Electric Picnic : The Aftermath (Part I : Friday)

So another Electric Picnic calendar year has drawn to a close. The wellies are being shelved (oddly as the weather will be the same for the next 6 months ), if they made it home the tents are being discarded, the photos scanned.

Mud was a dominant presence this year but did it spoil any of the fun? You bet your life it didn’t!!!

As I gaze around the office in a dreamlike state the past few glorious, fun-filled days seem like a past life. To review the general fun had by my group and I would be too plentiful and possibly too shocking to reveal publicly so I will stick to the music. Of course festival reviews are very narrow in perspective as there are so many personal factors to consider :

– how packed the tent was
– the quality of the sound where you were standing
– how drunk you were
– how tired you were
– how wet you were
– how hungry you were
– how the sight that greeted you in your last portaloo visit has affected your mental state

and plenty more.

Below is my review of the first day of EP 09.

Friday :

Jeffrey Lewis

For some unknown reason, assuming the state of the site, we were not allowed in until nearly 5pm missing Peter Broderick’s short set in the process so it was to the Cosby Stage we trudged.

Jeffrey Lewis played a pretty good set with the standouts being his little raps/ramblings (accompanied by his own artwork) when his backing band were mostly inaudible. When you go to a Jeffrey Lewis gig you go to hear every word and unfortunately the sound was so that whenever an electric guitar would kick in his vocals would muffles as a result. Still enjoyable and a gentle start to the fesival

Lykke Li

Second artist in and possibly one of the highlights of the weekend and definitely the night. Appearing in the Crawdaddy dressed all in black complete with bandana, Lykke Li mesmerized the crowd from start to finish. The reviewer in “The Daily Ticket”, (which did another sterling job by the way), didn’t seem to agree but my bullet points above may be an explanation for this. Tracks such as “Dance Dance Dance”, “I’m Good, I’m Gone” and “Little Bit” were standout along with a Kings of Leon cover, “Knocked Up” which went down very well with the adoring crowd.

Zero 7

Only caught a few songs but they were very disappointing. Looked lost on the main stage and did not seem to have many of their “star” guest vocalists along for the trip. Sia and Jose Gonzalez may have been there but they had lost me before they had any chance to appear.

Efterklang

After missing out on Peter Broderick’s solo performance there was no chance I was missing his onstage appearance with his favourite band, the Danish Efterklang.

The energy and sheer love of playing live that emanated from the dozen or so performers onstage floated through the crowd with the Cosby Stage seeing another early highlight from this years picnic. In my eyes, only outdone by Lykke. Just.

MGMT

“Time To Pretend” and “Kids” were superb. The other 50 or so minutes were spent waiting around to hear the songs just mentioned. If Zero 7 were lost onstage then the Brooklyn boys were invisible for the majority of their set. Bland was the word but a smaller tent at an earlier time would have been more suitable. A band with one album (if not counting The Management’s album) simply do not have the back catalogue to put together an hours set for a festival main stage

Kormac’s Big Band

Caught a few songs from Kormac’s groupin the Body and Soul and as ever they never fail to disappoint. A highlight on the main stage last year playing an afternoon show I was glad to see them again and how large the band has grown.

Rodrigo y Gabriela

Exactly what it says on the tin performance but still very good. Such accomplished and talented musicians will always meet a certain standard. No surprises but still a good end to the opening night.