alucidnation :: Electric Picnic 2008

29th - 31st August 2008

The Electric Picnic, 2008.
County Laois, EIRE.

It was whilst at the Big Chill Festival in 2007, DJing on a boat covered in tiny bits of mosaic mirror that I was asked by Avril Stanley if I'd like to perform at the Electric Picnic the following year. The sun was coming up and the light from the sun was reflecting off the mirrors onto the lake. It was an idyllic setting; and of course, I jumped at the chance to play out in Ireland. I'd heard about the Electric Picnic from various folks who were all saying that it was a fantastic event and that I'd go down a treat out there.

However, closer to the time, I'd started to get itchy feet. There were two reasons for this - one, I didn't have any dosh to enable me to purchase a ticket for the trip over, and two, Festinho was the same weekend. Patrick Bickerton has been asking me to play at this (apparantly) lovely little event in England for the last three years, and due to various back problems and other ailments, I always missed it. I'd kind of made my mind up that I wasn't going to be able to play at the Picnic, and I mailed Avril closer to the time to let her know that I wasn't able to make it. However, she very generously increased the budget which meant that I was able to just about afford the trip over in the camper.

I left at midnight, as the ferry from Pembroke was leaving at 2pm, and I didn't want to get snarled up in traffic. I stopped off to do my festival shop, and was on the M4 by about 1am. My initial plan had been to drive to the Welsh border and then find somwhere the other side of Cardiff to crash out for a few hours, but in the end, I drove nearly all the way, eventually driving round some very quiet country lanes at 4.30am trying to find somewhere unobtrusive to park up to get some sleep. The van was giving me cause for concern at this point too - the engine was misfiring - the last thing I needed as I still had a fair journey to do once I'd crossed the Irish Sea.

I woke up at about 10.30 and found that fortuitously, I'd parked up in a beautiful location - a real room with a view! No traffic had passed me either in the time I was parked up, so I felt rested and ready to go. On starting the van up, it was still missing, but I didn't really have any alternative but to plough on.. I just took it steady away, and arrived at the ferry terminal with plenty of time to spare.

The crossing was pretty amazing as it goes - a real variety of weather conditions - sea mist, sunshine and gentle rain; resulting in some pretty dramatic pictures. I didn't get over to Ireland until about 6pm, then it was a case of driving the 80 miles or so over to Laois. When I arrived at the site, I was greeted by what I can only describe as organised chaos... I managed to get sorted with my passes and wristbands, and then it was just a case of getting in touch with my old mate Marcus, who'd already arrived on site and had found, in his own words, 'a choice spot!'.

After a short drive around the site perimeter, I bumped into Marcus, who directed me to the choice spot, and it was actually; right at the heart of the site by the main stage. Problem was that it had been pissing it down with rain on the runup to the weekend, and consequently it was rather wet underfoot! No sooner had I driven off the perimeter road, I managed to get the van stuck in the mud! I got a little stressed about it, but the stress soon disappeared after a few drinks and a delicious meal courtesy of Marcus.

Come the following moring and it was time to investigate the site. It was well laid out, with the Body and Soul area almost an oasis of relative calm amidst the rest of the site. There was some fantastic art and installations; plus real care had been taken to integrate stages with their natural surroundings. I was due to play in the Merkabar, a huge geodesic structure capable of accommodating 300 people. When I came to do the gig, the main problem was the soundspill from another stage that was positioned down the hill slightly. I'd intended to perform an atmospherics set, but in order to compete with the deep house vibes that the other stage was playing, I could only combat it with my own beats... Still, it was enjoyable; Cal supplied some visual accompaniment, as Ed couldn't make the journey.

To be honest with you, by the end of the festival, I was pretty drained. Waking up to Sambucca expressos each morning was pretty hard work! On the Sunday evening, I caught some of the Sex Pistols performance on the main stage, which was vaguely surreal, but then decided that enough was enough and went to bed for a relatively early night in preparation for the journey home the following morning. It turned out to be a blessing, as Sunday night saw the most torrential downpour, which, tucked up in the dry warmth of the camper I was obviously oblivious to!

I managed to get a tow out of the mud at about 11am, and then it was just a case of doing the leisurely drive back down to Rosslare for the ferry. I arrived just North of the terminus really early; enough time for a walk along the beach and a spot of food before I took the ferry back to England at around 9pm.

The ferry docked at about 1am, so I drove back to the place that I'd camped about twenty miles up the road and enjoyed aa blissful sleep, before heading back home down the M4, praying that the van would make it... it did, fortunately.

To sum up, a really great festival with a lovely vibe; no trouble, friendly Irish people and a fantastic eclectic lineup.