LTJ Bukem feat MC Conrad wind up Life in style

Life Festival 2010 Review

By Paul Mullin | Published: Sun 13th Jun 2010

around the festival site (2)

Friday 4th to Sunday 6th June 2010
Belvedere House Park and Gardens, Mullingar, Ireland, Ireland
early bird 110 euros
Last updated: Fri 14th May 2010

We wake up on Sunday to a massive puddle at the bottom of our tent, quick piece of advice; never go for a water resistant tent; they don’t quite do half the job as the water proof ones. We get up and the rain starts to subside and the sun comes out again, so we decide to head down to the lake to check out what's on. We come across The Bluestack Mountain Boys who prove to be a nice change of pace as they treat us to a host of bluegrass and rockabilly covers. 'I Ain't Broke, But I'm Badly Bent', 'I Know What It Means To Be Lonesome', 'Foggy Mountain Breakdown' and 'Folsom Prison Blues' are the stand outs of an accomplished set.

around the festival site (2)
Miniminds are a Northern Ireland based techno music duo, comprised of Gary Dickenson and Stephen Garrett. Formed in 2007 this duo's DJing and production skills have gone from strength to strength. They are the first dance act we catch on Sunday and they deliver in style. They play a set full of jackin' techno and know exactly when to freshen things up. They play to a small but appreciative crowd and set the benchmark for the rest of Sunday’s proceedings.

AGT Rave Cru is our next port of call in The Big Top arena. The most fun act of the weekend, old school classics mixed up with a variety of more modern cuts. Everything from The Prodigy to The Beastie Boys to Kelis gets an airing by these festival veterans and it goes down a storm with the droves who've packed the tent for their set.

We set off for the lake once more as Mad Professor's Dub show has been moved there since Zion Train blew the speakers in the Rootical tent earlier that day, so a few things had to be changed around. It couldn't have been a more perfect setting as the music suited the sun drenched lake side setting.

around the festival site (2)
Chris Liebing one of the true behemoths of techno is one of Sunday night’s headliners. Liebings techno is made for this sort of occasion. The man comes straight from the hard hitting end of the techno spectrum and duly delivers a fierce and frenzied set which leaves the packed Big Top tent in rapturous applause.

LTJ Bukem feat MC Conrad is the final headliner on Sunday and they finish off the Big Top tent in style, already buzzing from Liebing's set prior, they don't let the pace let up but switch from Techno to Drum N Bass, possibly the most crazy the crowd went all weekend. From a personal point of view this reaffirmed my love for DNB, the only pity is that the music was cut at exactly 1am and they didn't even get the chance to play on despite the chants of "one more tune" echoing through the arena.

All in all, Life Festival was a roaring success, after moving location the past few years, this felt like the correct setting for it. The lakeside stage was something special to behold at times, a few minor glitches such as the stages being too close together is the only minor gripe that proved an inconvenience at times, but no doubt this will be smoothed out next year.

around the festival site (2)
review by: Paul Mullin

photos by: Paul Mullin


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