Photos : Electric Picnic
Well that was nice while it lasted…
My Hot Press alter-ego took over at Stradbally, zipping Off Her Rocker into a sleeping-bag cocoon for the weekend. Irish music had a really strong presence in this year’s Picnic line-up and it was great to hear loads of good reports back of Halves, SEBP and Jape, while Cathy Davey’s performance was all but sent up in thanks for the celestial weather.
I had the pleasure of spectacular Sigur Ros to wind down on Friday, la Franz on Saturday (and was a bit miffed that they left the stage at 11pm in order to encore and be done by the 11:15 finish listed on the timetable. I met them later that night (*drool*swoon*) there wasn’t a peep of such criticism from yours truly) …My Bloody Valentine on Sunday. They were really the most important performance on the schedule for me and didn’t disappoint, except I wanted membrane-shredding LOUD and didn’t get it….
Over in the Hot Press Chatroom it was all systems go as we had some incredible names lined up for interview: Carbon/Silicon, Elbow, That Petrol Emotion, Foals, Michael Franti and The Roots took the tent by storm: it was so interesting to listen to their stories while hovering with the camera. ?uestlove of The Roots was just riveting, explaining how he started performing on the street because their esoteric hip-hop wasn’t suited for the clubs and years down the line, jamming at Prince’s gaff with Stevie Wonder on piano. Imagine!
Never to disappoint, Hot Press kept it real with loads of Irish musicians appearing for interviews and acoustic sessions. Cathy Davey, The Flaws, Mark Geary, Gemma Hayes, Jinx Lennon, Oppenheimer and The Stunning all popped in for a chat: keep your eyes peeled on HP.com in the next few days for full interviews and photo galleries! In the meantime, here’s a few, just so’s I can show off…
Jinx Lennon:
The Stunning:
Oppenheimer:
Cathy Davey:
The Flaws:
Mark Geary and Ann Scott:
Gemma Hayes:
looks like you had fun
Mmmm…twas all right. Hopefully next year I can do it on a 100% Irish basis but we’ll see….
Jinx Lennon photo is great.. a nice guy too!
Thanks! Yes, he’s really lovely, very interesting guy although we had a bit of a nightmare racket coming from the adjacent theatre with fake Ballymun accents and scrrreaaaaming baby recordings…he weathered it pretty well for a really nice acoustic set with Miss Paula Flynn
Gemma Hayes - swoon. As lovely in person as you would hope.
She really is! Sends the HP lads ga-ga, so she does
I can live without the angelic voice or command of guitar but Christ, I wish I had those cheekbones!