Jape on the Electric Arena
Electric Picnic
Sunday 6th September, 2015
Stradbally, Co.Laois
One thing that occurs to us on day three of Electric Picnic - is just how many Irish acts are on the bill. Not just lower down, where a cynic might suggest they’re there to make up numbers - but in prime slots and playing to thousands of people. Yes there are corners of the site designed to give the new and local their first festival experience, but other, established acts are clearly booked with huge consideration and add a great deal more than some form of patriotic tokenism. But more on that later.
We ease ourselves into day three with Donegal’s Rosie Carney, on the main stage at Body & Soul. Understated, quiet and gentle - it’s the perfect place to start. We note a good three or four hundred people watching respectfully, many of them perhaps having a little moment. How encouraging. Dubliner Aoife Underwater is across the way on the Earthship Stage, her glitzy pop sound tracking a third dry day onsite. It’s incredibly fun and engaging - flawlessly presented as well, to a talented band (and sound engineer)’s credit. When we think about it, we’ve barely witnessed any form of dodgy sound all weekend. Which is all the more impressive, given some of these quirky stages look like they were designed and put together by elves in the night.
Jurassic 5 are on the main stage being the quintessential Sunday afternoon festival band. ‘Jayou’ and ‘Concrete Schoolyard’ are hip hop classics at this point, but the set is memorable more for the silliness that goes with watching DJ Numark briefly DJ on a turntable the size of a small car. You had to be there.
Jape is the first big draw in the Electric Arena, and things have got a little ravey. Richie Egan has the widest of grins, grateful for such a rapturous response to every note. ‘Floating’ is a wondrous finale, pulsating and full of drama. Watching The Clameens over on the Jerry Fish Electric Sideshow, it’s clear they’ve been working very hard. So assured are they now, every song remains precise and on the money, despite a band who are bouncing about the stage. Sean Breslin is among the most confidant frontmen at the entire festival, and the likes of ‘What’s the Difference’ and new single ‘Techno’ earn them a fair few new fans.
Something very Electric Picnic happens around 9pm. Over at Trailer Park, Dublin singer Cathy Davey is fundraising to rehome neglected horses with the ‘My Lovely Ranch’ stage. The idea seems to be that you throw some change in a bucket before grabbing a hay bail and watching…. in this case, Neil Hannon. Neil explains he’s not well, and makes excuses for what ends up an often shambolic run through of some of the Divine Comedy’s finest moments. Which isn’t to say it isn’t great - his set is the most charming 45 minutes of the entire weekend. Opening with ‘Your Daddy’s Car’ and heading to ’Tonight we Fly’ via ‘Everybody Knows’ and ‘National Express’, it’s often sweet and occasionally silly.
While the masses gear up for Tame Impala and Florence and the Machine - both of whom draw huge crowds and bring the festival to a colourful close, the headliners for Across the Line are - in fact, Girl Band, on the Cosby Stage. It is, inevitably, one of the noisiest, most intense and relentless performances we’ve seen - not just at this festival this weekend - but perhaps ever. Frontman Dara Kiely is roaring and hurling himself about that stage. The basslines are simple and repetitive but insanely noisy. We’re not sure how to even begin describing the racket that guitar is making and the drums belong in a futuristic rave. It feels just one false move from total disaster and is - in short, extremely exciting to watch. ‘Lawman’ is the highlight, a glorious, hypnotic, aggressive mess of noise. Everything else pales in comparison and ATL finds itself needing a lie down.
What a way to end up, beaten and bruised by volume. Officially the biggest Electric Picnic in it’s twelve year history, the festival is clearly only going to get bigger and bolder. Long since recovered from shaky moments at the end of the last decade, EP is in rude health. Earlier today, we saw promoter Melvin Benn march into the press area and talk of his excitement for the 2016 headliners being considered and approached. We’re already excited. But for now….yes. Time for that lie down.
Rigsy
