The cheers leading up to Steve Lacy’s performance in the Electric Arena were nearly deafening.

He delivered a killer set of glossy tracks as part of a high-energy, tightly-packed performance that only helped cement his status as one of the most anticipated performers at the festival this weekend.

The set was impressively polished, including a group of musicians with braids to match Lacy’s and three backup singers/dancers dressed in all-black spandex suits. It was as much of a production as it was a spectacle, going above and beyond what befits a performance with as high a billing as Lacy had this evening, ending just fifteen minutes before Billie Eilish’s headlining act.

Abigail Ring.

He arrived onstage with his unmissable stage look, a long padded trench coat and futuristic, bug-eyed glasses making him look a bit like a cartoon villain. With no upcoming tour dates yet on the horizon, he announced that Stradbally was witnessing history as this would be his last show as the character he created.

“This is my last show with these glasses.”

Lacy has been called one of the most talented musicians in the business today, and the reasons for that were unmistakable. Along with a killer voice that switched between a delicate but strong head voice and a soaring falsetto, he absolutely ripped on the guitar. At multiple points, the songs morphed into guitar-laden breakdowns as Lacy metaphorically set the roof on fire with his guitar solos. He was in control of the crowd, and he knew it: “Make some noise!” he shouted, and the crowd did just that. “Yeah, I fuck with you.”

Abigail Ring.

He ended his set with the viral ‘Bad Habit’, a song that sparked some controversy last year: at a live show, he had pointed out that an entire crowd only knew the fifteen-second hook that blew up on TikTok, calling it “insane” that people would go to an entire concert just for a snippet they knew. I was expecting this set to follow that route, given that it’s a festival set, but I was happily proven wrong.

The crowds sang along to every word, from the opener ‘Static’ to ‘N Side’ and ‘Infrunami’. The end of an era, he left his mark on the weekend, and it's incredibly exciting to think about what musical plans he has in store.

Stay tuned for more live reports, photos and all things Electric Picnic, live from Stradbally.