Festivals of innocence

It is slightly sad to see a beleaguered Feile shoved to the last weekend in August. In its glory days it was a hugely important orgy (almost literally) of pop music that defined what was hot and what was not in a particular summer. That the vulgar Millstreet (middle aged) Music Festival has taken its bank holiday slot merely rubs salt in the wound. Feile '97 has a slightly forlorn look about it, with the "Strictly No Camping" sign the biggest indication of how the festival has been bashed around. What we wouldn't give now for something that even vaguely resembled the "largest outdoor festival in Europe".

Which is a great pity, because a fully fledged Feile has a great deal to recommend it, not least the music, a lot of which was seminal. Like Frank Black's unannounced on-stage busking, or the day we realised that Ian Brown couldn't sing any more. Best of all, Feile had a habit of throwing up a performance that was truly sensational, often by those least likely to, like the Barenaked Ladies.

But more than the quality of the music - and standing in a rotten stadium in the rain, worrying if your tent is still where you left it is not the best way to listen to music - there was the great chance to measure bands against each other, to measure Irish bands against the rest of the world (which was very important to us a few years ago), and to watch the humbling effect a crowd could have on a band's ego. Like the time the Manic Street Preachers, who return tomorrow, were dropped down the bill to accommodate the Frank & Walters, who alas do not, at the height of their fame. Feile was a marvellous showcase for the likes of A House, That Petrol Emotion and Therapy?, who were not disgraced at all.

The biggest problem for Feile has always been a suitable venue. There is no point having a festival that nobody can reach, but the skeleton rail tracks that serve Ireland narrow down the list of possible venues to only fairly large towns, with residents who naturally would rather not have their gardens used as public conveniences. Feile was effectively killed when Mondello Park was barred as a venue in the most outrageous show of Nimby-ism in recent years. A festival, after all, is a relatively innocent affair. There is a vast amount of consumption over several days, but it is not much more than the consumption in many respectable festivals in provincial towns. Feile is, after all attended by kids, not hoodlums, and was never nearly as debauched as people reckoned it to be. There is far more obnoxious behaviour in the bar of the Shelbourne Hotel every Friday night.

If you are going to Feile '97 take a quick peek in Thurles race course, where several thousand young people realised that the joy of being away from home doesn't really compare to a warm bed. Be sure, too, to check out The Supernaturals. They ply a fantastic, Frank & Walters-style happy sort of pop and are well worth turning up early for. The rest of the bill is a bit hohum, with Kula Shaker looking especially annoying. This summer has seen bands like The Verve make Krispin Mills et al look very 1996. But The Cardigans should be good. Be sure to enjoy The Prodigy too. Their 20-minute epics and prog rock light show should be great fun.

FOR what it's worth I think the new Oasis album is an absolute racket. As a phenomenon they are interesting, but you could never really love them. The most remarkable thing about them is not whether they are good or bad, as the incredibly lightweight cover of Bowie's He- roes showed, but that everyone, even famous and talented stars, want to be them. First John Squire's Seahorses and now even Morrissey, the grand-dad of them all, are trying to operate in a world transformed by their Mancunian brothers. You don't need me to tell you that Be Here Now will be massive, but I'd rather wait for something more interesting, like The Verve.

Talking of whom will be playing tonight in the SFX in Dublin tonight. Much has been said about them in these pages and rightly so - they're massive. It's just a pity that they clash with Tindersticks, who play in Temple Bar at exactly the same time. If you really can't decide, toss a coin, and then go to Tindersticks. Revelino also play tonight, in Whelans, but I think they have chosen a bad night.

Brian Boyd is on leave.