madra sneachta Posted September 6, 2005 Share Posted September 6, 2005 Just got back today from the Electric Picnic, an amazing weekend with some class music. among the highlights were - Arcade Fire - Phenomenal. Akin to a spiritual experience. They played most of the album, starting with a version of Wake Up that threatened to curdle my blood, and finishing with a rip roaring Rebellion (Lies) that did!!. The on stage presentation involved no lights worth talking about, but Regine's ballet sequence during Haiti and the madcap instrument switching and percussion were superior to any special efffects. I was about seven rows back from right of stage in the tent, perfect spot. It was their Irish debut, and one of those gigs that will come up in conversation in four years time and I will smugly say "I was there!!". My top three performances by Canadian acts. Neil Young is Number Three, Rush are still Number One, but the gap between them and Number Two is a bloody narrow one. The Flaming Lips - If you've ever been at a Lips gig, you know what to expect. 30 people dancing side stage dressed as rabbits, suns, butterflies and a Santa Claus. Wayne Coyne crowd surfed to the stage in a big bubble, as the screens blasted a welcome that finished. Tonight, your life will change for the better, and you will say.....F**K YEAH!!!!. They kicked off with Race For The Prize, and then second song was introduced as an opportunity for Karaoke, with Wayne promising us that the words of the middle bit would flash on screen. Those words were "I see a little sillhouetto of a man.....". You get the picture. The set ended with Yoshimi, Jelly and Do You Realise, before Wayne introduced the last song as an Ozzy Osbourne song. I expected Changes or maybe Paranoid. Then the highh hat kicked in, two power chords and "Generals gathered in their masses....". They only went and did a version of War Pigs that they've got to release at some point. Kaftwerk - Due to a scheduling conflict, I missed the start of Kraftwerk. The Lips started half and hour before them, and were due to finish half an hour before them. The plan was to catch the start of the Lips then hot tail it over to Kraftwerk, but the Lips were so good I had to stay. Here's the interesting bit. On stage, Wayne Coyne commented how it was a shame that they couldn't see Kraftwerk, as he did, the piano player sturck up the riff from The Model, it then transmuted into Radioactivity, and they did a short version of it. When the Lips finished, we (my mate Brendan and I) ran, and got to the outside of the tent Kraftwerk were in, as they were playing radioactivity. We couldn't get in, but the sides had been lifted, so we had a perfect view and the sound was exquisite. They then did Computerworld, Trans Europe Express, We Are The Robots (with 'dancing' robots behind the consoles), Aero Dynamic and Music Non-Stop. The visuals were phenomenal, the band were static and aloof, but the technical presentation was brilliant. The Human League - I went to this mainly as a nostalgia trip, but it transpired they were a real highlight. Starting with Seconds, they did a greatest hits set that finished with a rip roaring Don't You Want Me, before Phil came back out without the two girls and did a striped down version of Being Boiled (far closer to the original single than the Travelogue version). The girls came back out for a climactic Together In Electric Dreams. Wonderful. Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds - There are two Nick Caves. The guy who does intense, slow stripped down acoustic stuff with a few musicians in an intimate setting, and the deranged demon who plays with the Bad Seeds, screams like a lunatic during a full moon and has a lit firecracker inserted anally before walking onstage and unleashing the madness. We got the latter - Deanna, Tupelo (which was incredible), The Ship Song, The Weeping Song and some stuff off The Lyre of Orpheus and Abattoir Blues. He came out for a last encore, already over time. I turned to a mate of mine and said "I'd love to have heard Stagger Lee". We waited for the opening strains of Where The Wild Roses Grow, no doubt preceeded with a Kylie reference, when the bass kicked in, followed by crunching guitar chords and Cave preceeded to bellow "It was back in '32 when times were hard.....". Moments like that make festivals. Eight bloody minutes long, two new verses, and then the weekend was over. Other highlights were Kissmet, a mutli-racial bangra band who played in the Lost Vagueness tent and rocked the place big time (a bangra version of Whole Lotta Love anybody?), Mercury Rev, including a cover of Dylan's You Gotta Serve somebody, Be Your Own Pet, spiky punky songs from three bright young things who looked about 12, Clor, hard riffs fused with moogs, Matthew Herbert Big Band, 17 jazz musicians and Matt using his gizmos to sample everything that moved, Toots and the Maytals, Doves, LCD Soundsystem, who Moon recommended, I caught most of their set which was good, but I suspect the intensity of a full indoor gig wasn't replicated in an hour long set in an open arena. Best of all the new stuff was Who Made Who, three utterly camp Danes making a sound that the Scissor Sistrs would kill for. Seeing Bob Mould was good as well, but as I was never a huge Husker Du or Sugar fan, I could only recognise the classics by judging the intensity of the orgasms the guy beside me was having. I'll be back next year for sure, it was a great festival that's trying to recreate the Glastonbury vibe. It's not there yet, but it's making a damned good attempt at it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madra sneachta Posted September 6, 2005 Author Share Posted September 6, 2005 I only had a 1.3 megapixel camera, and it shows, but here's a few pics from the weekend. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/madra/LCD.jpg LCD Soundsystem http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/madra/mould.jpg Bob Mould http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/madra/kissmet.jpg Kissmet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madra sneachta Posted September 6, 2005 Author Share Posted September 6, 2005 http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/madra/joanna.jpg Joanna from the Human League http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/madra/wmw1.jpg Who Made Who http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/madra/dmbt.jpg Do Me Bad Things Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madra sneachta Posted September 6, 2005 Author Share Posted September 6, 2005 http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/madra/Herbert.jpg Matthew Herbert Big Band http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/madra/clor.jpg Clor http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/madra/BYOP.jpg Be Your Own Pet http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/madra/Arcade2.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v493/madra/Arcade1.jpg The best I could do with Arcade Fire's lighting Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mustard Death Posted September 6, 2005 Share Posted September 6, 2005 Nice pictures... Sounds and looks like you had an awesome time!! You're lucky... I REALLY want to see Arcade Fire... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madra sneachta Posted September 9, 2005 Author Share Posted September 9, 2005 If anyone is interested, there are some mp3 audio and video clips of Kraftwerk and the entire Flaming Lips set available Here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madra sneachta Posted September 15, 2005 Author Share Posted September 15, 2005 The last four songs of Arcade Fire's set recorded for BBC Radio 1 are available Here Haiti Neighbourhood 1 (Tunnels) Neighbourhood 3 (Power Out) Rebellion (Lies) Bizarre fact - This recording is 21 minutes and 12 seconds long Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moonraker Posted September 15, 2005 Share Posted September 15, 2005 Wow, I cant believe I missed this thread. GREAT review Madra. Its too bad you were so far back for LCD though, I remember being front row when I saw them and pretty much standing underneath their female keyboard player and lead guitar guy. It must have just been different atmospheres. And you said Regine did a ballet sequence in Haiti? Thats incredible! Oh man I cannot wait till this Sunday when they play the Warfield and Oct. 8th at the Download festival in Mountain View Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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