Body and Soul pride themselves on being a festival of surprises and they are working meticulously on carving this reputation. Arts and crafts adorn every tree from every angle, winding walk ways lead you past wooden boats, hot tubs and delicious food stalls. Sporadic performances from African drums, kaleidoscope glasses passed around to enrich our enjoyment of The Amazing Few as they yelled ‘Hola Amigo’ through their hand held amp. It was like a big house party, in the woods. Instant friends were made and just as instantly forgotten. To quote Jackie Moon “Everybody love everybody”.
Now in their second year Body and Soul have firmly established themselves on the boutique festival circuit. With just a few thousand people, it’s the perfect size.
Thankfully the sun shone for the entire weekend. Even if it rained, which it didn’t after 3pm on Saturday, there weren’t enough people there to make the grounds impassible with muddy footprints.
You haven’t experienced a festival until you’ve walked for half an hour from your car to the campsite with bag straps cutting your hands and shoulders. After Body and Soul, that scenario is a but a distant shuddering memory. After parking the car the MEG crew walked for 3 minutes to the entrance and then for another 2 minutes to the boutique camp site. (It was further minutes walk to the regular campsite). It doesn’t get much easier than that.
Body and Soul haven’t changed their tactics from last year. Why would they, it worked perfectly. With a bit more variety to the music, the weekend was quite trance heavy, this could very well be the perfect festival. As long as Body and Soul continue to do what they do best, and provide an intimate festival full of surprises, they’ll only further cement their foothold in the Irish festival circuit. Every intricate piece of the festival was planned to perfection.
By Trish Keenan
