30,000 revellers enjoy a dry day as Electric Picnic sparks into life

MEXICAN waves and spontaneous cheering greeted the rare arrival of a ray of Irish sunshine as 30,000 revellers descended on Stradbally for day one of Electric Picnic.

Compulsory festival garb of wellies, fake tan and straw hats were on show everywhere, as young and old alike struggled with wheelbarrows, slabs of beer and shelters of all shapes and sizes.

The first day of any festival is always the toughest as people have to transport every available toiletry and beverage from the boot of their car to the two square metres of grass they will call home for the next three nights.

Despite the gloomy, bruised skies, most revellers seemed content to have arrived in one all important state — dry.

A sea of domed, triangular and pop up tents were hastily erected in anticipation of the arrival of mother nature which, thankfully, was kind to Stradbally for Friday. Some shelters looked like they could have survived hurricane Irene, others like they wouldn’t survive Irene stumbling home after one too many at the main stage.

Trilby wearing, unemployed, but highly employable marine biologist David O’Sullivan was counting the ladies instead of the urchins in what he described as his last blow out of the year.

“I’m camping in Jimi Hendrix and I’m hoping for a good weekend weather permitting. To be honest my enjoyment depends on Kilkenny winning on Sunday. I’m confident but we’ll see on Sunday. I might have to find a TV in Stradbally,” he said.

After a childish hissy fit about appearing on the Late Late Show earlier this week, Sinead O’Connor seemed much more at home on a festival stage. The Dubliner has lost none of the talent that saw her rise to one of the worlds foremost female artists in the 1990s treating festival goers to an hour long set.

With the sun setting, some of the bigger names finally hit the main stage and the smaller stages. The irrepressible PJ Harvey, fresh from a critically acclaimed album, Let England Shake, was one of the favourites of the night. Men in their late 20s were also scurrying to the Crawdaddy Tent to relive their teenage years to indie legends The Charlatans.

Only at Electric Picnic can you travel back in time for an hour. Given the weather forecast, the grass won’t look this green on Sunday.

Picture: Gavin Kelly and Stephen McCrudy from Derry are pictured getting set up for the weekend at the Oscar Wilde campsite at the Electric Picnic. Pic Andres Poveda