EP 2010

• Tom Corcoran
• Conor Harty
• Tony Corrigan
• Dave McGuinness
• Kevin McDaid
• Kevin McGrath
• Willie Mulkeen
• Declan Waugh

Kevin McDaid

Best of All:

1. Paul Brady (By far the best crowd participation)

2. Stornoway (They even threw in a folk tale about a local cursed road where the lady of the manor died after her hourse bolted and she got caught up in the reins - its good to have a band who can communicate with the crowd)

3. Jonsi (Biggest surprise of the weekend!)

4. Villagers (Not the best festival band but what a talent)

5. Mumford and Sons (might have been higher but for all the kids throwing themselves around stupidly)

One I wished Id caught: Seasick Steve

Worst of the weekend:
1. Fight like Apes
2. Laura Marling
3. Gil Scott Heron

Well men - great weekend. I got away after Mumford and Sons and home by 11. Big thanks to Dave his energy in organising everyone and for tom for the wonderful pancakes.

Willie Mulkeen
Yes indeed - thanks Dave for pulling it all together.

Kev that was one cool tent you had for the weekend - each with our own space, "de berries boy" - Thanks for dragging it along and setting it up and stuff.

Tom as for that pancake - savoury or sweet was even a menu option for early morning breakfast under the gazebo canopy, absolutely brilliant. - and the flag pole from days in Boulder I presume when the first of the ramblings began..

As for the event how cool is it to see
Current good musical talent - Villager
Vintage comdey of sorts - Mr O'Hanlon and the option of Ed Byrne
Legendary Irish Talent - Paul Brady
Relaxation - A hot tub with a sup of whiskey (Thanks Kev) & a song (Thanks Kev again)
Food glorous food - what a selection, I think I had Thai
Of course - beer
Maturity - "I'm tired now - I think I'll go for a kip" that is at 02:30am of course and that was just Saturday evening.

It surely was a unique event in that we were able to create a customised festival to suit everyones taste and still hang out and chill at breakfast the next morning.

I think the photo attached [title photo above] catches a chilled setting or exhausting setting to help remember the weekend.

All the best it was great meeting everybody again.
Willie

Tom Corcoran

There was less good food this year than others and more annoying drunks than I remember from other years. Plenty of good folk to chat with if you were so inclined. At least the watchtowers in the campsites gone but there were lots of security patrols, the gas police, wanting to put out camping stoves sucked. On the plus side it was Comp 87 on tour!

Friday

Highs

• Janelle Monae, Main Stage: Best opening act I've ever seen at the picnic surely
• Marc Almond, Electric Arena: Went out of curiosity, somewhat interesting
• Jonsi, Electric Arena: Outstanding, a festival highlight

Lows

• Laura Marling, Crawdaddy Stage: She was not in the festival spirit, dire
• Roxy Music, Main Stage: Disappointing, music by numbers
• PiL, Electric Arena: Only caught 15 minutes between Roxy music, uninspiring, maybe it would have been different if I managed to hear Rise and the awesome line "Anger is an energy".

Saturday

Highs

• And So I watch You from Afar, Crawdaddy Stage: The lads play short sets and only caught the last song of their 1.30 start, it was superb and wish I had seen more
• Redneck Manifesto, Crawdaddy Stage: Only managed to get the last song as well, great Irish instrumental band (there are so many these days), it has been a bunch of picnics since I seen them, I really like the new album, Friendship
• Villagers, Crawdaddy Stage: An EP moment. Never heard their music before the big - the hype and friends' advice not to miss proved spot on. Sensational. The song Pieces was electric!
• Irvine Welsh and Roddy Doyle, Literary Stage: I'm a big fan of Irvine Welsh and it was a huge treat to hear him read one of the stories from Acid House. He came unprepared and found Acid House in the 2nd hand book shop in mind field. Roddy doyle read a story that was surely Irvine Welsh inspired, a memorable drug infused trip with Mexico's Fighting Irish, the The San Patricios.
• Dan Le Sac Vs Scroobius Pip, Little Big Tent: Same size tent as last year but packed solid compared to the handful of last year. Great to hear Thou shalt not kill again - with the chorus, Radiohead are not a band...(and many more bands)...
• The Frames, Main Stage: back after 2 years on the road without the Frames, Glen needed this more than us. As always he gave 110% and keeping with the festival spirit minimised the story telling. I've seen them at Glasto but never at the EP, it was time. Superb.
• Gill Scott Heron, Crawdaddy Stage: Rambling but irresistible, so good to see the legend.
• Leftfield, Main Stage: Came over to their show on the main stage after Gill Scott. It was a prefect outdoor late night vibe. It caught me by surprise as I had not been keeping up with Leftfield, they finished up with some fantastic dubstep, a festival highlight for me.
• Caribou, Body & Soul: Leftfield finished at 2am but there was still a lot of music to come. Really nice sounds down at the pit in the Body and Soul, which had a bed of mulch, I guess they were being careful after the mud slides down last year.
• Martin Hayes, Body & Soul: Wow. Mind blowing. Thinking the energy might be fading at 3am, we got a shot of ripping fiddle that you just were compulsed to move to. Electrifying and spine chilling as I write. First trad ever for me in 6 picnics and very possibly the highlight of the festival.

Lows

• A perfect day. The only downer was missing the hot tub in body and soul with the lads.

Sunday

Highs

• Two Door Cinema Club, Electric Arena: Another brilliant Irish band, heard for the first time.
• Fat Freddy's Drop, Electric Arena: I love their sound but was not in the mood after a song or two.
• Archie Bronson Outfit, Cosby Stage: Grand, didn't leave an impression.
• Mixhell, Little Big Tent: Dug this dance sound for a while.
• Mumford & Sons, Main Stage: Didn't know them. They got a nice vibe going with the crowd with songs that sounded like I had heard them before but hadn't.
• The National, Main Stage: Saw them 2 years ago in the Olympia when they were still playing songs of Aligator. Have not listened to their last 2 albums, but damn, the crowd had and you got the feeling loved these songs even better. They played a totally different version of the Mr November I knew too. There was some drizzle falling now. Very Good.
• Low Anthem, Crawdaddy Stage: After their set last year I really wanted to see them again. A 4 piece this year and not swapping instruments as much. They 4 of them did one tune where all 4 sung into the same mike with just a strumming guitar accompanying. Very cool.
• Fever Ray, Electric Arena: A cool sound, would like to see more.
• Laurent Garnier live, Little Big Tent: Unlike the last time he played at the picnic he had live musicians this time but was still doing his signature breakdowns. The rain was full on for a while. I left before the end at 11.30 and walked out to the car and drove home.

Lows

• Fight like Apes, Crawdaddy Stage: Had not seen them before, saw 20 minutes of them and thought they were dreadful. Caught member Mary Kate's mother beforehand in a debate in the literature stage in the mindfield, Drivetime Four Savvy Women, that was more bearable.

Declan Waugh

EP 2010, great weekend, still not fully cognis mentis.

Here is the round up from West Cork commencing with in order of performance:

Friday

Janelle Monae:****
Marc Almond:***
Laura Marling:*
Jonsi:*
Foals:****
PIL:***
Janelle Monae (Body and Soul):**
Trenchtown:- Reggae set: **

Saturday

Robyn:*****
Hypnotic Brass Ensemble:***
Villagers:****
Bad Lieutenant:***
Steve Earle:***
Robyn(THISISPOPBABY, acoustic set):****
Hot Chip:***< The Frames:***** (the auld triangle was a classic moment & performance to finish on)
LCD Soundsystem:**
Gill Scott Heron:***
Leftfield:****
Martin Hayes:*****

Sunday

Two Door Cinema Club:****
History Ireland Hedge School:****
Leviathan Political Cabaret:*****
The National:****
Low Anthem:***
Laurent Garnier live:**
Bourgeois and Maurice (THISISPOPBABY):***
Jonny Woo (THISISPOPBABY):***-outrageous performance designed to shock, entertaining but could only take 20minutes

Headed back to tent around 12.30am in torrential rain, tent didn’t hold up to monsoon rainfall.
Little sleep and up early to beat the morning rush, just got out before torrential downpour.
No Pancakes-bummer!

Hard to say what was the gig of the festival for me; touch and go between Robyn, THE Frames and The National, followed by Foals, Villagers, Martin Hayes, Two Door Cinema Club and Janelle Monai

Packed away my costumes for another year. What will it be next year?

Declan

Dave McGuinness

Another very memorable picnic, one of the best from this "veteran's" viewpoint. i didn't see a dud performance all weekend - i thought beforehand it was the best line-up in years, but wondered would i be disappointed - no chance.

Unfortunately i wasn't witness to many of the mcgrath-related shenanigans (e.g. the never-used camping stove). but his rendition of 'pair of brown eyes' elevated an already great EP moment -
that is the body and soul hot-tub - to a new level. willie and his lovely ladies was a recurring memory of friday night - not sure if was his shoulders or the consumed whiskey, perhaps both. tom's pancakes - it goes without saying, legend. and those sociable, lazy breakfasts. nicely captured by your pic attached willie - would be great to share the others. kev, declan you might have some too to put up on flickr or whatever? it was very cool to see the novices embrace the event - ducks to water. so i'm not going to rule out seeing some or all of you, your wives and your kids, at some future electric picnics. long may they continue.

All these emails show we all had such different experiences of the weekend, and you could beat yourself up about missing this act or that - but the bottom line is we all had a blast and there are no bad decisions! You split up, you hook up later and realise everyone's had just a good time as you did.

Declan, I like the snappy 'star' reviews. So, for the record my gig reviews are:

Friday -
Janelle Monae ****; Marc Almond ***½; Jonsi ****; Roxy Music ****.

Saturday -
Redneck Manifesto ***; Villagers *****; Ardal O'Hanlon ***; Frames ****; LCD Soundsystem ****; Gil-Scott Heron ***½; Martin Hayes ****.

These are the votes of the McG jury...

DAVE.

Kevin McGrath

I have a few very low quality photos here [slideshow below], but sure they're worth a look.

Get the flash player here: http://www.adobe.com/flashplayer

Seasick Steve took up about 50% of my gig time....my entire gig attendance was .... Half of Roxy Music, 15 mins of PIL, Seasick Steve, first half hour of The Frames, Seasick Steve again, first 20 mins of Gil Scott Heron, some ape called Fionn playing in a small tent with nice amps, and 2 tunes from Martin Hayes. I was at my own gig of course in the hot tub, which was prettty poorly attended by 3 members of a warmly appreciative audience, plus one heckler shouting "no singing"....like, come on ... its the Picnic!

I loved the refugee style toilets, it like pi$$ing off a bridge.

Thanks guys for all the good times and thanks to the little pixies who put the tents up for us!

Kevin

Tony Corrigan

I'd have to add Imelda May to the list of hits....I was blown away; I was possibly the only person in Ireland who'd never heard her before. You'd have to give The Frames a serious mention too, I don't know does Glenn Hansard get through a set of strings per song or wha'! Mark Almond was also quite enjoyable.....and a special mention for The Might Stef? Maybe not....

Honorable mention to Mr. Harty for providing communal whiskey too!!

A great weekend and it was great to see all 'd-lads' together again!
Same again next year?

Conor Harty

Definitely in line for 2011. Will have a better itinerary and plan (could hardly be less that this year's nothing effort).

Clodagh (the sister) was very impressed with our set-up, wants to know if she can take a membership for next year. Her car had to be pushed out of the car park yesterday morning. She left her 30 Euros tent behind her as it got destroyed

Kudos to Tom C. Was speaking to Eimear (other sister) this morning. She told me that one of her friends said to her that it it wasn't for that tent with the pole and the big flag she would have been lost getting back at night. Better still, on Saturday night Eimear was looking for her at the frames, she told E that she was in the crowd next to that pole with the twirly flag and light.

Well done all

Conor