Body & Soul – 2023 – Sunday Review

By No More Workhorse on June 20, 2023 • ( Leave a comment )

Kneecap – Body & Soul

Body & Soul – 2023 – Sunday Review

It was the final day of the Festival, and unfortunately, the rain continued with a number of heavy showers making the going ‘soft’, to use the horse racing parlance (See: mud). The festival started with some lively sounds on the main stage. BCUC (which stands for Bantu Continua Uhuru Consciousness) from Soweto, South Africa, were on the main stage at 2pm. Their music is a blend of “Indigenous funk, hiphop consciousness and punk rock energy”, and they were perfect for the early afternoon slot, getting the tired crowd on their feet. Tinariwen followed on the main stage at 4pm. The band hail from the Sahara Desert region of northern Mali, but looked perfectly at home on a stage in Westmeath!

Tinariwen

Alison Spittle appeared on the Secret Orchard stage at 2:15 PM. She had a captive audience as the rain beat down outside the tent, for her horror story of female contraception! Rachel Mae Hannon was the first musician on stage, starting at 3.30pm. Kokoroko were a real treat in the small tent at 5.15pm! They were meant to be appearing on the main stage a day earlier, but due to a series of unfortunate events described as a ‘long story’ by one of their members, they were moved to a day later. They are an 8-piece, London-based band with plenty of brass, that got everyone moving!

Kurt Vile

Kneecap have finally made it to the main Body & Soul Stage (17.30), after a number of appearances in earlier years on the smaller stages. The crowd loved their cheerful songs, such as Fenian C**ts and Get Your Brits Out! Kurt Vile & The Violators were on the main stage at 7pm. There was a surprisingly small crowd for their appearance, but I suspect a few were getting home early for work in the morning! The set started slow but it had a couple of impressively loud songs towards the end, with Mount Airy Hill (Way Gone) and Hunchback particular highlights. Fever Ray were the main act, starting at 9pm, with the final act of the event The Blaze starting at 11pm.

The event was a lot of fun, despite the rain and the mud! Whether my choice of footwear survives the ordeal is as yet unclear, but it’s a small price to pay for the variety of new names that were discovered. Particular highlights of the weekend included Meute, The Murder Capital, Gwenno, BCUC and Kokoroko, as this festival showed that it’s quite often the smaller names at these events that end up making the biggest impression!