Beyond The Pale Festival – day one live gallery and review from Glendalough Estate, Co. Wicklow 12.06.2026

The sun was splitting the trees upon arrival to the Glendalough Estate on Friday June 12th. I joined the hoards of staff and volunteers in an almost pilgrimage-style migration to the festival site from staff parking. Most were fully prepped with collapsible trolleys stuffed high with their belongings while others now on their fourth trip from the carpark to the staff campsite had forgone the carts and were keeled over trying to transport their double duvets down the track path with varying success.

The Friday of a festival weekend almost feels like a get-in-day I associate with theatre productions; most of the day is spent getting organised for the events ahead, settling into accommodation for the weekend and sussing out the onsite facilities. Music wasn’t kicking off until 5pm so my 3pm arrival set me up perfectly to kickoff my weekend of work. First act up on the docket was Belfast band ‘Chalk’ in the Selective Memory tent. Quite an early slot for this band’s work to be fully appreciated but the band still attracted a decent crowd and the high energy gave a great start o the weekend’s lineup. Next I headed for Main Stage to check out folk-band Dug. This group. which is currently on tour across Europe with notable upcoming gigs in London’s Moth Club and this year’s Galway International Arts Festival in July, had the crowd up on their feet swaying and bopping away.

I then popped back into the Selective Memory Tent to catch the last of Ae Mak’s performance. Having seen her a few weeks back at When Next We Meet festival, I was interested to see how she’d fair on this bigger stage. She had notably been missing members of her band in the previous instance and this iteration of her live performance as a result had a much fuller sound and she really shined, clearly enjoying every moment of the performance. Princess Nokia on the main stage was next on the bill. This American rapper drew a big crowd for a relatively early evening slot with notable hardcore fans occupying the front row singing every word.

I caught some of the Greek artist Ctella’s [pronounced Stella] set next and was so impressed by her sound and her stage presence. Truly a fun act to watch perform and full of energy. For a real change in pace, I popped by the Strawberry Field Tent and caught some of Monsieur Pompier’s Travelling Freakshow set. Bit of shock walking in and seeing the guitarist and bassist wearing crazy masks but the costuming and the vibes this group exuded drew you in and before I knew it I was bopping along to their tracks alongside others in the packed tent. Definitely a memorable experience even if it wasn’t entirely planned. On my way back to the Main Stage where I’d be based for the rest of the night, I stopped into the Selective Memory Tent and caught Jan Blomqvist’s set. I honesty wasn’t familiar with his work as I wouldn’t be too knowledgeable of DJs but I was really impressed by the energy this act brought to the stage. The visuals were also pretty cool with this one.

I then hunkered down beside main stage for Caribou and Soul Wax who were the last acts to close out the first night at Main Stage. Both brought a great energy to the arena, with fans packed into the field like sardines and jumping about as if they were the only ones there. Very energetic end to a very enjoyable day.

Chalk photos: