Electric Picnic, Day 2 review: Johnny Marr, Cian Ducrot, and remembering Sinead O'Connor
The hot sun on Day 2 of Electric Picnic meant many people were happy to have fun in the tented arenas. Picture: Leah Farrell,RollingNewsÂ
 As the sunshine beat down relentlessly on Saturday, some gig goers needed to take the shade. By 7pm in the Electric Arena, it was time for guitar legend Johnny Marr to claim his chunk of EP.
The Smiths guitarist has added many strings to his bow since stepping away from the seminal Mancunian band, and has seen his stock rise in inverse proportion of that of his erstwhile former bandmate, Morrissey.
Marrâs set was a smash, taking in his extensive solo work and, of course, some Smiths classics, beginning with Hang the DJ and continuing with âThis Charmless Manâ, âBigmouth Strikes Againâ and a transcendent âThere Is A Light That Never Goes Outâ.
 As indie kids, their indie parents and then their indie grandparents poured into the Electric Arena, it was âHow Soon Is Nowâ which blew the roof off. The moment when everything bar that echoey guitar and the solid drumbeat drops out is still one of the most heartstopping moments in music.
 Roddy Collins had a packed crowd at the Leviathan tent in the Mindfield area for a chat with his autobiography co-author Paul Howard. He then reappeared next door at the Ah, Hear tent for an Off the Ball special shortly afterwards. Dressed in a Hawaiian shirt (âmy children told me to put this on this morningâ) and with a full stack of anecdotes, he had the audience rolling in the aisles at both events.
His fellow guest at the OTB event was Dublin footballer Brian Fenton, who was wearing a retro Ireland jersey - a trend that was de rigeur among many festival goers this weekend, with vintage Everton, Bayern Munich, Cork City (yay) and Fiorentina tops among those on display.
Roddyâs double-header just beat Nell Mescalâs for immediacy, with the Kildare singer taking part in a hugely engaging session in the Manifesto tent alongside fellow musician Clara Tracey, incorporating the challenges of collaborative songwriting in America, the perils of social media, and her new single, before shortly afterwards playing a gig at the Three Music Stage.
These doubleheaders capture the rolling nature of EP, but at this rate, expect ShowaddyRoddy to headline the main stage with his band next year. And maybe Glastonbury too.
 Itâs no surprise that people can get lost in the woods at EP, particularly in the small hours, typically lured by the siren call of dance music. But at the fringes of the festival are other areas where you can scope out a little bit of time and space for yourself. The adjacent Green Crafts and Global Green areas have everything from early morning yoga to blacksmith exhibitions, but it also opens into a little copse to the rear of outbuildings where the hubbub feels a little bit further away.Â
What with talks about the vagaries of capitalism, vegan burgers and fashions more redolent of the Camden Town in the Sixties, this small area is a legacy section of a festival that has become a behemoth. No matter how cynical you may be about hippydom, youâd miss it if it wasnât there.
Elsewhere, the Trailer Park (where an extensive âwedding partyâ was spotted at one point), the Croi sections, and even the Comedy Tent (not an easy gig for anyone taking on an overheated, flopped out afternoon audience) fulfil a similar brief, taking you away from the decibels. And if all that wasnât relaxing enough, there was a performance of Waiting for Godot over at the theatre tent. As one Sam Beckett wrote, âLet us make the most of it before it is too late!â
 At the Manifesto tent in Mindfield, the memory of Sinead OâConnor was marked in illuminating style, thanks to an extensive panel discussion hosted by SinĂ©ad Gleeson and featuring contributions from Maija Sofia, Elaine Feeney and Tara Flynn.
Poet and novelist Elaine Feeney outlined how, working on the Tuam Mother and Baby Homes archive, the kind of resistance to discussing issues of church and state - met head on by OâConnor - were still present. Gleeson pointed out that the discussion on OâConnorâs legacy needed to move away from men speaking about how she was âfragile and complicatedâ, while actor and writer Tara Flynn nailed the late singerâs inimitable vocal style: âShe knew how to take air in and let emotion outâ, adding, âitâs a miracleâ.
Galway singer-songwriter Sofia was charged with taking on âNothing Compares 2 Uâ on her mini keyboard, the song delivered with aplomb. She also made the astute observation that OâConnorâs astounding merits as a musician - particularly as a kind of âkeenerâ, in that unique Irish tradition - was only part of her astonishing impact, and one that ideally would have been marked more comprehensively before her tragic death. âJust listening to people while theyâre alive,â was how she summed it up. Hard to disagree.
Plenty of people enjoyed Fred Againâs late night headliner set on the main stage, but dance buffs were equally well served by powering up at Terminus, where the likes of Imnotyourmate and Fionn Curran were doing the honours across extensive sets. It all kicked off with Yasmin Gardezi, the Irish artist whose uncompromising, squelchy techno began filling the arena at the early hour of 6.15pm.
If that was testament to Irish success, a little earlier Cian Ducrot provided a further example. The Cork singer worked his flute like a magician as a large, sun drenched crowd gathered in front of the main stage in the early evening. It must have been a vision for the Passage West native, whose 2022 single, âAll For Youâ first gained popularity via TikTok. The thrill isnât likely to end any time soon, with people of all ages singing along to âIâll Be Waitingâ. Ducrotâs sunglasses initially looked orange, but just maybe they were rose-tinted, looking to the future.
