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Fiona Stone First things first, Electric picnic has a rubbish name. It also however has a great line up. It’s in Ireland but it’s not 1 hour away from Dublin as marketed but rather 3 painful hours away from any airport. While only 1/3 of the size of Glastonbury the festival boasts just as many stages if not more. The festival is set in very beautiful countryside such that it doesn’t matter when it rains (and it will rain!). The line-up itself is fantastic. Impressive and diverse the bill included the Earlies, King Creosote, the Broken Social Scene, Bloc Party, Gang of Four, Tapes ‘n’ Tapes, DJ Shadow, David Kitt and SFA acoustic bingo! However the real surprise highlight of the festival were the Pet Shop Boys who’s camp cabaret included giant props, dancing boys and glittery hits all the way, and I don’t’ even like them… PJ Harvey is always a live favourite of mine but this year she managed to excel herself. With the stage set up like a 1940s posh living room, she performed solo with just piano and guitar, creating one of the most powerful and beautiful experiences of the summer. Broken Social Scene are also worthy of a special mention. They managed to turn what should have been a soulless big tent show into an intimate experience with full carnival atmosphere, not dissimilar to early polyphonic spree concerts. The
really nice thing about Electric Picnic is that the stages are not too
far apart and there are lots of them. Besides the standard big stages
and tents there is a vast plethora of the weird and wonderful, incorporating
cabaret/burlesque tents, disco laundrette tents, giant bean bag areas,
sunken ‘glade’ areas, silent disco, and even hair dressers
(£5 for a wash and blow-dry). Electric Picnic is way more than just
a festival and not in a cringey hippy way or anything, but rather in an
exciting, childish and exhilarating way. |
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ELECTRIC
PICNIC 1st-3rd September 2006
