos getting hit hard by all and even when open with a lot more first time attendees they didn't realise they were there.
• Arena dressing/hording - Clearly delayed and a backlog getting the final dressing up. totally acceptable reasons why delayed but would question the order it was being done in. For example doing the Selective memory hoarding inside the tent right in the middle of a set carrying it in front of the performers rather than sorting the outside or Cirrus Garden ones first.
• Main Stage + Selective memory times all messed up with the need to get the machines in to repair the failed section of the igloo. Tho they did a good effort playing catch up to get them back on time by end of the night.

In conclusion…

All in all, easily the best BTP yet - We've been four years now, As said earlier and as others have, absolute blast, very minor grumbles that were never more than me as an lapsed outdoor events builder and experienced festival goer passing gripe 😉 We love a small festival, the small arena is superb for dipping in/out + discovery. We can see it is clearly going to grow and stabilise now - I truly hope that it never gets pushed beyond 15k (not sure that site could handle that anyway)

Beyond the Pale has had troubles, growing pains but the crowd, the community, the vibe, every single staff, steward and security were darlings - ace craic, weird chats, nerdy chats, deep chats and of course the weather was a bonus bringing everyone up, (tho I do like a wet festival!) It was blown out of the park this year, All I can say is if you're on the fence about this one, come on down.

Was just picking up on some of the nuance of what's going on sale from their reply's… Its going to be everything avalibale: Weekend + all add-ons; Campervan, VIP, Under18s tickets.

I'd say get everything you can cause £150 for weekend ticket is an absolute bargin for this festival. That only just a bit more than Stendhal which I think has been underpriced for years.