Electric Picnic Saturday

Woke up in the tent feeling rough. It was raining, drizzling but cosy in the tent. The campsite loos were foul.

Nibbled on toast and sipped my tea and went back to bed for another while. That was a good idea.

Overheard from a tent. "AND I shift the quiet girl at the Silent Disco"
Felt great then and went to see

 And So I Watch You From Afar in Crawdaddy, a thrash metal band from Belfast who thrashed and wailed and screamed at the mic and didn't seem to have any songs with words. Their energy was infectious.

Off to the Comedy tent which was HUGE this year and also packed. Saw Collum McDonnell, a Cork comedian. Very funn. Followed by John Lynn. He's the Hobbit one.

Stopped in Mindfield , you could stay there all day. Saw the lovely Dermot Bolger interviewing Roddy Doyle 

 and the awesome Irvine Welsh, both of whom held the packed tent engrossed. An embarrassment of literary riches.

Went to the Science Gallery tent in Mindfield to watch Ignite - a great 2 hours of 5 minute presentations on everything from grass and chimps to Elvis to Everest BaseCamp. BP Fallon was inspiring on fame and belief

and 5Camp intrigued with a whirlwind tour of anime.

Saw the end of poet Colm Keegan's set at Stephen James Smith's ever popular, ever electric Glor Session in The Word tent.

Crystal Castles in the Electric Arena, thrashing experimental electronic music band from Toronto. The lead singer was a beautiful, gothy screaming girl in white tights. She flung herself across the stage so the knees were soon black.

There were 3 Crystal groups on - Castles, Fighters and Swing. It would not do to get them mixed up. Reports of Crystal Swing at This is Pop Baby were excellent however.

Off to another taster Poetry Divas reading as part of the lovely Caca Milis cabaret from Wexford.

Breezed back through The Word tent and saw the kick-ass Poetry Chicks.

and Casper, the coolest baby at the festival.

And Ardal O'Hanlon at the packed out comedy tent, very funny and accommodating to a demanding audience. Demanding in a Father Ted/My Lovely Horse way.
Caught some of Paul Brady on Crawdaddy, an excellent singer with a classy band and songs. Great atmosphere.

Then some of The Antlers on the Cosby Stage and indie rock band from Brooklyn who were an unexpected treat. As was the Mojito made by this painstakingly careful Spanish Bacardi guy.

Imelda May owned the main stage. She was fizzing and excited. Her parents were watching from the side and she had friends and relatives in the crowd so the whole atmosphere was sparkling. She has such a fantastic voice and presence on stage, everyone fell in love with her and didn't stop. We were all singing along and dancing like mad things. Rock-a-Billy's never been so hot.

Wood Fired Pizza for dinner as recommended by the really lovely John McKenna who enthused about the food stalls at the Bridgestone stand.
had a look at the Silent Disco, queue a mile long to dance in silence with headphone. Bizarre.
Then to Mindfield. The Book Boutique on The Word stage, which was very cool.
Leviathan to see The Brad Pitt Light Orchestra who were great. Followed by my hero, Jinx Lennon who had an enthusiastic following and a spirited set.

Gil Scott Heron in Crawdaddy was so ultimately cool. He did rousing blues and looked amazingly sexy for a man of 70 plus. Great brass too.

Finishing off back at Body and Soul for the night. Fabulous fire dancers and some stoned guy who wanted to run away with me. Flattering but not so very tempting. He smelled of festival.