Having made its first appearance in 2019, Kaleidoscope, the self-proclaimed ‘music and arts festival for family and friends’, returned this festival season at Russborough House and Gardens from June 30th to July 2nd. Thanks to its location, Kaleidoscope is a sprawling mass of noise and music with enough children running loose to give child welfare a heart attack and was toting mascots so vivid that I was momentarily transported back to my time spent as a child sitting in front of the computer playing hit 2010s online game Moshi Monsters.
Putting family and festival together is a challenging balancing act but it was one that Kaleidoscope had taken head on, excelling in catering to young kids. Providing a safe environment for all ages at live gigs is something very difficult to guarantee while having it also be engaging to an older audience but, with a playground by the campsite, fair rides and multiple childrens’ shows throughout the weekend, there was more then enough for even the smallest of festival-goers. This was subsequently keeping parents satisfied and as they were able to relax for themselves yet there was a distinct group of teens to young adults who seemed to fall through the cracks despite being the demographic that should be easiest to cater for at a festival with multiple music stages. This divide caused Kaleidoscope to feel like an amalgamation of two wholly separate events. This may have been more apparent to me due to my being part of this age-range but there were plenty of times when the joyous family atmosphere was enough to make me wonder if my brother and I had made a mistake and were in fact not supposed to set foot on the grounds. This reached its pinnacle for us after my brother was asked by a particularly hammered middle-aged man what he was doing there if he had no kids.
Though Russborough provides a large and beautiful space for the festival to work with, it is by no means an easy location to get to. This is probably not a huge issue for Kaleidoscope’s primary demographic of families who would be attending with their own cars to camp for the entire weekend but for other guests the only accommodation is a shuttle bus that only goes as far as the nearby town of Blessington. With the unfortunate state of Irish public transport, it goes without saying that a shuttle bus to a further location wouldn’t have gone amiss for day-trippers such as myself as I struggled to escape the depths of West Wicklow back to the safety of the East on a Saturday night.
There was a clear aim towards a parent-age audience with the festival lineup but there were some talented performers that did capture my attention such as Brad Heidi who took to the stage armed only with his acoustic guitar and a TikTok livestream that quickly mesmerised the iPhone-toting kids in the audience. To my amazement The Jerry Fish Electric Sideshow managed to overcome the long-time enemy of crowd work in Ireland on the mainstage with minimal strong-arming as the tent was alive with actual, willing audience participation throughout the set. The eclectic mix of flashy sideshow performers played well against the voice of Jerry Fish, his band and the accompanying saxophone as they maintained movement from both parents and kids in the tent.
The stand out performance of the day, however, was Tadhg who quickly pulled in a large crowd with his deep voice and natural stage presence. His set was both colourful and upbeat and also featured songs in Irish as he moved between instrument and microphone, proving himself to be a multi-talented force to be reckoned with. Dressed in a blue two piece that, paired with a mullet, was reminiscent of 70s glam rock, Tadhg’s energy and look was unique, captivating, and the highlight of my day at the festival.
Though Kaleidoscope did an excellent job in curating a safe space for families, the removal of appeal for the younger age-range is cutting out one of the more profitable demographics and is what brought me to ask in the first place whether or not family festivals are something that can work. In my initial thoughts on this event I believe I was harsh in a way that was very individualistic and biased towards my own perspective as someone who does not like having a barrage of small kids colliding with my knees every five minutes. Taking a step back I think the key take away of this examination is that we often treat family life and life as a young person as two binary opposites in terms of lifestyle, simplistically, this is one of heavy responsibility versus one with significantly less. What Kaleidoscope does is ensures a level of safety, particularly for small children, that is socially irregular and thus becomes an annoyance for those with what I could only describe as a youthful impatience for kids.
This festival is not designed primarily for young adults but this does not mean it can’t be enjoyed. I saw plenty of groups of college-age festival goers who were just as happy to be there as anyone else and who, thanks to Russborough’s size, could carve out their own spaces away from the younger attendees. The reason Kaleidoscope feels strange is because it is taking an environment that we associate with a very specific type of audience and they instead apply it to a slightly altered demographic. Their niche works well and they have found great and apparent success thanks to the devotion they show to the family demographic.
The continuation of a kid-friendly event of this scale is an important move in arts and music being more family inclusive, something that Ireland’s current legislation surrounding age at music venues is often in contradiction of. Furthermore, the encouragement of the presence of kids means that there is less likely to be a disproportionate exclusion of women from these spaces, meaning that life with kids does not have to be a condemnation of social life and activity. Enjoyment of music, arts and the great outdoors can be shared in a safe and surprisingly clean (for a festival) location, making Kaleidoscope a much needed addition to the calendar of Irish festival season.
