Live at Electric Picnic: Saturday

For your correspondent, day two of Electric Picnic commences with back-to-back interviews in the Hot Press Chatroom, where Elbow – who chatted outside with fellow guests The Stunning, whom they’d met at a previous festival – and Oppenheimer prove stellar guests. Chatroom duties completed, it’s time for a wander.
The first act to really catch the attention are garage-minimalists The Kills. Alison Mosshart and Jamie Hince turned in a vintage performance at the Picnic three years ago, and they’re also on top form in 2008. Though between-song banter is non-existent, the duo have incredible chemistry and stage presence. With their no-frills guitars-and-drum-machine set-up, Mosshart and Hince deliver a brilliantly intense set of wailing lo-fi rock.
However, they also know how to vary the dynamics with finesse. One track features piercing guitar riffs coiled around slow-building, ominous beats, whilst the electro-death rattle of ‘Kissy Kissy’ – perhaps the highlight of the set – sees both members start out on opposite sides of the stage, before they meet in the centre and sing into facing mics, in a tone pitched somewhere between love and hate. They close a hugely impressive set with a tune built around a hypnotic, seductive groove, over which Hince layers wave after wave of distorted guitar.
Needing respite after such frantic rock action, I retire to the tranquil surroundings of the Zen garden in the Body & Soul area. I wander into a teepee to buy a crepe and find the gentleman behind the counter chatting away to a friend in a leprechaun outfit. Feeling suitably replenished, I take my leave and head for the oxymoronic inferno that is the Little Big Tent.
This being the Picnic, the trip from one stage to another is always likely to yield a celebrity encounter of some description, and I duly spot Aiden Gillen of The Wire fame walking through the Main Stage area. Fittingly, bearing in mind The Wire’s setting in Baltimore, I’m on my way to watch an artist based in that city, namely Casiocore experimentalist Dan Deacon. Playing as usual on the floor, or to be more accurate grass, the Deac certainly makes his presence felt with a set of pulverising electro.
There’s also plenty of audience participation, with Deacon encouraging sections of the crowd to, first, run around in a circle (a plan swiftly abandoned due to logistical difficulties), and then form a quasi guard of honour around the perimeter of the tent for others to dance through. A highly enjoyable performance!
Over at the Electric Arena, anticipation is at fever pitch for the appearance of Grace Jones. Due to technical difficulties, the singer is 20 minutes late taking to the stage (which leads to some impatience amongst the crowd), but her performance proves well worth the wait. Opening with her reggae-fied version of Iggy’s ‘Nightclubbing’, she puts paid to any lingering technical problems before the second song with the peremptory announcement, “turn up the fucking monitors.”
Sound issues having been dealt with, Ms. Jones turns in a visually and musically exquisite set. Given that the singer is practically a one-woman fashion line, there are some stunning costumes including a 21st century white witch ensemble, and plenty of Orbital-like illuminated headgear. Best of all is a monstrously funky version of the classic ‘Pull Up To The Bumper’, during which Jones shakes her derriere as the crowd singalong, thus providing us with one of the highlights of the weekend.
Back in the Little Big Tent, legendary electro pioneer Silver Apples is stationed at his keyboard, mixing trancey rhythms with all manner of electro beeps and squeals. It’s superb stuff, and after delivering a Clockwork Orange-style synthesised version of ‘Ode To Joy’, Simeon departs to a rousing ovation. Later on, after taking in Franz Ferdinand’s Main Stage performance, we return once again to the Little Big Tent, this time to catch Crystal Castles.
Performing with a drummer, Ethan Kath and Alice Glass provide us with a healthy dose of electro pandemonium. Whilst Kath – hidden behind his keyboards and wearing, as always, a dark hoody – summons a non-stop hailstorm of punishing beats, Glass prowls around the stage, shrieking and screaming into her microphone. It’s terrifically exciting, and amply illuminates just why Crystal Castles are one of the buzz bands of 2008.
After visiting the Arcadia Tower and the Asylum, I catch some of A-Trak’s set. Currently Kanye West’s tour DJ, the Montreal man puts on a stunning display of turntable wizardry. It makes for an excellent finish to a brilliant day.

Franz Ferdinand
Main Stage
With their third album set to be released early next year, it was always going to be intriguing to see how Franz Ferdinand’s new material was shaping up. There are plenty of fresh tunes sprinkled throughout the set, although when I arrive, the group are kicking out ‘Do You Want To’, which still sounds as fantastic as it did upon its release three years ago.
The new songs have plenty of danceable rhythms and superb melodies, but one track in particular struck this writer as an absolute gem. Titled ‘Katherine, Kiss Me’, it features a funky groove and memorable chorus (“You girls never know how you make a boy feel”), suggesting that Franz have another monster hit on their hands. The group are in characteristically buoyant mood, with Alex making reference to the excellent vibe at the festival (indeed, he and his bandmates are later spotted soaking up the atmosphere in the Body and Soul area).
Predictably, the hits from the band’s first album go down a storm, none more so than the perennially brilliant ‘Take Me Out’, while the swaggering groove of ‘40’ is as infectiously catchy as ever. Overall, a superb performance by one of the finest rock bands of the decade.
Paul Nolan