My brief review of
Electric Picnic 2014, pending publishing in The University Times’ magazine.
I’d love to be able to write an in-depth review of the
madness that was Electric Picnic 2014, but it’s impossible to accurately
explain the festival in a few hundred words. The weekend offered not only
music, but spoken word, yoga, hot-tubs and a petting zoo. Welcome to Electric
Picnic, where the real world fades away to be replaced by bright lights,
bubbles and burgers.
On Friday, not too many must-see
acts played – but the ones that did were cracking. Blondie, led by seventy year
old Debbie Harry, managed to get me dancing for the first time that day. While
I haven’t exactly followed the bands career since the 1970’s, can anyone resist
songs like Maria, Heart of and Call Me? From what I heard in the
campsite, Foals and Pet Shop Boys were fantastic, but for me, Friday night
belonged to American madness merchant Tune-Yards. Pounding drums,
shrieking-yet-rich vocals and a bouncing crowd, Merill Garbus’ crew lit up the
Body and Soul stage. Pet Shop Who, again?
On Saturday, the line-up of
fantastic acts is dizzying. Hozier draws the biggest crowd I’ve ever seen.
Portishead terrify and entrance me in equal measure with their ethereal,
haunting performance. Chic shake off the Portishead blues by playing Bowie and their
own groovy back catalogue. Groovy in the literal sense: there’s no way not to
dance to this. Paolo Nutini deserves a special mention too, his back catalogue
fitting perfectly along with songs like Iron
Sky and Scream from his last
album, and the whole set is a delight.
On Sunday, I could mention any
number of acts again…Kelis, Outkast and Sinéad O’Connor to name but a few. But
for me, Sunday – and indeed, the weekend – belonged to St. Vincent. She lit up
the Electric Arena with lilac hair, the loudest guitars of the weekend and a
set that veered between beauty and insanity. St. Vincent sums up everything I
love about the festival – it’s bold, it’s weird and it’s utterly incredible to be
part of.
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