Electric Picnic Live Review - James Vincent McMorrow

Even James Vincent McMorrow couldn’t believe the crowd at the Electric Arena last night, which he didn’t hesitate to express. “I’m very, very, very, very nervous,” he laughed early on.

Keeping his speech in units of four, his outlook changed as the set got going; “I’m really, really, really, really vibed right now,” he announced to a screaming JVM army, while delivering one of the most exciting and memorable shows of the weekend.

The performance started with ‘Breaking Hearts,’ and then dipped into the singer songwriter’s latest album, 2014’s Post Tropical, with ‘Glacier’ being pick of the bunch. He didn’t just play the new stuff, though. To the delight of the Electric Arena attendees, he rolled out his hit breakthrough cover of ‘Higher Love,’ but not before issuing a teasing preamble; “I keep saying I’m never going to play this song again, but...”

‘Cavalier’ rounded off a stunning hour that benefited hugely from a cameo by EP serial-performers, the superb Booka Brass Band. The Dublin-based brass ensemble accompanied JVM after the first few songs and filled out the sound impeccably.

To borrow a page from the James Vincent McMorrow Phraseology Guide, it was really, really, really, really good.