More reviews from around the Electric Picnic
ABC
If you’re an act from the 1980s seeking rehabilitation, Electric Picnic is a good place to start the process. After all, we’ve seen the Human League re-up their cred in previous years and, yeah, A Flock Of Seagulls also played this weekend.
ABC are a band that always seemed a little too smart for their time. Sure, their mix of blue-eyed soul, arty pop and whiteboy funk always found radio DJs tapping their tootsies, but they never quite hit the same commercial heights as tea-towel touting peers such as Spandau Ballet.
While frontman Martin Fry announced on Friday night that an audience of 1990s kids mightn't remember the band's hits, the screams and shrieks that greeted a rollicking, evergreen Poison Arrowsaid otherwise. JC
Chic
The moment Chic appeared on the bill, you just knew they’d be featuring in Monday morning’s headlines. Here was an act that would come, grin and make Electric Picnic their own without breaking a sweat.
With a Saturday-night set that was wall to wall with hits, from Everybody Danceand Dance Dance Danceto Le Freakand Good Times,Chic put the packed tent on the good foot.
But hits are just one part of turning a muddy big top into the biggest, shiniest, happiest disco in Co Laois – Nile Rodgers and his musicians have the natural ability to make playing these solid gold tunes seem effortless. Sprinkle the kind of showmanship that never goes out of fashion on top and you had a show that was on fire from glitzy start to sparkling finish. JC
Dark Room Notes
Call it a coming of age. After the release of their smashing We Love You Dark Matterdebut album earlier this year, Dark Room Notes enjoyed a long-overdue bump in their profile. Watching them knock out their warm, smart, seductive electro-pop in the ThisIsPopBaby glittersphere, it was clear that positive notices for the album and plenty of gigging has done wonders for their confidence.
There’s a greater cohesion to their sound and great panache when they hit the accelerator. What they need is another leap forward.
They've certainly got the goods it will take to get heads nodding out foreign – all they need now is a lucky break to grab those ears. JC
Marina and the Diamonds
This is the first time Marina Diamond – aka Marina and the Diamonds – has graced Irish shores, and her enthusiasm on this Saturday outing was infectious.
She had that quality found only in new artists: seeming genuinely thrilled not only that the crowd was there but that people knew her songs.
Her performance of I Am Not a Robotwas electrifying – a rapt audience fell silent as Diamond delivered her best-known song with overwhelming passion.
New tune Numbwas equally well received and Obsessions, Diamond's debut single, was a massive crowd-pleaser. She'll be back in November – if you missed her at the Picnic, don't let it happen again. RMC
Michael Nyman Orchestra
If it’s a soundtrack to widescreen drama you are after, Michael Nyman is the man to call. He’s scored more flicks than you’ve had religious experiences and he’s still at it.
Nyman and his orchestra provided the festival’s perfect opening lines. People were streaming onto the site, checking their bearings and trying to take it all in. They then saw these men and women in black on the big stage and stopped in their tracks. An orchestra? Film scores? A maestro at the piano in the snazziest tails any wardrobe mistress could provide? Encore!
It was gorgeous, scene- stopping stuff. The brass parped and the strings wept as Nyman's cinematic compositions swirled under a bruised blue sky. JC
Stars and Stripes
If Ireland wants new pop stars, they were found at ThisIsPopBaby. Veda Beaux Reves, Neosupervital and Bitches With Wolves played to a near-empty tent on Friday, but filled the space with pop synths and catchy hooks.
Neosupervital was resplendent in LED sunglasses, playing a too-short set with lots of pep. Veda provided the interlude – more killer than filler, all eyes were on her.
O'Neill was last, and neither bitch nor wolf. He was more karaoke than performance: just the stage, Beetlejuice trousers and brash self-confidence. A damp end to an electrifying show. RMC
Tulla Céilí Band
Sixty years a-jigging. The many, many players who've spent time in the mighty Tulla Céilí Band down through the years have surely played on some fierce strange stages, from New York's Carnegie Hall to various parish halls around Feakle. But there's still a first time for everything, and the sight of a lashing of Body and Soul punters dancing the Walls of Limerickon Saturday afternoon can now be added to the group's wall of fame.
These trad maestros work every time because their sound is part of our collective DNA. We've all grown up with bands like this and when those fiddles and squeezeboxes started to roar, the hairs went up on the back of many a neck. Next year, stick them on the main stage and we bet it will be once around the field and mind the dresser. JC
