- Opinion
- 04 Aug 20
With The Prodigy, Blur and Stone Roses headlining our man Paul Nolan reckons it probably was!
Kicking off on August 4, 1995 in its new – and, as it turned out, one-time – home of Páirc Uí Chaoimh, Féile '95 wasn't lacking in star quality. In addition to the respective Friday/Saturday/Sunday night headliners The Prodigy, Blur and Stone Roses, a €45 three-day ticket also allowed you to feast on Moby, Kylie Minogue, The Beautiful South, Pop Will Eat Itself, Paul Weller, Elastica, Terence Trent D'Arby, The Verve, The Orb, The Chemical Brothers, Underworld, Ash, Carl Cox, Laurent Garnier, Massive Attack Sound System, Andrew Weatherall and loads more.
When our man Paul Nolan opined on Facebook that it was probably the finest festival line-up this island of ours has ever witnessed, there were no dissenting voices and an avalanche of people agreeing with him. Mr. N was particularly enamoured of Blur...
"The hapless preceding act, The Beautiful South, had to endure an eruption of the chant 'We want Blur!' from the restless crowd halfway through their set, ensuring that the atmosphere was at fever-pitch when Messrs Albarn, Coxon, James and Rowntree finally arrived," he says. "The high point of a memorable set came with the stadium being transformed into a giant bouncy castle during 'Girls & Boys', with Albarn leading the crowd in a mass singalong. The singer also mentioned 'We're having a joust' before 'Country House', referencing the upcoming chart battle with Oasis' 'Roll With It', with the Blur tune ultimately hitting the top spot in both Ireland and the UK. Their Féile performance was another landmark moment in a whirlwind couple of years."
Here are some of your thoughts:
"I nearly danced myself to death at that Underworld show," Ronan O'Halloran reminisces. "Mental weekend," agrees Donal Egan. "Remembering the bungee jump!" Gosh, yes, there was a big elastic rope as well as Elastica...
"It was a savage line up, Prodigy blew the electricity a few times and was a pain to get from camping to the stadium but mental craic had," is how Dave Horan remembers it all.
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"Unbelievable," gasps Rob Smith. "The Stone Roses always said this was one of their best ever gigs. No Reni, no Roses for me. But sure look..."
"Can't remember a thing," says Paul's fellow Hot Press scribe Pat Carty. "A great weekend."
"Orbital after Stone Roses was special," enthuses another HP-er Eamon Sweeney. "Can’t believe it’s 25 years."
"Kylie went through Dublin airport that weekend," recalls Donny Keane. "A guy I worked with got signed photos for us both. I still have mine framed and hung up next to a picture of the Pope."