Electric Picnic
For weeks before the Picnic, all people could talk about was the weather. Would it hold up? Would it be the mudbath that was Oxegen '10? Did anyone even know who was performing?! Who am I? (Yes, everyone wondered that.) For me, the lineup wasn't as strong as previous years - but the Picnic being Picnic, you knew it would deliver. All packed up and ready to go and we hit a little hiccup. Well, more of a medieval sickness that caught Martin, and rendered him to bed for the weekend. I'd have to go this one alone! AAAAHHHHH! After a brief 'Come on!' 'You're not sick!' 'You'll be fine in a field in that state!' - I sucked it up and headed for Stradbally. First act to catch were the Discovery Gospel Choir from Dublin who performing their almost hour long soul nurturing stuff at the Trenchtown Stage in the woods. This area was like Bob Marley's back garden and everyone was bopping and swaying to their amazing choons. From there I headed to catch up and coming Manchunian electro duo Hurts, who I caught in Whelan's back in May and were definitely more polished and impressive than before. They are definitely ones to watch AND I hear they love nothing better than a rasher samba and a cup of tea. My type of guys! Having missed Janelle Monae's whopper set on the bigger stage, I ventured into the natural amphitheater of the Body & Soul area to catch her more acoustic set. Well. This just blew me away. I hadn't heard much of her stuff before - just one track from a mate of mine. Well - before you read any further, YouTube her. Love her. AMAZEBAGS! The rest of the night was spent wandering between the Movember tent and the wee peat cottage where there was a good ol Irish séisiún going on - complete with net curtains AND a Child of Prague. Day Two in Stradbally and I woke to go see the both visually and aurally stunfeatures herself, Robyn. What a little rocket. She blew everyone away - but she had more up her sleeve for later! I bopped my backside over to Crystal Castles who I had never seen live before, but apparently it's quite normal to start off screaming like a scene from the Exorcist, and then break into their whopper dance tunes. After them, I hot footed to the THISISPOPBABY tent where I caught Shirley Temple Bar's Turbo Minty Madouvih Bingo as well as up and coming Dublin band, The Late Fragments and a new found treasure in electro gospel diva, Our Lady J. Shock and absolute joy when Robyn appeared in the THISISPOPBABY tent to perform an acoustic set for close to an hour. Not a dry eye in the house. That woman can SING! My poor little socks were almost danced off, but not before I caught LCD Soundsystem for what was said to be their last ever performance here in Ireland (NOOOO! Don't leave me! Sob! etc.) Spirits were kept high by Daniel Wang and Tiga's smashing beats, and then it began. The mass exodus to the forest in the Jimi Hendrix campsite for the forest rave. I had barely any energy left, so after a few minutes of two stepping, I headed to sleeping bag. (As opposed to bed. Get it!? God, I'm gas.) The Final day of the Picnic I was awoken by the Dublin Gospel Choir and everyone wanted the weekend to never end. That was until torrential downpours saturated the soul out of that idea in everyone, and people took cover in the performance tents for most of the day. I managed to catch Veda Beaux Réves rock out some tracks from her album, as well as laughing hard at the gasness that was the Silent Disco. More crazy dancing was had with the uber impressive Laurent Garnier and Mr Scruff. Unfortunately, I didn't catch as much more as I would have liked - it was just an absolute monsoon scenario - so after Mumford and Sons wowed the crowds just like they had at Punchestown two months ago, I traipsed back to my tent and bid my farewell to Picnic. Here's to next year!
Posted: 10/09/2010 14:45:16 by
Colm & Martin
Filed under: Electric+Picnic, Festivals, LCDSoundsystem, MumfordandSons, Colm+Martin