reformed Orbital round off the muddy first day of Electric Picnic
Electric Picnic 2009 review
Thursday 10th September 2009
It's that time of year again when 30,000 people descend upon Stradbally in Co.Laois for Ireland's best music and arts festival. Reports had been coming in through the week of the festival site suffering from rain downpour. This was certainly the case when we arrived around midday Friday; I was unfortunate to be clattered in muck even before I got through the gate. It's all part of the festival experience, so I gather my stuff and we get set up in the Oscar Wilde camping area, they have a Charlie Chaplin and Jimi Hendrix camping areas also. We choose the Oscar Wilde as it's the closest to the shower facilities and it's even got a free laundrette.
The festival itself was supposed to start at 4pm on the Friday but unforeseen delays means the first revellers didn't get into the festival until after 5pm. I decide to check out the 'Little Big Tent' first to check out DJ Tu-ki, who played a genre hopping set to please everyone, the biggest pops were reserved for Green Velvet – Flash and DJ Funk's ghettotech classic 'Booty Perk U Later.'
We then head over to the Bacardi B-Bar to check out Horse Meat Disco, who are arguably at the forefront of the disco revival that has been sweeping through clubs in 2009.
Their track selection ranges from the achingly cool underground disco to the over the top cheesiest disco, regardless it doesn’t stop the crowd from dancing.
We must leave early however to get over to the Crawdaddy stage in time for Lykke Li's set. She comes on stage dressed all in black and as she launches into a rousing version of 'Dance, Dance, Dance' the first thing that strikes you about her is how commanding her stage presence she has. She has the crowd in the palm of her hand for the whole set, the sexy Swedish songstress excels in breakthrough single 'Little Bit' to 'I'm Good, I'm Gone' as she gets a packed tent to sing along.
Next up we see a crowd gather over at the Little Big Tent so we go over to check out Fake Blood who has just started, Fake Blood used to spin under the alias of DJ Touche (The Wiseguys) but has ditched his old house sets for the more modern electro sound. His set is packed full of energy and littered with many of his own reedits, the most spectacular thing of note is how great the sound is throughout the whole tent, dance tents can be notoriously hard to set up at festivals, yet throughout the set and indeed for each of the acts in the Little Big Tent over the weekend the sound is perfect, kudos must go to the production staff.
Next up is a trip over to the Cosby Stage to see grunge pioneers Dinosaur Jr. They focus the crux of their set on new album 'Farm' which is hampered not only from a crowd expecting the classics but also terrible sound on that stage, the first half of the set is just about saved with J. Mascis' guitar solos which are mesmerising. They build to a strong finish with a few classics in the form of 'Freak Scene' and 'Just Like Heaven.' A set which satisfies but fails to inspire.
We travel over to the main stage to see Friday headliner's Orbital and their first Irish gig since reforming earlier in the year. Sporting their trademark headgear they plough through the classics which have defined their career. 'Chime', 'Satan' and 'Belfast' are the most warmly received from the more than up for it crowd. Some negatives from the set would be the visual show which added nothing to the experience at all. Electronic acts like Orbital who can command headline slots at festivals should really ensure their visual show is something a bit special as it should be a hallmark of any good rave act. They play one of my personal favourite tracks 'Halycon' but manage to ruin that with remixing it with Belinda Carlisle's 'Heaven Is A Place On Earth' which leaves the purist Orbital fans in a state of bewilderment, they finish with their version of the Doctor Who theme which gets us dancing again. Certainly a set with its highs and lows, but its nice to see The Hartnoll Brothers back again.
Even after Orbital finish we still have some dancing left to do and we once again to go to The Little Big Tent to see The Japanese Popstars who play to a packed tent and have everyone dancing to the wee hours of the morning. A great festival act who thrive on this type of setting. Even the most cynical dance music fan would have enjoyed their set. Afterwards we retreat to the campsite for a sleep to recharge the batteries.
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