More than 6,000 electronica fans brave bad weather to enjoy Life festival

When it comes to festival venues, there are few that can compete with Belvedere House in Mullingar, Co Westmeath.

With lakeside stages, camping and woods surrounding stages, tents and bars, the parkland venue at Lough Ennell hosted the ninth staging of Life festival over the weekend.

Despite bad weather, organisers said over 6,000 festival-goers still made it to the event.

"It was a spectacular weekend," said Neil Burke, one of the organisers. "It was a bit of a challenge weather-wise but we were very happy with the whole weekend. The vibe here meant there was still lots of smiley faces on Sunday despite the mud."

The festival, which bills itself a celebration of electronic music, kicked off on Friday and ran into the early hours of today.

Organisers said the best-received sets included an opening night DJ set from dance music legends Groove Armada, and an eagerly awaited set by Jamie XX. Waze and Odyssey’s set on the beach stage, set onto the lough shoreline was also well received. Bands including Afro Beat Ensemble, Raglans, Hot Sprockets and Booka Brass Band were all well received. In all, over 200 acts and DJs performed across seven stages.

Gardaí reported just five arrests for public order over the weekend. A warning had been issued by the HSE and festival organisers prior to the event surrounding dangerous green ecstasy tablets. A small number of drug seizures were made at the event, including six seizures of green Es.

No hospitalisations were reported and the Garda praised attendees for being in good spirits and largely co-operative.

“The event has a very good vibe and good people, with no incidents like thefts from tents or cars, which makes our life easier,” a Garda spokesperson said.

The festival had a big local spin-off, with hotels, B&Bs and supermarkets all busy with crew and festival-goers over the weekend.