A healthy spread at the Picnic
WITH the demise of Oxegen, Electric Picnic flew the flag for the big, three-day music festival this summer. The pressure was on, and all the more so when the mouthy Azealia Banks — one of the headliners — cancelled.
But there were dozen of other acts, Irish and international, on the bill at Stradbally, Co Laois, along with the Body & Soul, Mindfield and children’s programmes that have expanded Electric Picnic’s demographic to include even young families.
Few will have regretted attending: the huge full moon that hung over the Stradbally estate on Friday night augured well for the weather, with the sun blazing down on Saturday and Sunday.
Electric Picnic’s headliners included Sigur Rós, Orbital, The Killers and Hot Chip, but the biggest buzz was around The Cure, who performed on the main stage on Saturday night.
Few bands have as dedicated a fan base as The Cure.
In the 34 years since their first single, Killing an Arab, Robert Smith’s band have fallen in and out of popular favour several times, but they retain a core following. Such unwavering faith may be warranted, but their three-hour set at Electric Picnic will have tested many in the audience.
Smith has changed little over the past four decades. He’s gained a few stone and is jowlier, it’s true, but he still back-combs his hair, slaps on the lippy and eyeliner, and even sported a glittery sequined jacket. Smith’s songwriting has changed as little. The Cure’s last album was 4.13 Dream, in 2008. It featured angsty relationship songs that might have fitted just as well on any of its 12 predecessors.
Smith’s sidekicks at Electric Picnic included his long-term bassist, Simon Gallup, surely one of the liveliest musicians at the festival, and guitarist Reeves Gabrels.
Gabrels’s CV includes a lengthy stint partnering David Bowie as songwriter, guitarist and producer, and one might have expected him to beef up The Cure’s sound, but, to be honest, any session player with a degree of competence could have made as great a contribution.
Most punters would probably have been satisfied with The Cure’s encore, which included such hits as Love Cats, Close To Me, Why Can’t I Be You?, Boys Don’t Cry and Killing An Arab — great tracks one and all. But only the most serious of Cureheads will have revelled in a set that extended to three hours and 14 minutes, and which Smith said was probably the longest in the band’s history.
So it was with Sigur Rós. The Icelandic outfit command enviable respect in the music press, their every release generating rave reviews for which most bands would kill. Their sound is unique: electronic drones and beats overlaid with string and orchestral arrangements, and topped with Jonsi Birgisson’s pure-as-ice falsetto and bowed guitar.
But Sigur Rós have stuck with their sound over six studio albums — from Von to Valtari — and, for all its otherworldly beauty, there were few surprises in their set.
Elbow performed on Sunday night, in what frontman Guy Garvey welcomed as their last festival gig of the summer.
Garvey’s gruff persona belies an affability that saw him win over the crowd with ease.
In a move that further endeared them, Elbow were joined by the Irish Youth Choir, on Lippy Kids, from their album of last year, Build A Rocket, Boys!. But it was Grounds For Divorce, from their 2008 album, The Seldom Seen Kid, with its refrain of “there’s a hole in my neighbourhood down which, of late, I cannot help but fall” that better exemplified how a band can slog away on the circuit for a few decades and then suddenly come good.
Other Electric Picnic outfits benefited from having their sets limited to an hour. Gavin Friday, still touring on the back of last year’s catholic — his first album in 15 years — came on the main stage to the strains of Amhran na h-Eireann and the clanging of an Angelus bell — and launched into a masterclass in showmanship.
Friday’s set began with the old Virgin Prunes number Caucasian Walk, then took in solo tracks such as Perfume and Able, from catholic, along with older material — such as Angel and Blow on the Bruise — from his days working with Maurice Seezer.
Friday’s band, which included Kate Ellis on cello, were dressed in the kind of paramilitary chic that suggests that he still subscribes to a guerrilla aesthetic.
Friday’s old pal, Bono Vox, was rumoured to be present for Patti Smith’s set. If so, he was keeping his head down.
Then again, one would at a Smith gig. The pensioner can now claim to be a regular visitor to these shores, having played the Liss Ard festival, in West Cork, last year.
Smith was in fine fettle, particularly on the blistering Because the Night, the track she co-wrote with Bruce Springsteen.
There was a slew of young and not-so-young Irish acts on the bill this year. Some of those revisiting past glories included The Fat Lady Sings, In Tua Nua, and radio presenter Tom Dunne’s Something Happens.
Of the youngsters, Mick Flannery and Ham Sandwich were probably the most impressive. Flannery’s set was the highlight of Liss Ard 2012, and his appearance at the Electric Picnic will surely contribute to the slow burn that has seen him — over the course of three albums in six years — go from local hero in Cork to nationally acclaimed artist with a burgeoning international profile.
Ham Sandwich — from Kells, Co Meath — could hardly have settled on a worse name, one they should, even now, after nine years, two albums and a number singles, consider changing.
But Ham Sandwich’s pop aesthetic and good cheer won them a legion of new fans at the Electric Picnic. Fronted by Niamh Farrell, Ham Sandwich packed the Crawdaddy Stage on Saturday, and drew another huge crowd when they performed at Body & Soul on Sunday evening.
Electric Picnic is mostly about the music, but not exclusively so.
One of the hits of the weekend, presented in the Dublin Theatre Festival tent on Sunday evening, was Amy Conroy’s two-woman show, I Heart Alice Heart I, which enjoyed a successful run at the Peacock Theatre in Dublin earlier this year.
Even under canvas, with sound spilling in from the performances in tents on either side, this account of two elderly women proved to be a magical show.
An honourable mention must also go to the staff at the Hurly Burly café, who downed tools at regular intervals to dance to such tunes as Talking Heads’ Once in a Lifetime. As if that was not enough, they also served the best hot chocolates and Bloody Marys on site.
