The past weekend was filled with magic, wonder, and spontaneity as I went to the Body and Soul Festival in Westmeath. It was my very first time going to a festival as well as going camping – so I was super excited.
I chose to camp at the ‘Us and You’ campsite where people were required to clean up after themselves and not leave any rubbish – the great part was that it was the nearest campsite to the car park so we didn’t have to lug our stuff for too long. Thanks to James, I had an amazing tent! Thanks so much for lending it to us for the weekend.
Also, to make things even more exciting, I rented a car and drove from Castlebar to Westmeath! It’s been almost four years since I drove so it was definitely fun to be behind the wheel again.
There were loads of different stages as well as food options! I brought some food with mewhich lasted me for the Friday but I ate to our heart’s content on the Saturday and Sunday. I had gourmet burgers, pizzas from the Big Blue Bus, Umi Falafel, buffalo chicken wings, crepes, donuts, coffee, and more.
And one of our favourites was Jaru’s Korean BBQ – beef bulgogi with purple rice! So much flavour! The prices weren’t too exorbitant either as the most expensive dish was probably 12 for the pizza.
The Woodlands area was definitely our favourite as it was just so magical!
I didn’t really have any plans to see specific acts. So, I just wandered around the place stumbling upon cool acts such as NcGray at the Pagoda Stage, drum performances at the Woodlands Stage, open mic sessions at Arbutus Yans, sean nos workshops and intriguing talks at Wonderlust.
There was even a section where Trinity’s Science Gallery ”Soundcheck” exhibition was on! Several of the trees had sensors placed on them which allowed people to create music by hitting the trees with sticks.
The fashion at the festival was extremely hilarious. From onesies to inflatable dinosour suits, everything was acceptable.
The weather held up pretty well over the weekend with the odd shower which was easy enough to hide from in the tent. There were some really hot sunny days where I had to smother on the sun cream, so I would say I definitely got a pretty decent weekend!
What made the festival all the more fun was that I got to meet up with some buddies! Firstly, Denise (in the photo) performed some spoken word on the Saturday which was absolutely mind-blowing. Secondly, I got to meet Stuey by chance as he was working as one of the videographers for The Irish Times in the Wanderlust Stage. Thirdly, I got to chill out with Cillian on the grass while we enjoyed pizza, beer, wine, and the acts on the main stage.
The Midnight Circus tent was also pretty amazing with all its flashing lights and loud music.
Perfect for a good ol’ rave.
I loved the vibe at Body and Soul. It was just so chill, bohemian, and varied! We really enjoyed ourselves being able to find random and cool acts wherever we went! Definitely wanna go back next year!!
