Janelle Monae turns the crowd into a sea of dancing bodies on Electric Picnic's opening day
Electric Picnic 2010 review
Thursday 9th September 2010
The sun is shining and there is a considerable crowd at the main stage for Janelle Monae's early evening set on Friday, there is similarities with James Brown as she's introduced on stage, as one of her entourage whips the crowd into a frenzy before she hit's the stage draped in a robe, the set is made up from her critically acclaimed 'Archandroid' album, she starts with the albums intro 'Suit II Overture' which seamlessly flows into 'Dance or Die', a hip hop track with a bass centric back drop which invites the crowd to dance along.
Next up is the jazz centred 'Faster' which keeps up the pace and is yet another slice of infectious pop, we see her entourage come out, some dressed as Rabbi's, some as nuns and some as mimes, all bringing some funky dance moves onto the stage with them. 'Locked Inside' keeps up with the infectious pop that runs throughout the majority of her set, it's on tracks like this were her voice really shines. She reins things back with the down tempo 'Wondaland'. 'Mushrooms & Roses' are when her immaculately dressed backing band really show what they can do, it's something of an opus this, working as a rock track with a lushly dream pop chorus. She finishes the short but sweet set with her two biggest hits in 'Cold War' and 'Tightrope', two tracks with huge crossover appeal, which show she isn't your normal pop star, she's got something genuinely special about her, she has the crowd turned into a sea of dancing bodies by the end and the only minor gripe about the set was a few sound problems that the main stage seemed to fall victim too on the first night.
Walking from the main stage, I get drawn to the sounds of the Bacardi B Bar, a permanent fixture at Electric Picnic; it has expanded this year and seems a popular destination for many revellers throughout the weekend. I manage to catch Greg Wilson who plays a perfect set for the sun drenched evening; he spins a remix of Fleetwood Mac's which sees the first of many hands in the air sing longs at the Bacardi Bar over the weekend.
Laura Marling plays what might be the most impossible set of her career to date on the Crawdaddy stage, through no fault of her own either, it's a packed tent and throughout the majority of her set from the very front to the very back the noise of constant chatter drowns out her music, this has been something that has always irked me at gigs, I could maybe understand why people would come into the tent who wanted to get out of the rain, but the weather was stunning and so people were actively deciding to come in for a chat, even though Marling is renowned for her intimate and delicate folk, which requires some form of quiet, the vast majority of people in Crawdaddy suffer from very poor gig etiquette. She informs us, she is feeling a bit under the weather and asks for a bit of quiet, it makes little difference and it's hard to even tell what tracks she is playing even when near the front of the stage, a few tracks near the end such as the title track from her 'I Speak Because I Can' album pack a bit of a punch at the end, but unfortunately not enough to save the set.
Modest Mouse also suffer from poor sound on the main stage on Friday night. 'Float On' produces one of the great sing a long moments of the festival and 'Tiny Cities Made of Ash', 'Satin in a Coffin' and 'Bury Me with It' works well and are received warmly by the crowd. 'Gravity Rides Everything', 'Parting Of The Sensory' and 'Paper Thin Walls' fail to sparkle in this live setting and although the sound on the main stage was a bit off, Modest Mouse strike me as the type that would still work better in a tent, their performance at Electric Picnic in 08 is still one of the standout festival sets I've had the pleasure of hearing.
Canadian's finest purveyors of bittersweet indie pop Stars play the Cosby Stage on Friday night. They strike the correct balance between playing tracks from new album 'The Five Ghosts' and playing the crowd pleasers that we all want to hear. The new material isn't without its charm live either as lead single 'Fixed', with more than a few nods to new wave, is as good as anything the band have released. Torquil Campbell takes the lead on another new track 'We Don't Want Your Body' this one is a bonafide disco classic, which leaves the crowd dancing in unison. It's a near flawless set, only made better by the fact that Torquil and Amy Milian seem so authentic in their delight at being in Ireland once again, they have amazing onstage chemistry which one can't help be captivated by. 'Bitches In Tokyo' and 'One More Night' are two more highlights that perfectly capture the sound of Stars. A quote from the film Vanilla Sky always reminds me of Stars, "Because without the bitter, baby, the sweet ain't as sweet." They finish with a flourish as 'Your Ex Lover Is Dead' and 'Take Me to the Riot' bring the set to a close in fine fashion; confetti is released over all our heads, whilst a packed tent roars the lyrics along with Amy and Torquil.
Eels finish Friday night's proceedings off at the Crawdaddy stage, they come on stage to rapturous applause, the first thing of note, is that they appear to have one of the best beard line-ups I've ever seen, second only to ZZ Top. The set is guitar laden and perhaps more surprisingly full of fun, something Eels have never been known for, a cover of Lovin' Spoonful's 'Summer In The City' starts us off on the right footing, 'Fresh Blood' and 'Souljacker Pt1' also sound particularly eventful tonight, a few of the tracks didn't quite work as well as one would hope. 'My Beloved Monster' sounded a bit ramshackle and didn't really carry the desired effect. It's been a busy year for Eels, having released a trilogy of concept albums in that period, the tracks from those albums work well, especially 'That Look You Give That Guy'. The undoubted highlight of the set though, is when they play their classic 'Mr E's Beautiful Blues' set to the music of 'Twist and Shout', if this failed to have you in good spirits then I don't think music festivals are the place for you.
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