- Music
- 31 Aug 14
An ebullient, cancer free Nile Rodgers turns Stradbally into Studio 54.
After midnight at Electric Picnic's Main Stage and it's time to freak out. Following Portishead's rewarding but challenging-for-some set, there is a clear craving for a good old fashioned dancing as we entered the wee hours.
Chic are on hand to duly oblige. We know the deal at this stage: post Daft Punk-assisted renaissance, Nile Rodgers has been eager to reclaim all the hits he's penned over the years (a mind-boggling amount), meaning you get a greatest hits set that is practically unparalleled in pop in 2014.
As ever, Rodgers' trademark funky licks steal the show, but a good percentage of the joy comes from watching the crowd as their eyes get wider and wider and their roars of delight louder and louder with the arrival of each chart/dancefloor monster, a "he wrote this AS WELL?!" kind of deal.
So we not only get Chic classics such as 'Le Freak', but Sister Sledge's 'We Are Family', Diana Ross' 'I'm Coming Out', Madonna's 'Like A Prayer', Bowie's 'Let's Dance' and - clearly tired of waiting for Daft Punk to hit the road - a Chic-style version of 'Get Lucky', which effortlessly sits alongside those bona fide, bullet-proof classics.
The sublime, supremely powerful voice of Kimberly Davis adds heft and new emotion to the live versions.
Clad in white, Rodgers' is in flying form, sharing with the crowd that much of his verve this evening comes from the fact he's learnt he is now, thankfully, cancer free. Loving life, he stays on stage long after the on-stage dance invasion and Chic tunes have ended, as he soaks up the adoration to a recording of 'Give Life Back To Music'.
It's a fitting soundtrack to wrap up a triumphant set, as we watch Rodgers, revitalised by the music, having brought proper life to our late night Picnic party.