Electric Picnic, Stradbally Hally, Ireland
Day Two, Saturday 1st September 2007
by Yvonne Gordon
Well, even for those who arrived late last night and missed the main stage, the parties went on well and truly into the night. After the main stage, we headed over to BodyTonic which was pumping out dance tunes till 2am, thanks to DJs Greenskeepers Live and Derrick Carter. Some of our group got separated and text messages weren’t being delivered so unfortunately, the MelodyTrip photographer was last seen for the evening heading over to BodyTonic accompanied by a well-known Irish comedian who once played a priest in the popular TV programme Father Ted - I am sure they behaved like saints, while we stopped off at the ubiquitous wooden circular festival venue, the *** Parleur, for some late night dancing.
A couple of us later listened to a DJ playing on what must be the festival’s tiniest unofficial stage, a table between the Crepes In The City food stand and a coffee stand, which had a large crowd of revellers having fun and dancing their socks off. Major déjà vu from last year!
However last night’s best discovery - and another magic festival moment - was a music stage hidden in the trees! At 3am, while wandering back to the campsite, we were lured into a little stage in a forest glade under a canopy of green trees by the sounds of great music and cheers from a happy crowd. The trees above were all lit up with silver lights and DJ’s were mixing some amazing dance tunes. Apparently this stage is called Tir na gCasta (the Irish for ‘Land of the Trees‘) and everyone is talking about it today. It was very captivating!
So back to today. There is lots going on around the site, lots of new arrivals and the good news is that it’s sunny and warm and wellies are an optional fashion accessory rather than a necessity! The inflatable church has a few weddings booked in for the afternoon, and in the Fair Green there’s a cinema, Kiddies Area and a Circus.
It’s all quite old fashioned over in Ballymundane Village Fair, there are three-legged races, a gramophone disco and a ‘Lovely Guy and Girl’ contest in the Village Hall, as well as a farmer’s market, a Mongolian Yurt (a large, round tent-house which is for sale, apparently) and an interesting photo exhibition. The Fairground is also busy with a carousel, slide and big wheel.
Body and Soul is again centred around a natural amphitheatre with the Chill Stage in the centre and the area is full of spiritual and earthly delights and treatments. There’s a wishing tree, a pretty garden, a tent where you can express yourself with stories and poems and lots of places to get wholesome, organic food.
Bands today have included Easy Allstars Radiohead on the Main Stage, playing an excellent reggae version of Radiohead’s best hits, and an angsty performance by Jarvis (Cocker) in the Electric Arena. MIA also played an energetic set in the Electric Arena and got everyone moving to the beat and the Magic Numbers were one of the biggest crowd drawers to the Main Stage, looking delightfully happy to be there.
Over at the other side of the site, in the ‘Spoken Word area’ there’s been lots going on too, including interviews with bands in the Hot Press Chat Room and political debate in the Leviathan tent. One of the best sets we saw here was by two guys from Limerick who played some great tunes with a variety of eccentric ‘instruments’ including a dustbin and a curtain rail! This was followed by a ranting set by Jinx Lennon.
Erasure played to a very packed Electric Arena (proving so popular, security had to put up barriers outside and arrange some crowd control) and they were followed by an amazing performance by the Beastie Boys. Our MelodyTrip photographer got some amazing close-ups from the pit (check out the photo section).