Electric Picnic!

This weekend just past I went to one of, if not the best music festival Ireland has to offer, Electric Picnic.To those of you not in the know the Picnic spans 3 days and has hundreds of acts, events, and installations, it's a festival of music and art with great spirit. With all the crazy busyness lately I only managed to get my ticket the night before the concert, a whopping E245, but still worth every penny. Last minute lifts were arranged and myself and my boyfriend joined Ann and Helen in a tiny Ford Fiesta crammed to the brim with camping essentials.Unfortunately we left a little late and were stuck in torturously slow traffic, we averaged about 15 m/hr for the journey. After endless confusion of which entrance to use(Ann was a performer and had a different ticket), and a grueling walk to, and search for a camping spot, our Friday did not really begin untill 9pm.Sadly we missed great acts like Fred, and The Stunning, but lessons were learned for next year-leave very early.Our painful day was made up for by a truely stunning performance from Sigur Ros. They had been the act I was most looking forward to but was quite cautious about building too much enthusiasm for such a quiet band, main stage can be a disaster for such an ambient sound. My expectations were far exceded as they put on a spectacular show of light and swelling soundscapes.

Sigur Ros
After a couple of hours of restless sleep we cooked up some tasty sausages on the stove-we never go camping without creature comforts of chairs and a stove, it can make all the difference to a trip.On Saturday I was more than a little hungover but I dragged myself into the Body & Soul area to watch a great performance from Windings. Being a Limerick act, I was delighted to see such a large and appreciative audience. The following couple of hours I spent distributing free badges with my website address on them to ladies who I thought would like my clothes. I was a bit apprehensive at first to be bugging people, but everyone was so nice and interested it soon became pretty easy,even with a hangover! A trip to see Cathy Davey, and then The Breeders followed, both well worth seeing,especially The Breeders. Me being in the delicate state that I was I went for a wee nap. Which gave me some energy, that unfortunately was sucked right back out again by a boring and unengaging performance from Tindersticks.We retreated to the comfort of Body & Soul, with it's amorphous scultures and light installations.

Brad Pitt Light Orchestra

One of the highlights of the weekend was seeing my friends the Brad Pitt Light Orchestra(BPLO) playing on the Pod Stage in Body & Soul. A great crowd turned out to see the 7 piece band squeeze onto the tiny stage. It was a perfect billing for the Sunday afternoon, suitably chilled out sweet numbers mixed with cabaret humour, and they were even blessed with some sunshine. Other highlights included a debate in the Leviathan tent,on the role of art in the current economic climate,and White Cholera( featuring David Blake of the BPLO in an angrier more political incarnation). The Sex Pistols on main stage were a sorry disappointment, nearly resorting to begging for applause, I couldn't bring myself to watch their slow and painful death.

The vibe of the picnic is what makes it stand head and shoulders above the rest. It's not about pumping big money into huge names to get ticket sales. It's their determination to create a welcoming and loving atmosphere, there are none of the aggression and trouble you would see at other events. Kids are welcome and inventively catered for, that's how safe this place feels. There is a wide range of clothes stalls, and a welcome variety of food catering to vegan, veggie and alchohol free needs. There are obvious downside, the toilets being the main complaint for everyone. They were a slight improvement on last year, but you still need an iron resolve and hearty stomach to survive them. It was a fantastic weekend but it was with a little relief that we bundled back into the fiesta knowing we were driving towards ceramic toilets and warm showers.