It’s known as Ireland’s best little festival, a reputation Castlepalooza thoroughly deserves, with the laid-back atmosphere at Charleville Castle and devil-may-care attitude of punters

If ever there was a festival built for just having the craic with your mates, this is it – it doesn’t matter who plays, everyone is up for it

TULLAMORE WAS USED as a bulwark “when the city of Dublin felt threatened by the wild tribes of the west”, according to its online history. This weekend, the Offaly town’s Charleville Castle is again being besieged by wild tribes, but this crowd have swapped shields and spears for glow sticks and glitter.

Castlepalooza 2012 is just one of several bank-holiday festivals for punters to choose from, and as swifts dive-bomb the Gothic tin-soldier turrets in the late afternoon sun, the castle’s courtyard thrums to the low, subby beats of Dylan Higgins’s DJ set and some 2,500 people dance here, there and everywhere in the estate’s ancient grounds.

Castlepalooza has a reputation for being the best little festival in Ireland, and deservedly so. Strolling between its three small stages takes all of 10 minutes, and it’s not long before the compact area and cracking atmosphere make it seem like the entire audience is on first-name terms. People roam the grand hallways, ancient oaks are hung with mirror balls and everywhere there is music, talk and laughter.

The weather forecast is dire, but after a few blustery bursts, the sun breaks out and turns a damp day into a long summer’s evening. Irish festivalgoers have a grá for ignoring the elements and wearing a stubbornly optimistic array of outfits, and the audience here doesn’t disappoint. The oddest group of the festival, though, is the 30 or so glam rockers who roam the grounds, leaving a trail of big hair, glitter and feathers in their wake. They are here to celebrate a 30th birthday, and treat the crowd to a glam-rock flash mob, air-guitaring their way through Bowie and Queen numbers with rock-star pouts and poise.

One such punter is Barry du Monde, a six-foot-something colossus dressed in flowing black and gold robes, with what could only be described as a large silver crotch skull rounding off an ensemble that terrifies as many people as it entertains.

“This is my fourth time here in five years,” says du Monde. “If ever there was a festival built for just having the craic with your mates, this is it. It doesn’t matter who plays, the atmosphere is deadly, everyone is up for it. It’s like a creche for 30-somethings.

“It’s tiny, you turn off your phone when you get here because it’ll only take you five minutes to find all of your mates. Everyone loses the run of themselves completely; you can dress any way you want to.”

Also enjoying themselves, if in less dramatic get up, are Riikka and Cathal Brennan, who have left their son, Lucas, at home to come to Castlepalooza to celebrate Riikka’s 35th birthday.

“I wanted something Irish, something different, something less well known for Riikka’s birthday,” says Cathal – and this festival is ticking all the boxes. “I’ve already texted our friends about getting a gang down for next year.”

Amid the glitter and glam, though, there is the serious business of music to be seen and heard.

The North Strand Kontra Band brought their whirling dervish of sound to the main stage to lift things in the late afternoon, while Little Xs for Eyes put in a solid shift to further bolster their growing reputation. Little Green Cars might have been the youngest looking band at this or indeed any festival, but their crafted folk rock and three-part harmonies have a vintage Laurel Canyon feel that proves perfect fodder for the castle crowd.

This Club delivered the first standout set of the night, with their kinetic set of sparky electro pop rocking the main stage. Until recently, they were playing under the name Hoarsebox, but a change in direction meant some fresh marketing, and they are now building a sterling reputation on the back of their debut album Highlife. This is slick, polished pop that goes down a storm – and finishing off a set with a cover of En Vogue’s My Lovin’ (You’re Never Gonna Get It) is a cheeky gamble that pays off handsomely.

It wouldn’t be an Irish festival without Richie Egan’s Jape on the bill, and here the band build big, confident electro beats and rich, synthy sounds that keep the castle rocking right through the set, fluidly shifting between tracks with a rare, impressive slickness.

Over in the Deezer tent, Cloud Castle Lake’s set signifies something of a change in gear, their serene pools of sound making something kind of beautiful amid the madness of this tiny music festival. It’s a tough trick to slow a festival’s pulse down without losing any energy, but the band pulls it off with style.

At this stage, though, there was only one act likely to steal the show. Le Galaxie, the high electro pop kings of Ireland, might have taken quite some time to set up, but once the band rolled out their heavy artillery of beats, synths and rocket-fuelled techno trance, this was the only place to be. The band must spend half their touring budget on glow sticks that they fling into the crowd, and few acts are better at whipping up an electro music storm. Here, they threaten to rip the roof off the tent – and not even a mid-set powercut can derail this tour de force.

Yesterday, it was the turn of the likes of The Charlatans, King Charles, Solar Bears and Toby Kaar to show Tullamore who was boss. But on Saturday night, there was little doubt that Le Galaxie were the kings of Charleville Castle.