I descended upon the Main Arena amidst a flurry of flying pints and sea of smiling faces, basking in the afternoon sun and rearing to see Dundalk's finest The Mary Wallopers.

Following the widespread success of their recent album, Irish Rock N Roll, which dropped in October 2023, anticipations were high. But the crowd were in safe hands once the Wallopers took the Main Stage, the band were in their natural state, riling up the crowd like tomorrow wouldn't come.

The Dundalk outfit kicked things off with 'The Holy Ground', a rollicking shanty penned about a place in Cobh, Co. Cork where sailors would stop off on long voyages across the Atlantic. With its texturally rich trad airs, the tune boasts a walloping celebration of the jolly, and perhaps reckless, abandonment of shore leave.

The Mary Wallopers at Electric Picnic. 08/17/24. Copyright Gary Ibbotson

After years of playing various stages around the Picnic, the band remarked on the surreal feeling of finally getting to take the festival's biggest stage. Much like surviving video game levels on pure luck, now they're at the biggest quest of their career. "We're at the big hard mission where we die," singer-guitarist Andrew Hendy weighed in.

After four songs, Andrew introduced his fashionably late brother Charles, who bolted on stage. With the band all together, the elder Hendy bursted into a brilliant cover of The Dubliners' famous 'Building Up and Tearing England Down'.

The Mary Wallopers at Electric Picnic. 08/17/24. Copyright Gary Ibbotson

“I’m going to do a song from County Cork for yiz,” Charles said, picking up his acoustic guitar. “I don’t mean to offend all the Dubs, but they say it’s the real capital.” From there, he launched into the propulsive trad banger, The Blarney Stone'. Thousands danced around in rings, some even breaking into céilí: "There's a Blarney Stone in Kerry, there's a Blarney Stone in Clare / There's a Blarney Stone in Wicklow and there's plenty in Kildare".

“This is an anti-war song,” Seán McKenna prefaced before 'Lots Of Toy Soldiers'. “I’d like to take this chance to say to you all: Free Palestine!”

The Mary Wallopers at Electric Picnic. 08/17/24. Copyright Gary Ibbotson

With the crowd’s energy at a fever pitch, the rambunctious folk sextet played Hamish Imlach’s 'Cod Liver Oil and the Orange Juice', followed by 'Eileen Óg'. Palestine By the end everyone in the crowd was up and dancing as the band closed with a supernova finale rendition of 'All For Me Grog'.