Who are today’s must-sees? Here’s where you’ll find us at Electric Picnic on Friday.
The Strypes (Main Stage, 6pm)
It’s been a whirlwind two years for The Strypes since their coming out party at Electric Picnic in 2012. The Cavan youngsters played a handful of shows at the festival that weekend and the audience grew with each one, as word of mouth trickled around the fields of Stradbally. Fast forward two years and The Strypes can be looked upon as one of Ireland’s most popular music exports, having signed blockbuster publishing deals, become regulars on US television and count the likes of Elton John and Dave Grohl among their fans. What’ll they have in store for us this year? We’ll find out at 6pm.
Girl Band (Body & Soul, 9.15pm)
Girl Band turned many a head with their raucous single ‘Lawman’ released earlier this year, firmly marking their report cards as being one of the most promising Irish bands around. The group – who are signed to Villagers drummer James Byrne’s Any Other City label – have since released more music, all of which underlines their promise. The Body & Soul main stage should be packed this evening for their show and those in attendance should be in line for something special.
Oki’s Wagon (Jimmie Lee’s Juke Joint, 8pm)
One of the hardest working bands in Dublin, Oki’s Wagon make their Electric Picnic debut today. The six piece have played at about every venue in Dublin (and beyond) in their couple of years together and it’ll be very interesting to see how their smoky mix of folk and blues goes down in front of what should be one of their biggest audience to date.
James Murphy (Electric Arena, 10pm)
Some might think that the former LCD Soundsystem frontman would have been taking it easy now that he’s folded the legendary dance-punk band but the opposite is actually true. Murphy’s time has been filled with incessant DJing gigs across the globe, as well as having much-coveted production nous, which saw him work on the latest Arcade Fire album among others. Murphy will be giving free reign in the Electric Arena this evening two years after his last Electric Picnic appearance and it should be one of the ‘can’t miss’ shows of the night.
Tune-Yards (Body & Soul, Midnight)
Every year there seems to be a late show on the Body & Soul stage which lives long in the memory. It was Caribou in 2010, then it was Janelle Monae. Last year it was Le Galaxie and our money is on Tune-Yards this time around. Merrill Garbus, the brains behind the operation, is as enigmatic a band leader as you could hope for. Her music style involves considerable loops, where she weaves different sounds in and out of the songs affording the viewer the perspective of seeing the song’s skeleton before its flesh is added to the mix – and it’s usually brilliant. Don’t miss this one.
