Ruckus: An infectious, jubilant celebration for St Patrick’s Day

The ever-exciting Vault festival celebrated the penultimate day of its 2019 programme with Ruckus, a late show party to honour the day of everyone’s favourite saint, Saint Patrick, patron of good vibes, the craic and general shenanigans. The event was produced by immersive theatre specialists Specifiq and the atmospheric venue, located in tunnels underneath Waterloo Station, was adorned with potato sacks in homage to the Old Country and guests were advised to dress to the theme of Peaky Blinders, the popular drama starring Cillian Murphy as a 1920s and 1930s gangster. With their flat caps, waistcoats, braces and all round historical swag, the Blinders have become a trend, single-handedly making the tweed flat cap cool. Last night, the friendly, young and enthusiastic crowd made a real effort: there were caps, braces, beaded flapper dresses, fur stoles, fake guns and shiny brogues as far as the eye could see.

Headliners The Lagan played Irish folk staples with a younger, punkier energy. Jubilant jigs like I Will Tell My Ma, Galway Girl and Raggle Taggle Gypsy were met with a delighted reception. There was a change of tone with the emotive Fields of Athenry, and they mixed it up by playing some of their own material, Same Shite, Different Night. A polka towards the end of the set was especially irresistible and allowed the fiddle player, Morgan Shaw, to really shine. Frontman Brendan O’Prey was charming and the whole group played with infectious glee. Unfortunately, the sound levels were a bit too high, which was quite piercing to the ears. That was not the band’s fault, however, and mattered not a jot to the dance floor as a whole, awash as it was with beer and outrageous folk dancing/folk flailing.

As well as the live music, patrons could enjoy some immersive theatre, with actors walking around and explaining that the “family” needed a new head as Mary had retired; whoever collected the most tokens through poker in the games room, lying, cheating, doing favours for the family or any other nefarious means got to choose the new head (possibly themselves). The lady who won had an entire bag of tokens, much to the crowd’s chaotic joy. This was real life Peaky Blinders with a Fenian twist and it was a raucous Ruckus.

Jessica Wall
Photos: Soma Visions

Ruckus was at Vault Festival on 16^th March 2019. For further information and future events visit Specifiq’s website here.

Read more reviews from our Vault Festival 2019 coverage here.

For further information about the event visit the Vault Festival website here.

Watch the trailer for Ruckus here: