Rigsy's Electric Picnic 2011 Runners & Riders
It's almost Electric Picnic time! Team ATL are collectively excited and arguing over who the best acts of the weekend are. But as it unsurprisingly transpires, EP has something for everybody and each and every one of us will end up creating our own bespoke festival, picking and choosing from the vast array of acts and areas on offer.
But Rigsy's EP experience will be something like the below, as he makes his picks on who to catch, who to avoid and who you should pretend you saw....
***THE MUST SEES***
Arcade Fire
Main stage, Saturday, 10pm
Do I even need to try and explain why? For your own good, I will not - we'd be here all night.
Pulp
Main stage, Sunday, 10.30pm
PERFECT way to end any festival, let alone the best one on the planet. A reunion even the most cynical of us welcomed, safe in the knowledge Jarvis is a proper legend who rounded up the troops for all the right reasons. Hopefully we're in for a proper mix of early indie gems, some mid-period anthems and a handful of reflective moments from those glorious final two albums. It could be THE moment of the summer.
***THE OLD RELIABLES***
The Charlatans
Crawdaddy Stage, Friday, 11pm
If you forget pretty much everything they've done in the last ten years, The Charlatans are one of the most fun and consistent indie bands ever. Close your eyes and pretend it's 1997 (then hope that they do the same).
The Chemical Brothers
Main stage, Saturday, 12.30pm
Ach look. Twenty plus times I've seen them. Twenty plus times I've been blown away. Those visuals. Heavy hit after heavy hit. Those lights. The vibes. It will NEVER get tired. I don't care if Ed and Thom are playing Tomb Rader up there, The Chemical Brothers are still the greatest live act in the world.
***THE NAMES TO DROP***
Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros
Cosby Stage, 11pm, Friday
The Cosby stage is almost entirely made up of below-the-radar indie, a treasure trove for those of us who enjoy declaring, "I was there" from the front seat of future bandwagons. ESATMZ aren't particularly new, but with a quirky pajama-clad frontman, joyous lyrics and bittersweet would-be anthems, they're a band built to close a stage at EP.
The 2 Bears
Little Big Tent, Saturday, 6.35pm
There's just something very inviting and pretty downright cool about Joe Goddard from Hot Chip's productions being coupled with the grizzly vocals of a….well, it could well be an actual bear. But, you know, a friendly bear. Like Rupert the Bear's happily drunk, chain smoking cockney uncle.
***THE AVOID OR DIE***
Bob Geldolf
Cosby stage, Sunday, 9.30pm
Has he actually got many actual decent songs to play us or is he just a man famous for being very grumpy? I know he fed the world and everything (respect!), but I'm not sure I'd like to spend an hour in his company.
Any DJ with live bongos
Hopefully nowhere but possibly the Get Together stage, all the bleedin' time
Unless you want to see me lose my mind and choke on my own rage (and perhaps that sounds right up your street), please remove any bongos from the site. Last year some total craic ender RUINED what would have the most blissful experiences of the weekend (Greg Wilson and The Revenge) by bongo-ing all over their sets. Some of the most beautiful house music in the world, produced by men and women regarded as geniuses within their field - yet this clown decided that he actually knew best and what the music really needed was some slightly out of time thumps on the most irritating instrument known to man. Please….please, just leave us alone.
***THE GUILTY PLEASURES***
Trinity Orchard Daft Punk
Main Stage, Saturday, 12.30pm
A student run orchestra that are, apparently, going to do cover versions of Daft Punk songs. This could be the most ludicrously brilliant thing (or not!) we witness all weekend/summer. We're very, very curious.
Sinead O'Connor
Main stage, Friday, 5.30pm
Music aside (excuse us for a moment), is she not a bit….totally bonkers? Increasingly so with age? We're holding out for a proper 'performance'.
***THE BEST OF THE MEXICANS***
Ham Sandwhich
Love Music Hate Racism stage, TBC
ATL has found our collective selves falling for Ham Sandwich more and more as they grow better with each release. Blissful pop hooks and the most endearing front-woman on the bill.
Republic of Loose
Main stage, Saturday, 4pm
They rarely put a foot wrong as far as we're concerned and, as festival veterans well versed in drenching us with good time vibes, we're offering a fun experience for all or your money back. (Not an actual guarantee).
***THE DJs***
Boys Noize
Little Big Tent, Friday, 10.15pm
Utterly relentless turbo-electro, the likes of which is constantly copied (by several acts on this weekend's bill, for a start) but rarely bettered. Expect brutality.
Jacques Lu Cont
Little Big Tent, Friday, 8.45pm
After a decade in which he gave us one of the funnest disco albums of all time (as Les Rythmes Digitales), some of the finest big-room remixes we'll ever hear (as The Thin White Duke) and a couple of the curve-ball ridden party mixes (as Jacques Lu Cont), Stuart Price disappeared. Except he didn't - he was busy producing Madonna, The Scissor Sisters and Kylie Minogue. His first DJ set in Ireland for several years should be….well, who knows what to expect. Unpredictably brilliant, I reckon.
***THE BEST OF THE NORDIES***
Axis Of
Love Music Hate Racism stage, TBC
The next generation, constantly threatening greatness (and always delivering) and, after racking up a fair few gigs this year, should be a mean, lean pop-punk machine.
The Undertones
Crawdaddy, Saturday, 4pm
It'll be short, it'll be sharp, it'll be a celebration of a simpler time - when pop tunes had neon choruses and only needed to last a couple of minutes. Feargal or no Feargal, those hits are untouchable.
***THE IF YOU'RE IN TO THAT SORT OF THINGS***
Get Together stage
All weekend
Last year, in the sun, with cocktails on-hand, this stage became the place to be. Laid back disco vibes and festival-friendly house music from the likes of The Glimmers and Horse Meat Disco brings you straight to…well somewhere that's probably a lot warmer than Stradbally.
Sharron Shannon Big Band
Crawdaddy stage, Sunday, 6.45pm
Acts like this help make EP unique. Christy Moore, Steve Earle and Paul Brady have all brought a more traditional sound to the festival in recent times and while Sharron Shannon is traditional in every way, she's also liable to use that squeeze-box to get the party started.
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