Garden Of Delight

I’ve just spent a weekend in the sun, a rarity in Ireland, even during the summer, so I’m far less grumpy and cynical than usual. I was also at a bloody good festival on Sunday, the Garden Party. I’m not one to heap praise on promoters at the best of times, especially when they put on pedestrian line-ups that masquerade as festivals and fleece people with overpriced ticket prices.
However, this time, they deserve the kudos, at least for their inspired choice of location. It took place in a walled garden on the grounds of one of those rambling country piles that the British were so good at building for themselves duiring the 17th and 18th centuries (and the rebels were so good at burning down, but that’s another story!) all over our fair and green countryside.
The gardens were certainly put to good use - apart from the fact that the owners were going to use the money to restore the house and maintain the grounds, there were cheap massages (no, not that kind), tasty food (surely a first at a music festival), bean bags and a really good looking crowd.
These plusses made up for the fact that the bar shut at 10pm (the only real drawback) and the fact that I missed most of the acts that I wanted to hear – The Orb, Alexander Robotnick and Carl Craig. Blame it on the weather or the fact that I was pretty hungover from the night before, but we spent most of our time at the Bodytonic tent, where Ewan Pearson surprised with a more trancey than usual set, the Pogo DJs lashed out techno’s greatest hits from the past and present – ‘A Walking Contradiction’, ‘Acperience’ and Hardfloor’s version of Robert Armani’s ‘Circus Bells’ - before the Booka Shade guys came on and performed a set full of peaks and troughs, starting off with a mellow version of ‘Night Falls’ and a shit kicking rendition of ‘Mandarine Girl’ midway through. It was heartening to see a full tent freaking out  - especially when the first few bars of ‘Body Language’ kicked in - to what is still a pretty underground sound.
By the time 2 Many DJs got on the decks and started playing the same set we’ve heard for the last four years it was time to beat a hasty retreat back to Dublin and order some more sun cream…