Metropolis Festival Review

Photo: Nile Rodgers Credit: Kieran Murray

It seems the organisers of Ireland’s newest festival, Metropolis have stumbled upon the perfect niche. With the darkness of winter setting in and the cold nights extinguishing any memory of the heat of summer, a giant festival-less gap emerges on people’s calendars, waiting for somebody to move in and fill it. 

Metropolis is the perfect means of filling that gap. A post-summer festival with a line-up consisting of some of the biggest names in dance music – as well as a handful of behemoth headliners – Metropolis took place over two days within the grounds of south Dublin’s R.D.S., in a number of massive halls and warehouses.

The location had something of a grimy feel; a cold, industrial-looking place kitted out with neon lights and elaborately gorgeous stages. The site was busy, but never overwhelming. Any real danger of congestion was eased by the strict one-way systems in operation in and out of the arenas as the attendees floated around the place quite freely.  

Photo: Arcadia Credit: Kieran Murray

At the centre of the site stood the festival’s only outdoor stage, the Arcadia Spectacular, a 360 degree stage towering above the festival’s inhabitants, shooting flames into the sky and consistently playing wonderful tunes. It served as the festival’s constant; a place one could go to and be guaranteed to have a bit of a dance to some great - generally house - music at any point during the weekend.

The rest of the festival was split up into various indoor arenas, with the Industries Hall being the prettiest of them all. Colourful lights and installations prevailed within the place, and the dance floor was never short of a few patrons boogying along to whatever the DJ happened to be playing at the time. 

Saturday’s highlights were generally found within the festival’s Main Hall, with Dublin band Le Galaxie’s packed out performance ensuring the crowd had completely adjusted to the festival manner of being, before the main headliners of the night made their appearances. 

Hip hop legends The Roots took to the stage in a genre-spanning performance which included a Guns N' Roses cover, the Mario theme tune and an extract of the Sugar Hill Gang’s 'Apache (Jump On It)'.

Photo: The Roots Credit: Zak Milofsky

The group strutted around the stage with the type of presence that can only be achieved after almost three decades of producing some of the greatest hip hop to ever enter the biosphere. Each solo undertaken by one of the band members was met with something bordering on hysteria, as the group played out a fascinatingly unpredictable set. 

Hot Chip closed Saturday night with tracks from their latest album Why Make Sense? as well as classics such as 'Over and Over' and 'Ready For The Floor'. The Londoner's had only recently played to Irish crowds at Electric Picnic (read our review of the festival here), but were more than warmly welcomed back for another evening of spacey synth sounds and catchy hooks. 

The festival site was forced to empty by 12 o’clock, but a series of after-parties had been organised throughout Dublin City to accommodate the restless festival goers. Hot Chip played a DJ set in Temple Bar’s The Button Factory, house duo Flight Facilities followed their hour-long set in the Shelbourne Hall with a gig in dance venue District 8 and The Roots’ Questlove DJed in The Sugar Club, in a set which frankly stood out even amongst those of the actual festival itself.

Sunday jumped right back into the festivities, with house guru Kerri Chandler playing an evening set in the sweaty Serpentine Hall, while Dublin’s own Kormac’s Big Band shook the Main Hall with their deep basslines, turntable scratches, big brass sounds and newly added string quartet.

Photo: Mark Ronson Credit: Zak Milofsky

Mark Ronson and Jamie xx filled out their respective halls as the temperature started to drop and night time began to fall. The attendees swarming around the site were beginning to awaken into the night; dancing a little harder and a little more manically than ever before in the weekend. 

The masses eventually began to drip into the Main Hall for some disco dancing and elation. At 8:30 a voice emerged from the stage to announce that the band “that brought you such hits as 'Everybody Dance', 'Good Times' and 'Le Freak'” were about to appear on stage.

The curtain lifted and standing before the crowd was Nile Rodgers and his band Chic happily soaking up all the love pulsating out of the crowd. They fell into classic 'Everybody Dance' and the tone for the performance is well and truly set. They played hit after hit, working through songs from their own dazzling back catalogue as well as songs composed and produced by Rodgers throughout his endless collaborations with superstars over the years. 

To list all the highlights of the gig would be to list every track on the set list. David Bowie’s 'Let’s Dance', Diana Ross’ 'Upside Down', Madonna’s 'Like A Virgin' and even a couple of the group’s new tracks all come to mind, though it could have been any other song that the band played. The positivity spewing forth from the group was soaked up and returned by the crowd as the packed hall grooved along to Rodgers and his crew during their hour and a half long set.

Dance music legend Giorgio Moroder proved his relevance to still be very much intact with a closing set in the Main Hall. The 75-year-old pioneer warmly stood at his decks with a big smile on his face, as thousands of people that weren’t yet born as he first began his mind-bending contribution to electronic music danced around with complete euphoria visibly showing on their faces. 

Photo: Maribou State Credit: Zak Milofsky

Sunday’s after-parties were a little more subdued with only Maribou State and Jamie xx braving the night shift. Jamie xx pulled in some fair numbers for his Button Factory show, but many were happy to get home and readjust to normality. 

The festival proved a spectacular success and is all but assured to return in a year. The question now then is what will it bring next time? The shock factor will be well and truly worn off by then; people now know what to expect from its organisers. The only way forward then is for them to produce a line up to match this year’s. A spectacularly tall order of course, but Metropolis surprised us all once, why shouldn’t it do it again?

More like this? Check out our festival reviews here.