IT’S ALL about the music – isn’t it? At times, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the music has dropped down the agenda at Electric Picnic.
Over the past few years, there’s been a huge increase in the amount of and attention given to the non-musical fare on offer at Stradbally.
Debates, family areas, gourmet food and random encounters with art now all feature heavily as part of the weekend’s attractions.
But no matter how many chin strokers, poets, boffins and Gaeilgeoirí you manage to pack into this corner of Co Laois for the weekend, the music remains the primary reason people are spending €240 (plus Ticketmaster fees) on tickets. The biggest chunk of the festival’s spend still goes on artist fees, with the organisers hoping that the line-up will pull in the crowds.
It certainly looks like a winning musical bill, with a fine spread of new and old, rising and veteran, and Irish and international acts. While this summer has seen a rise in concert-goers baulking at buying tickets in advance and what are perceived to be high ticket prices, Electric Picnic’s stature as the last post of the summer will more than likely see it do the business.
Here, then, are 10 acts we reckon you’ll be raving about on Monday morning.
JANELLE MONÁE
MAIN STAGE AND BODY SOUL, FRIDAY
Talk about right act, right place, right time. Over the past few months, the buzz about Janelle Monáe and her premier league soul, pop, r'n'b and hip-hop album The ArchAndroidhas reached fever pitch. Increased airplay coupled with press coverage and fantastic word-of-mouth about her live show means she's become everyone's favourite Atlanta android and an act many Picnic-goers will have on their must-see list. The one most likely to challenge Arcade Fire's Picnic performance in 2005 in the "I was there" stakes.
OMAR SOULEYMAN
BODY SOUL, SUNDAY
It will probably be the first and last time that a Syrian wedding singer holds sway in Co Laois. But as anyone who has seen the mighty Omar Souleyman on one of his forays into Europe and America can tell you, there’s no show like a Souleyman show. A man with more than 500 cassette releases to his name at home, Souleyman’s hypnotic mix of Syrian Dabke folk music, Arabic vocal chanting and frantic electronic rhythms has become a strange and alluring turn on the international party circuit.
FEVER RAY
ELECTRIC ARENA, SUNDAY
We are thankfully not going to see a repeat of Fever Ray’s Oxegen performance last year, where clueless scheduling stuck Karin Dreijer Andersson and band in the dance tent on a Sunday afternoon. Instead, the Picnic should provide Fever Ray with a clued-in audience and an atmospheric setting to befit one of the finest albums in recent years. The live show from Andersson and visual-art collaborator Andreas Nilsson, which sees them filling the room with dry ice and lighting the stage with lasers, is one that fits the beguiling other-worldliness of the album. This show is one of a handful of Fever Ray dates before Andersson returns to her day job as one half of The Knife.
THE NATIONAL
MAIN STAGE, SUNDAY
It's taken a few years and albums for the world to fall for The National's grace, elegance and grandeur. Along the way, they've produced many moments of considerable splendour – albums such as Alligatorand The Boxer, and live shows such as appearances in Dublin's Whelan's (2005) and Olympia (2007) come to mind – as their fan base has grown and grown. Current album High Violetis a perfect snapshot of long-admired National hallmarks, from Matt Berninger's stately baritone to their dramatic, downbeat, exquisite tunes.
ROBYN
ELECTRIC ARENA, SATURDAY
Every little thing Robyn Carlsson does is magic. Watching the Swede grow from teen Europop raver (who had a monster hit with Show Me Love) to the idiosyncratic electropop diva who has patrolled pop's catwalks of late has been a thrill, especially as she's produced superior pop goods at every turn. This year will see Robyn release three Body Talkmini-albums, each one shoulder pads and cheekbones above everything else in the pop parade. We expect her to provide the weekend's finest sparkle and most bitter-sweet glitter.
THE FRAMES
MAIN STAGE, SATURDAY
It’s been a while since The Frames graced an Irish stage. In the past few years, it’s been all about The Swell Season for Frames frontman Glen Hansard, as that collaboration with Markéta Irglová has garnered best-selling albums, sell-out world tours and an Academy Award. But it all began for Hansard with The Frames and it will be interesting to see if the bond between the band and their once-devoted Irish audience is still as fervent as it was. It will also be interesting to note if this show is a precursor to a new Frames record.
GIL SCOTT-HERON
CRAWDADDY, SATURDAY
Don't call it a comeback. This has been one hell of a year for Gil Scott-Heron. While most fans had assumed that various misfortunes (including drug charges and prison spells) had meant we'd lost Scott-Heron for good, we reckoned without XL Records boss Richard Russell. A long-time fan, Russell put the veteran singer and rabble-rouser back in a studio and pulled the I'm New Here album together. Over a primal, sparse backdrop of voodoo ambience, the sixtysomething veteran lets that stentorian voice work its magic on a variety of covers and new material. You can expect to hear tunes from that album in Stradbally, but we hope Scott-Heron will also air classic cuts such as Winter in America, The Bottleand The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.
PUBLIC IMAGE LIMITED
ELECTRIC ARENA, FRIDAY
Leave aside the notion of John Lydon, butter salesman. Forget about John Lydon, the anti-internet curmudgeon. Erase the image of John Lydon flogging the dead pantomine horse that is the Sex Pistols from your mind. We’re dealing here with Public Image Limited, one of the most influential, if rarely heard, British acts of the past 40 years. Viewed in many quarters as just Lydon’s post-Pistols gig, PiL were far more musically adventurous and daring than the Pistols. Lydon and his band created sounds from the dark side by going far beyond the cutting edge and showing punk up for
the charade it had become. It wasn’t just the music that rocked (and yes, that free-form blend of disco, dub and African tones was quite remarkable), but Lydon never had – and never would again – sounded quite so vital or caustic.
TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB
ELECTRIC ARENA, SUNDAY
Anyone for a coronation? This has been a champion year for this Bangor trio, who have seen their fortunes soar thanks to debut album Tourist History, a hell of a lot of radio play and almost non-stop touring (tunes turning up on a few TV ads hasn't hurt either). Many were surprised at the massive sing-along crowd who gathered to see them at this year's Oxegen festival, but it seems that the band's bright, breezy and charming indie pop is just what many are looking for this weather. Time for them to get fitted up for their crowns.
LCD SOUNDSYSTEM
ELECTRIC ARENA, SATURDAY
This may be, if James Murphy's comments in interviews when he was plugging current album This Is Happeningearlier this year are to be believed, your last chance to see LCD Soundsystem in Ireland. Murphy has said that he intends to hang up the Soundsystem suit once this tour is finished in order to concentrate on other stuff but, you know, that could all change. Murphy and co are familiar Picnic faces (they were here in 2005 and 2007), and they provide the kind of electro thrillers that are guaranteed to send the festival into raptures.
