I ache all over! But it was worth it. Electric Picnic 2008 was smashin’. Where else but in luscious Laois would you find a top selection of food, theatre antics, art, politics, beer, eco cups, eight foot dancing robots, fire breathing remote controlled metal horses, a giant baby in bubbles, acrobats, swings, a big wheel, thousands of tents, teepees and camper vans, muck, toilet paper, babywipes, wellies of all colours, granny’s gaff, tír na gcasta, a timemachine, hammocks, bongos, cabaret, a cycling piano man, karaoke, silent disco, grammaphone disco, massage parlours, pussy parlures, a bike that turns right when you turn left, comedians, the wizard of oz movie set to the music of pink floyd, a farmers market, green elephants, the village hall, the blow up church, a beach, pirates and burlesque ladies dancing on an overturned ship and of course the music.

The music line-up was a delicious assortment of everything and anything including Kíla, Tinariwen, Joan as Policewoman, Goldfrapp, Sigur Rós, Cathy Davey, The Kills, The Breeders, That Petrol Emotion, Duffy, Elbow, Wilco, Grace Jones, Santogold, Franz Ferdinand, Underworld, Cut Copy, The Dublin Gospel Choir, Candi Staton, Ham Sandwich, Hercules and Love Affair, Sinéad O’Connor, Christy Moore, CSS, Grinderman, Gossip, My Bloody Valentine and the Sex Pistols (to name but the small few that I wanted to see). Alas, there was too much to do, fun to be had, food and drink to be consumed to go see everything on my list (getting a slice of toast with butter and jam in Granny’s Gaff Saturday morning took almost 45 minutes, but I was able to entertain myself by playing giant connect four in Granny’s garden while listening to the dancing priest in the church next door inviting people in for the first wedding of the day). So what did we go and see? On Friday we were entertained firstly by Tinariwen on the main stage, “They play in the Tishoumaren (“music of the unemployed”) style, and sing mostly in the French and Tamashek languages. Their songs mostly cover the subject of independence for their people from the government of Mali.” Or so it says on Wikipedia, I just enjoyed dancing to their music. Later we saw Goldfrapp and Sigur Rós. Two of my favourite bands but definately not the highlight of the weekend. Goldfrapp’s new album seems quite.. well.. quiet and mellow. Too mellow for the main stage, perhaps if they had played in the Electric Arena tent it might have been more intimate and intense like the time they played in 2006. Sigur Rós were brilliant and beautiful – I still haven’t a notion what they’re singing about though but does it matter? Yes I only saw three bands Friday but I also spent a frustrating two hours that morning trying to put up a tent that looked like a car crash. I’m usually a good DIY gal so I was quite disappointed with myself when I couldn’t put the damn thing up. After three men came to help us and failed I didn’t feel so bad and went off to the shop to buy a proper dome shaped tent. A tent shaped the way tents are supposed to be shaped with an instruction manual that doesn’t lie.

Saturday was a bit more successful. In the morning after spending a while looking for a portaloo that didn’t smell we went off with ourselves to see Cathy Davey in the Crawdaddy Stage. Unfortunately we got there too late and the tent was full so they didn’t allow us in. But she sounds wonderful. Hopefully next time I’ll actually get to see her. Next I dragged my four friends to see Duffy on the main stage (I was the only Duffy fan among us but I think we left as a group of five Duffy fans). And she’s so tiny! Or maybe we were just too far away. Grace Jones was as expected wonderfully weird in the Electric Arena. Des Bishop was in the comedy tent making the whole place roar with laughter. He even bigged up us gay people. Although it was quite embarrassing when he asked were there any gay people in the audience and I was the only one in my drunken over-excitedness to shout YEAH! with my hands in the air. I got over it though as afterwards we danced to the best fifties music in the Timemachine and started a limbo dance with a raincoat and everyone wanted a piece of the action. It was fun to watch people fall. The dancing continued until the wee hours in the Ukiyo (japanese) tent.

But Sunday was the best day of all. Why? Because there was CSS and Gossip. How brilliant can these two bands be? And how cute are the girls in CSS? It’s the first time in my life I fancied a girl with a mullet but Luiza is so damn cool! Bette Ditto from Gossip was on the side of the stage boppin’ away to CSS and likewise when Gossip were belting out their songs later on, on the main stage, CSS were in full support on the sidelines. I especially loved when Bette decided to re-arrange her girdle with the help of the keyboard player, by pulling her glittery green dress over her boobs. That girl just doesn’t give a flying monkeys and she’s dead right. Sunday also gave us the sounds of Hercules and Love Affair and the Sex Pistols. It was the first time I had heard Hercules and Love Affair but they were very entertaining with two lead singers who really know how to use their vocal talents. The Sex Pistols on the other hand, I didn’t listen to for very long. I don’t get it really. If someone can explain please do.

Other bits and bobs that we experienced throughout the weekend included the wobbley bicyce, the fun fair swings, a two-girl band called You’re Only Massive in the Thisispopbaby tent, a cabaret dance routine on a ship with pirates and semi-naked burlesque women, Eleanor Tiernan in the comedy tent, the Dublin Gospel Choir and fire breathing and juggling in the metal Arcadia area. The whole weekend was piles of fun, the only downside was when, at two in the morning as we sipped hot chocolate in the Body and Soul area, the first rain of the weekend began to pour down on us. When we decided to return to our tents we discovered only one tent (the properly shaped dome tent I purchased on Friday morning) was the only tent that hadn’t got a small lake inside it. So low and behold our little two man tent became a dry haven for five of us. That was until the condensation drenched us all. As we all awoke at 5.30 on Monday morning, happy that it was time to leave the condenstion drenched tent, we packed our bags and trudged to the carpark, with the most beautiful sunrise behind us. But the drama wasn’t over just yet. As I tried to drive away my poor little starlet decided that it would like to get stuck in the muck and not move at all. Luckily two strapping young men practicallly lifted the starlet out of the mire and out onto the road. We were homeward bound at half six in the morning, yearning for proper showers and things called beds. And to the young gentleman I met on the road home, I hope you got back to Dublin to work for ten o’clock.

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