Electric Picnic

Well, what a way to top a trip.

Electric Picnic is a haven of joy and quality. I knew what I was going to, I knew what to expect, I knew what it would be like, and still I managed to have my mind blown. Electric Picnic once again surpassed itself.

I was so excited that as soon as I saw the bus I could have picked it up and ran to Stradbally with it and its delighted passengers on my shoulders. Luckily there wasn’t much waiting and I didn’t have to pick the bus up, it was driven in the right direction. So I reserved my energy and immersed myself in the buzzing air of anticipation that filled the bus. I sat there listening to the various conversations about music agreeing or disagreeing with my own sense of grandeur inside my own head. It was a delightful journey but as soon as I saw the site I exploded out of the bus and onto the grass and I was given over to the field, I would be swept along by the Picnic, I was one with the energy.

Electric Picnic is the best festival in Ireland and without being to all the festivals in the world I am going to say that it is the best festival in the world. The people are lovely, the food is exquisite, the music is sensational and the atmosphere is sublime.

I pitched my tent and made my way to the Main Arena. In the main arena, where I spent nearly all of my time I saw a lot of wonderful bands and musicians, the line up was tremendous so I can’t name everyone I saw, so what I will do instead is list my top five acts of the weekend. In no particular order:

Santigold shook the Electric Arena on Friday in a way that most other acts would be jealous of. I think Santigold is probably the world’s most worthy popstar. There were costume changes, incredible dancers and roof lifting epic pop songs that had the hoard moving, shaking, bopping and hopping.

I saw Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes (Ed Sharpe from now on) twice. They played their main gig in the Cosby Tent and it was brilliant, it was all I could have asked for, lovely happy songs and a stage full of eccentric hippies. But then they played again an hour later in the forest on the Salty Dog stage boat and it was even better, it was a glorious love fest in the rain where everyone just wanted to hug and stroke each others hair. We sang together – Lean On Me and Dirty Ol’ Town. We sat in the rain together and hugged the lead singer in the middle of the crowd. By the end of the show there was about fifty people on stage and a thousand memories for everyone in the audience.

Arcade Fire were the absolute highlight of Saturday, and I thought that they couldn’t really be topped, they almost got an early Best of the Fest award with their constant onslaught of enormous recognizable excellent songs. The show was also visually impressive.

Beirut, I am aware are not for everyone, but they are the band I looked forward to the most and they did not let me down. They played a very basic show, just the musicians and the instruments, and Zachary with his powerful voice. They played most of the songs fans wanted to hear and they played them brilliantly. After singing Santa Fé one of the highlights of their latest album The Riptide, singer, Zachary Condon said, “I’m from Santa Fé, but everyone in America wishes they were from Ireland, I don’t know why…” which got a huge cheer from the crowd, and a simple explanation too, “eh, because we’re awesome.”

And the band to knock Arcade Fire off their high horses, the very last band to play, keeping in tune with saving the best for last – Pulp. There are words to describe how good Pulp were, but I don’t think there are enough of them. Jarvis Cocker is by far the best front man I have ever seen. He had boundless energy and sexy moves, he is funny and he is enormously likable. And all of that is without even mentioning how immensely talented he is as a singer and a songwriter. I don’t want to be like Jarvis Cocker, but I want to spend the rest of my life with him. Just beside him all the time.

I completely lost my mind when they played Disco 2000 and afterwards I was told that I’m the goofiest dancer ever, but I didn’t care, I was in the moment.

I was in the moment for 72 hours.

The food in Electric Picnic is great too, they don’t really allow they standard Abra or Supermacs fast food vans in. They go for quality and you can find quality in whatever type of food you want, Mexican, Indian, Thai, Vegan/Vegetarian, Health Food, Pizza, even Eco Friendly Food, it’s all terrific at the Picnic! (I’m delighted with that).

That is the absolute end of my trip, it was, in the wise words of Mr. Jarvis Cocker, the little cherry on top, and I couldn’t have asked for anything more.

I’d like to thank everyone who made it possible, and thanks especially to Bus Eireann.