The fields of Ballymully Cottage Farm were once again filled with magic and joy as Stendhal returned with another wonderful weekend of music and entertainment. Despite funding pressures the independently run festival continues to punch above its means and 2024 was no different.
This year we tasked four of the artists performing at the festival to put together a brief tour diary to talk about their experience of the festival.
Rory Nellis
My Stendhal experience really started the day before I went up to the festival. I’d assembled a great band but trying to get six of us together for a rehearsal proved tricky to say the least. We finally got together to iron out the set list details on Thursday the 4th. We had Stephen Leacock on drums, Herb Magee on bass, Matt Evans on keys, Eilís Phillips on backing vocals, Phil Edgar on guitar and of course myself. Everyone had been beavering away in the background learning the songs but this was the first time we got to hear them with everyone together. As soon as I heard that sweet sound I couldn’t wait to get up on the stage.
Our set wasn’t until the Saturday but I’d been asked to perform on The Ticket for BBC Radio Ulster on the Friday so I headed up that morning to get myself sorted and soak up a bit of the atmosphere and get some lunch (artist hospitality tent burritos were incredible). I managed to squeeze in one song of Conchúr White before my soundcheck, two songs of Drew Makes Noise before the show and two songs of The Breeze’s set right after. Off to a great start.
Performing and doing an interview live from the BBC tent was a lovely experience too. Strange performing live on the radio as people walk past and wave or listen but I really enjoyed it. Chatting to Kathy Clugston is always a pleasure. We spoke a little about trying to make a living in the music industry at the moment and how hard it can be to carve out a little corner of it for yourself…balancing being a jobbing musician and your creative endeavours. I came away inspired and excited though that I can make it work.
Dinner time soundtrack was one of my highlights of the festival. Ríoghnach Connolly & Honeyfeet played an incredible set on the main stage. Superb fun and ridiculous levels of musicianship. Last up for the day for me was an immense and powerful set from Problem Patterns. Brilliant tunes, voices, riffs and messages. They were class.
Saturday was the day of our set. We were on the Stevie Martin Stage at 2.25pm so started getting ourselves loaded in and sorted around 12.30. The checking in area at Stendhal is a total hive of activity full of great musicians and writers from all over NI and beyond. I bumped into and caught up with loads of brilliant artists up to amazing and varied things.
We got a lift with our gear on one of the little golf carts (driven by none other than Paul Connolly from The Woods Burning Savages) up to the backstage area and got to work setting up and checking monitors etc. Here we go!
I absolutely loved playing. We had a decent crowd despite the rain and I managed to get them singing bits of The Fear and When I Sleep. All in all a great success and I genuinely wish I could do that every day. After a few photos the band went our separate ways as some had other gigs that afternoon and evening. I was donated a few of their artist meal vouchers so it was more delicious burritos for me.
I caught a little bit of Nathan O’Regan (featuring Matt Evans who’d just finished playing keys for us) on the main stage. The band, the songs and Nathan’s voice were fantastic as always. Then I finished off the day watching Gomez on the main stage with my family. It was my two boys’ first festival experience and that, mixed with the absolute nostalgia trip for me and my wife, made it pretty much a spiritual experience for me.
I don’t take gigs and experiences like this for granted and hopefully we’ll get to do it again soon.
Lavengro
Today was the big day! Our band was all set to perform at the Stendhal Festival, and the excitement was palpable. We left Derry in the morning, the van packed with our gear and spirits high. The drive to Limavady was smooth, with the usual banter and playlist debates making the journey fly by. However, finding the festival site in the countryside was a different story. Winding through narrow, unfamiliar roads, we relied heavily on a mix of GPS and local advice. After a few wrong turns and some scenic detours, we finally saw the festival signs and the sense of relief was immense.
Soundcheck:
Once on-site, we wasted no time setting up for our soundcheck. The crew was fantastic, helping us get everything in place quickly. The soundcheck itself went incredibly well; everything sounded crisp and clear. Hearing our music reverberate through the festival grounds gave us a preview of what was to come. We felt more ready than ever to take the stage.
The Performance:
When it was finally time for our set, we took the Stevie Martin Stage, an honor we all deeply felt. The stage, named after the late artist ‘Rainy Boy Sleep’, carried a special significance, and we were determined to do it justice. From the first note, the crowd was electric, their energy feeding into our performance and amplifying it. The atmosphere was phenomenal, with cheers and applause that made us feel truly connected to the audience.
Midway through our set, we paid tribute to Stevie Martin by performing his song “One After One”. As we played, there was a profound silence, followed by a wave of emotion from the crowd. It was a powerful moment, one that underscored the impact of his music and the privilege we felt being there.
Reflection:
As we packed up our gear after the performance, we couldn’t stop smiling. Playing at Stendhal Festival, especially on the Stevie Martin Stage, was an unforgettable experience. The journey, the crowd, the connection – it all came together in a way that felt almost magical. Today will be a memory we cherish for years to come.
CHERYM
Waking up at 10am on the day you’re headlining a festival to have 5 missed calls from your manager and 3 missed calls from your singer trying to let you know that your bassist can no longer play the gig due to illness, would give anyone anxiety. Welcome to a musician’s diary of Stendhal 2024.
As a core member of the band CHERYM, by now we would usually have an advance for a gig a week in advance, with everything running accordingly and a plan in place to have a smooth run of the day, this diary isn’t necessarily about the glamorous side of the music industry in a blog including the headline “a day in the life of a musician at a festival” but instead, consider it a crash course on problem solving when you run into issues like this which almost every band has encountered.
By the start of the day the entire band was panicking, “do we cancel our set?” “Do we get someone to fill in? If so, who do we even know that knows the setlist back to front?”, if it wasn’t for our dear friend Becca (who has filled in on bass for us before when we’ve needed her), we wouldn’t have been able to perform our headline set that night. Luckily for us, Becca had already planned on attending Stendhal as a festival-goer, little did she know she’d be on the job that same night.
When my partner and I arrived on site, Hannah and Becca had been in a tent all day practicing the setlist which we were to perform in just a few short hours in front of a couple hundred people (no pressure Becca).
Other than the impromptu panic, the artist’s day at a festival is pretty easy-going in comparison to a tour gig day: show up, go to your designated parking spot, drop all your band gear off at the artist liaison tent, sign in, get your weekend pass and then you’re simply sent on your way to enjoy the festival until 1 hour before you’re set to go on stage, then it’s work time.
We head for some food and then straight for the stage where we start to set up. Our stage this year was the Wooly Woodland’s stage, run by the incredible production team at the Nerve Centre. We ran a 15 minute line check to make sure everything was in order before heading backstage. Between line check and stage time we had the dreaded wait which every musician loathes, from getting butterflies to needing to find a toilet, the nerves always strike to some degree no matter how big or small your audience is.
At 8:40pm we took to the stage and opened our set with the first track of our debut album, ‘Alpha, Beta, Sigma’ and from there flew through a 45 minute set to which it almost felt like only 10 minutes had passed before we were off stage. Looking out at the audience seeing so many familiar faces yet so many new fans was such an enlightening and refreshing experience. Everyone’s faces were lit up by the sheer excitement of raw pop punk played by three queer women headlining a stage at our local festival. It was an invigorating experience, particularly playing 20 minutes from our hometown after playing abroad for so long.
At the end of the night we all stayed to chat with fans, friends and family before going to enjoy some of the other bands and having a nosy at the stalls down by the Karma Valley stage. It was certainly a day that none of us will forget. From the start of our day being filled with anxiety and intense problem solving skills but having it finish with such an enjoyable set and an even more invigorating audience really showed us the support that these intimate festivals and local bands truly have for one another at the end of the day.
Klyda
We all arrived to the festival on the Thursday and were in the big family camping area. We set up our tents in our own wee section which was some good craic when it came to winding down after the festival.
When it came to our time to play we were on a pretty early time slot on the wooly woodland stage, so we had to load in by 10.30am but it was worth it because the gig was incredible. As the slot was so early we didn’t think many people would show up but we had the area packed and we feel it was one of our best sets of the year.
Shout out to problem patterns who’s set was one of our favourites and you can see us all in the crowd of every photo, and Esmerelda Road who were incredible as always. We also loved boy m5s set.
Generally as a bands first festival we couldn’t of asked for a better experience! And a thanks you to the nerve centre and the whole team and Stendhal for the opportunity!!
