See you under the rainbow
Another picnic has come and gone. What an outstanding few days on the Cosby estate it was, as it always is. Missing this year were my sisters, Christine, Cats...but we had a lovely crew with Declan Waugh, McG, Brendan & Edel, Kevin McKellar and Simon back from Stockholm, bringing another convert, Elloy, with him. The 3m hook-up pole was back, with the bat on top replaced with a rainbow twister which did it's job on many occasions pulling together the crew for some Electric Picnic moments.
Friday
Quiet camping was in a perfect spot behind a screen at entrance 2 that no one saw as they came in and the field was not even a quarter full. The walk in/out with the trolley was real easy this year, no ploughed fields to negotiate with the trolley this time. At basecamp the rainbow/purple streamer flag was up and it was time to retire to McG's nearby camper van, which he parked in a field close to entrance 2 when he baulked going into the camper van field seeing tractors were pulling in the vans! Prepared in Wanda (McG's VW), a cold G & T in the sun is a wish for every Friday afternoon!
What to check out before MGMT/Dinosaur Jnr/Orbital? Niall Lynch had given us some tips on Facebook. After warming up with some Richmond Fontaine & Major Lazer feeding the groove we headed to the Cosby stage to check out one of Niall's tips. Efterklang, is not a name that rolls of the tongue. Taking the Canadian collective "blueprint", turns out they are Danish, 2 tash and cardigan wearing lads and another 5 in the collective, 1 girl on keys. They were as blown away by the crowd reaction as I saw a band over the festival. That usually helps and this show was buzzing. A highlight without a doubt.
I had not seen MGMT live before and have played the album to death with Malie loving to dance to Time to Pretend and Kids. Hard to translate the energy of the album to the EP main stage where the speakers could have been bigger and fuller sounding. It was great to see them anyhow and the songs still shone through. I had not seen Dinosaur Jnr in 20 years I think, J Mascis still has his hair, the bastard! It was fun hearing their melodic noise. Orbital broke up in 2004, I had seen 2 of their festival shows before at Glastonbury, in 2002 and 2004 with Christine. If I was asked what my favourite show ever was, I'd say Orbital, Glasto, 2002, so this was the one must see off the weekend for me. Seemingly not reformed but together for a bunch of shows to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Chime. It was just gorgeous to feel their magic bouncing in your ears once more.
Body and Soul was not as crowded this year it seemed and watching the Lucent Dossier stage with the fire stick/hoop dancing was as fantastic as ever. To the back and right of Lucent Dossier is the Zen Garden with the dragon guarding the entrance. The "Glasto" chai tipi was back again for another EP, these lovely folk are now a festival constant and a great late night refuge. Nearby in the corner was another tent spinning reggae and other stuff that got you up off your feet before skipping off for a chai and a chocolate crepe.
The wonderful Lucent Dossier
Saturday
Low Anthem
Giving the XX album a few spins in the days before the EP it was sounding decent, their show in the Electric Arena did not catch fire and over in the Cosby the 3 piece Low Anthem were swapping the drum seat and getting on with it, nice energy.
Kev, McG and myself started a hacky circle which turned out to be our only one due to Kev straining a muscle. We were getting in the groove and getting a little flow when we heard 15! We had a official counter! She joined us for a bit while her mate watched and being well used to keep-it-up with a football was not long adapting to the speed of the foot bag.
Back in the Electric arena Roots Manuva was spitting out his stuff, only Rapper at the festival I saw. Declan thought he was from New York and putting on an english accent, but no, defo a London boy! It was time for some afternoon outdoor antics and Kid Creole stepped up. He has a new set of Coconuts these days and it was a decent afternoon show though the lude references to the coconuts were tired and rolled out.
David McWilliams was MC down in the Leviathan tent in the Mindfield space (last year's spoken word) and I listened to the first part of a 'Death of Capitalism' debate which involved Eamon McCann, Eamon Ryan and some ex wall streeter. It was good stuff but when Eamon McCann started into his 2nd "rant" I wanted to hear more music.
Can I manage a hacky?
Jazzanova (Live) in the Little Big Tent was a perfect vibe and one of the festival highlights. Off to the Crawdaddy for Explosions in the sky and having heard a spin of their album I was anticipating some sonic instrumental journeys. Their first track held promise but they did not suck me in and left me wondering was this a fans gig as they seemed to miss plenty of opportunities to bring the festival crowd together. I was not the only one unengaged and myself and McG headed via the commercial mud slog to the main for Madness. Not as easy this year to move between the main and the tents since they closed off the quick passage. After a few tracks the rainbow twister located us with the lads and we had some EP moments with Our House and Baggy Trousers, great fun. Managed to get back to the Crawdaddy for the end of Fourtet which sounded dark and great. 2 Many Djs was the late night option on the main stage and their megamixing and visual bringing of life to album covers was interesting for a while. Caught some of Moderat on the way to Body and Soul. Edged around Fourtet's 2nd set and ended up in the Zen Garden tents to wind down the evening.
Sunday
The only real rain of the festival was on Sunday morning while we were crashed in the tents. Got a late enough start to the tunes with the dj band, Simiam Mobile Disco, at the electric arena. Only caught the end of Bell Orchestra at the Cosby and wish I had seen more. It was jammers at the arena for Florence and the Machine, Echo & the bunnymen were sounding pretty karaokish with some cover songs and back at the Cosby the 4AD band, The Big Pink, were a find, though only caught the end of the set. The Jimmy Cake had the slot vacated by Bat for lashes absence and another end of the show sounded spot on! We pulled in a crew for Amadou & Mariam, from Mali with the 2 principles meeting in blind school, these lot were a festival highlight no doubt.
The Flaming Lips or not? Having experienced them live at festivals a bunch of times you know what you will get and I could not resist though I wanted to go to the cosby for Skream & Benga. Of course Yoshimi came though and 'Do you realize' was why I went. Wayne loves the EP and will come every times he is asked he tells us. I am wondering what the uninitiated made of the gig. Declan and myself ended up sitting on a perfect perch in the body & soul for Amorphous Androgynous and their psychedelic sound winding down the picnic. Saw some of Beach House before drifting over to the chai tent in the Zen Garden, a bit of a festival ending tradition for me at this point.
Back at basecamp at 3am Sunday my 9m flag pole & flags were no where to be seen. My gazebo was also pulled down and the poles bent. The wind did not do this. Also stolen on Sunday night from inside my tent vestibule was my thermorest/camping chair, this was personal - since it's been too many wonderful places with me in the last 15 years.
Waking up to a perfect Monday morning wandering around the quiet camping as people broke down camps I pieced it together. At 01.45, 5 yobs ran off carrying the flag pole and shouting names at some campers outside their tents as they went. They disappeared into the corner if the field where one could wade though a small "stream" and get into the Charlie Chaplin field. I talked to one girl whose friend's tent had been broken into Friday night and her food and drink strewn around the campsite. Another girl told me her car had been broken into, they did not take her iPod but broke her steering wheel and inner light. 20 cars have been stolen so far an employee told me. A Garda said that it happens every year, though more at the Oxygen festival. This year, at my 10th closed site festival, the law of averages finally caught up.
David McGuinness
Orbital, Billy Bragg, Madness, Efterklang
