Electric Picnic 2007!!!

Where to begin…the weekend that I had most eagerly anticipated came, and went in a flash.

Friday
I took friday off and at 11am met Aishling and Martina at the bus station to catch our bus down to Stradbally, about a two hour drive south west of dublin. We got down there, found a small area just big enough for our three tents. It turned out to be a great spot, with the best of both worlds, a vegan/vegetarian booth on one side and Hog in a Roll on the other. Shortly after we pitched our tents up we were joined by bridget from limerick. Throughout the day already we had seen several people we knew and most stopped in for a beer or a chat.

After a few beers, a spicy mexican vegan burger we headed in to the arena for the start of the festivities. We started the festival off with Hot Chip on the main stage, then stayed for Bjork. She was great, as expected. However I cut Bjork short and Aideen and I headed towards the crawdaddy tent to catch Modest Mouse. Wow, what a turn out, i had to fight and throw some elbows but we finally managed to squeeze into the jam-packed tent, which was completely worth it. Since modest mouse was my most anticipated act, the rest of the festival was just icing on the cake. We headed back and caught up with the other girls for LCD Sound System. Back to the tents for some decent shut eye.

Saturday
This was without a doubt the busiest day. It turned out way better than I had expected. I knew there were loads of bands on, but I wasn’t too crazy about any of them, I have since changed my mind. This day’s music hit it off with !!!. Good stuff, then in a blur over to catch a bit of The Undertones on my way to see Bonde Do Role. After shaking our booties for a while Aishling and I took our seperate ways, her heading over to meet up with the rest of the girls at Fionn Regan and me to M.I.A., one of the highlights of the festival. The day was young the sun was out, and Architecture in Helsinki was playing, they were absolutly amazing! I had to give ladytron a miss and head over to see Ratatat. The girls put their faith in my musical taste and headed over with me. They were not disappointed. Ratatat was without a doubt my favorite of the weekend! They don’t need no stinking lyrics! They were so good, we stayed for their entire set, missing the first half of Polyphonic Spree. But we made it just in time to hear their amazing cover of Nirvana’s Lithium (another highlight).

It was only 9pm. Much more to do. We had a short break before the B-Boys took the stage. What a joke, biggest mess up of the festival. For some reason (I can only assume sound?) they put the Beastie Boys on one of the smaller stages, in a tent. Well, the tent filled up very quickly and there were a 1000’s more outside trying to squeeze in. We took one look, and said no way. Back to the tent for us, for a few beers before the Chemical Brothers. However, once i snuggled into my tent you couldn’t get me back out. I wasn’t too pushed to see the Chemical Bro’s either, sleep held a much higher priority. The other girls went, and said i didn’t actually miss much, so that was good.

Sunday
After a somewhat proper nights sleep, I woke up feeling refreshed. The last day! Not a lot of bands on my schedule for today, so it was a good opportunity to take advantage of the other festivities. We did a lot of “chilling out” in the body and soul area. This place completely reminded me of the Oregon Country Fair (lots of hippies). The first band i went to go see was Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, they were good, but not amazing. I think the sound was off. Then stopped off for a Sonic Youth song on my way to Rilo Kiley. Yes, I realize I passed up sonic youth for Rilo Kiley, and I’m not happy about that either because frankly, their set was very dull. Live and learn.

Back off to the main stage to meet up with the group. Iggy and the Stooges were playing, but frankly I don’t remember, too busy talking to my mates about everything else going on. To bring the festival to an end, Primal Scream put on an absolutely amazing show. I shall not forget.

There were a few things I missed that I would have liked to have seen, including, Beastie Boys, Sonic Youth, The GO! Team, Deerhoof, ladytron, Camera Obscura, Gary Baseman and Tim Biskup.

But without a doubt one thing that made the festival worth every euro: