1. DELORENTOS
Electric Arena, 7.15pm; Salty Dog, 12.15am
You can't keep a good band down, especially when that band is Delorentos, the Irish act who have developed a thick skin while others have been shedding theirs. There is an abundance of resilience here. Over the years the band have experienced the conflicted process of breaking up, getting back, writing songs, recording albums, ditching the results, and then getting back on the treadmill again. This year's album release, True Surrender, is a classic example of what a band can do when their backs are against the wall: hold fast, put the best foot forward and deliver. Although the album is subtle in its execution, you'll be glad to hear that in a live setting the bad pump up the volume. There are two opportunities to see them tonight: early in the evening on a big stage, and then just after midnight on a smaller one. Talk about being spoilt for choice, you lucky lot.
2. CHVRCHES
Main Stage, 7.30pm
From 2013's debut album, The Bones of What You Believe, via 2015's follow-up, Every Open Eye, to their recently released third outing, Love Is Dead, this Scottish three-piece – Lauren Mayberry, Iain Cook, Martin Doherty – have taken a steady-as-she-goes approach to whatever comes next. The new album, however, is the one that will transport them to even higher ground, as most of the music is so streaming- and radio-friendly that it will be impossible to avoid. Not that you'd want to, with immediate earworms as invasive as My Enemy, Graffiti, Graves, Get Out and Deliverance. The new album is produced by Greg Kurstin, who means business in a studio-controlled environment – he has also collaborated with Lily Allen, Ellie Goulding, Sia, Adele and, perhaps unexpectedly, Foo Fighters. On stage, however, the band remove whatever smoothness the songs have and unleash the rough edges and rowdy music. Rejoice, is what we say.
3: KENDRICK LAMAR
Main Stage, 10.40pm
King Kendrick graces us with his regal presence just six months on from his last state visit. That gig, in 3Arena in Dublin, has been described in just about every hyperbolic synonym you can imagine. Now Lamar returns to an Irish festival stage two years after an appearance at Longitude. But there's no feeling of inertia setting in from his increasingly regular visits. Lamar isn't just making some of the most vital, politically assertive, straight-banging music in the world right now: he's one of the most phenomenal live acts on this rock of ours, too. And with his recent work on the Black Panther soundtrack backing up last year's still-vital Damn. and his impressive stack of past classics, there's a lot for Kung Fu Kenny to get through in his headline set.
