Just one of the too-many-to-mention highlights at this year’s Picnic will undoubtedly be an appearance by South London electro-pop alchemists Hot Chip, who return after last year’s triumph at the Stradbally site.
Their second album The Warning, released earlier this year, showcased a staggeringly broad range of influences incorporating everything from classic pop, '90s rave to folk and indie. According to Al Doyle (synth player and guitarist), performing at open-air festivals has become grist to their mill these days. “It’s all we’ve been doing lately,” he says. “The album was finished in July last year and we’ve been on the road pretty much ever since. I think we’re getting a bit of a name for ourselves as a live band. We’re certainly getting better at big outdoor events. It’s always hard for a band like us trapped behind our keyboards but we’re stretching out and Alexis [Taylor] will go out in the front and work the crowd.
“We’ve been lucky with the weather so far,” he adds. “In fact we’ve never had to play outdoors in the rain though we did a strange gig in Portugal which was so incredibly hot that our sweat was dripping into the keyboards and things started go wrong. But I think that’s why it’s quite good outdoors, you can get a really raw performance.”
Hot Chip have recently played at the Lollapalooza Festival in Chicago and have just returned from festival in Sweden playing with The Raconteurs and Artic Monkeys “Lollapalooza isn’t like it was in the old days. It’s much more corporate than it used to be and it’s at one site rather than touring but the Swedish festival was really nice,” Doyle enthuses. “They staggered the bands which means you don’t miss the acts you want to see. I’m not crazy about the tendency to have so many bands on at the same time at festivals. But it’s the way things are going and I suppose promoters feel they want to catch the widest audience possible.
“The Electric Picnic is great for just walking around and checking out bands. Kraftwerk were the highlight for me last year, though I’d seen them before. This year I’m planning to catch the Pet Shop Boys who are on the same day as us. We saw them in Berlin and it was a very lavish show, with dancers. I presume it’ll be the same show but I’d like to see it again as the sound system wasn’t great that night.”