Electric Picnic
Saturday 5th September, 2015
Stradbally, Co.Laois
You know where you stand with The Lost Brothers, which is why they've absolutely stuffed one of the main arenas at the start of Electric Picnic, day two. The gentle, welcoming tones of those two gentlemen onstage is hugely appreciated by the masses; seemingly fragile and a little dishevelled after a late night.
Comparatively, Race the Flux are a spikey, noisy racket next door. Its engaging stuff from this aggressively assured Galway four piece, even if ATL isn't quite ready for such...volume.
Which is why SOAK is such a treat. We can't help but recall her 2013 Electric Picnic appearance, during which Bridie Monds Watson seemed a little shellshocked. Part of a three piece band now, she's grown into these songs, coming across confident and proud, happy and content. 'Sea Creatures', reinvented since the version we heard back in 2013, is now big and bold.
Next door is a curious prospect - Paul from BellX1 alongside Gemma Hayes. It's a representation of the former's Printer Clips project, an album which featured a different vocalist on each song. The Electric Arena becomes fully 'seated', as we lie back on the grass and enjoy Paul and Gemma being - well, the sum of their parts. Two gorgeous, legendary voices, sounding sweet and reflective. The biggest reaction is for a BellX1 song however, as 'Rocky Took a Lover' becomes the day's first sing song.
Speaking of singsongs, we make it back to the main stage just in time to hear Future Islands play 'Seasons'. It is, as one may expect, one of the moments of the weekend. An incredible song performed by the always theatrical Samuel T. Herring, it's a wonderful mess of squelchy synths, throat wrecking growls, wonky dancing, a few tears and a lot of soul. This guy really is one of the most engaging performers EP has ever seen.
On the Cosby Stage Liverpool 4-piece Circa Waves tear through ‘Stuck in my teeth’ and new single ‘My Love’ with frontman Kieran Shudall telling us he in fact is one quarter Irish. He oozes confidence and charisma with those chorus strong vocals. There’s a lot of tête-à-tête banter on stage with drummer Colin Jones standing on his kit to herald the end, before piggybacking his way off stage. A great set which the crowd lapped up.
Hot Chip bring a little samba to the main stage, reworking 'Ready for the Floor' with a whirlwind of percussion. Now with an arsenal of hits, they've grown into proper party starters, with a quirky take on 'Dancing in the Dark' celebrated as the sun starts to set.
There's always a band you can't get near - and this year that's Chvrches, a huge draw at The Electric Arena. But we'll happily make do with Yasiin Bey, arriving just in time for a seemingly spontaneous Biggie Smalls cover. For such a genuine music icon, it's a relatively under-attended show, most likely because the average punter may only know this man by his former stage name - Mos Def.
Dublin's Meltybrains? are perfect for Body & Soul. A quick 360 look-around takes in weird art installations, a distant fairground and a lot of trees, all sound tracked by the band's genuinely unique brand of beautiful, trippy rock-psychedelica. Even a moment watching Meltybrains? is this festival in a nutshell.
Parquet Courts are having guitar problems over on the Cosby Stage. We think. The delay is dealt with so well, with so much warmth and humour, that it feels like it could be part of the show, but when they do start it’s electric, fast and oh so much fun.
Just around the corner, and things are getting out of hand at the Jerry Fish Electric Sideshow. Fight Like Apes are dealing with stage invasions and general chaos, with more people outside the tent impatiently peering in than can actually see the band. 'Push It' by Salt n' Peppa is annihilated (in a good way) while 'Jake Summers' is a brilliantly and deliberately shambolic punk mess.
In the Little Big tent Shamir eases the crowd in with slow jazz sounds, as he showcases his vocals with tracks from his album Ratchet before getting everyone jumping for his alternative power-pop hit ‘On the Regular’.
As for tonight's headliner, they're arguably the biggest band to have played Electric Picnic in it's 12 year history. Now comfortable in each other's company and energised with a new album, Damon, Graham, Alex and Dave from Blur are clearly enjoying themselves. Every song is gold, from 'There's No Other Way' through 'Badhead', 'Beetlebum' and 'This is a Low'. A muted greeting for the likes of 'For Tomorrow' and even 'To the End' suggest the average audience age may be lower than we thought, however. On the other hand, timeless classics like 'Song 2' and 'Parklife' (tonight performed with 11 fans plucked from the crowd, apparently one for each percentage of Irishness in Damon's DNA) provoke utter hysteria. Then you've new songs to calm everyone down - with Damon seemingly pausing for a cup of tea during 'Thought I Was a Spacemen'. Maybe this isn't the same old Blur afterall.
It was, however, triumphant. Colourful, noisy, unpredictable and fun. Very Electric Picnic.
Across the Line
