5 Acts You Need To See At Beyond The Pale

Words: Dylan Murphy
Photo: Thundercat by Parker Day

The boutique festival in Glendalough Estate has one of Irish festival season’s strongest lineups. We’ve curated five of our favourite acts that you can’t miss.

2022 was the first full festival season in three years and Beyond The Pale came correct as the newest addition to the Irish circuit. Its inaugural lineup was a serious statement of intent, with acts like Fourtet, Bonobo, The Mary Wallopers and Aoife Nessa Frances making up an eclectic poster of homegrown and international artists that delivered on the festival’s promise to meld local and established global acts and styles. This year, they’ve went one better and enlisted some heavy hitters without compromising the curatorial edge of the festival.

Taking place in Glendalough Estate in Wicklow from Friday 16 June – Sunday 18, the festival marries naturalistic scenery with the best kind of music to soundtrack the settings. Ahead of the second edition, we’ve detailed five essential acts you can’t miss in Wicklow this summer, in no particular order.

The best act name at Beyond The Pale bar none, Jockstrap are anything but a gimmick. Consisting of Black Country New Road’s Georgia Ellery and eclectic producer Taylor Skye, the duo have released through Warp and Rough Trade and land in Wicklow off the back of their brilliant 2022 record I Love You Jennifer B. That at-times-angelic record follows up the art pop, electronic, hip hop and glitchy sounds throughout 2020’s Wicked City and sets the stage for a performance that’s equal parts meditative and fuel for the odd balls.

In a world where multi-hypenism is the norm for kids raised on Rihanna’s ‘Pon De Replay’ to Fenty pipeline, Grace Jones’ performance at Glendalough Estate is a rare opportunity to see an act that laid the blueprint in the flesh. A genuine icon and singular force in popular culture that’s conquered both the music and fashion world, it’s hard not to get excited at the prospect at hearing ‘Pull Up To The Bumper’ with the sun beaming down. This is shaping up to be special.

Mr. Dragonball Durag himself, Thundercat is making a long-awaited return to Ireland this summer at Beyond The Pale. Part time meme-lord, full time bassist, Thundercat is one of the most charismatic acts out there. Don’t be fooled by his unhinged social media presence, he’s got a back catalog that isn’t to be messed with and has a hand in some very special records. Whether that’s his own unforgettable albums Drunk and It Is What It Is, or his work on Kendrick’s To Pimp A Butterfly, Silk Sonic’s debut or all the off the wall cuts with Flying Lotus, he’s got range. Ahead of the headline slot he also dropped the perfect summer soundtrack in ‘No More Lies‘ with Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker.

2021 RTÉ Choice Prize winner, Dave Balfe aka For Those I Love is bringing his mesh of electronics, spoken word and unfiltered storytelling to Glendalough this summer. This is more often than not, uncomfortable listening, but there’s no debate this is powerful music that is the perfect reminder about the power of love of friendship and what better place to let that marinate than a stage with your closest friends.

If you are unfortunate enough to be unfamiliar with Little Dragon, it’s worth checking out their collaborators as a temperature test before listening. For the Swedish group, that’s the likes of Gorillaz, SBTRKT, Mac Miller, Kaytranada and Flume amongst others. With that in mind, it’ll come as no surprise that the super collaborative group have been GRAMMY-nominated too. Throw in 15 years of making the kind of spiritual cuts that make your soul levitate from its physical home and it’s the perfect act for this summer in Glendalough. What’s more is, they revealed their forthcoming album New Me, Same Us is dropping on July 7 via Ninja Tune, so punters this year might just be some of the first to hear those new cuts.