Live Report: Babyrat bop on despite the rain at Electric Picnic

After a bit of soundcheck and warm-up to an already sizeable crowd, gathered for their 4pm Salty Dog set, Cork quintet Babyrat blow onto the stage out of a huddle of crashing guitars and thumping drums

Singer Zoe leads them straight into their signature self-proclaimed ‘bitch-pop’ sound, stalking and stomping across the stage in the manner of all great riot gurl frontwomen before her, wearing check shorts and a Sid and Nancy tee.

Crowds on their way into the main arena stop and stare as Babyrat's infectious pop-punk riffs crash out over the campsite route. Plenty of fans stick around to hear more.

"Who was here last night?" Zoe asks the crowd, to a raucous cheer.

"Who's hungover?" she shouts, to an even bigger cheer.

Their is their first year at Electric Picnic – and this Salty Dog set is the first of three Babyrat are scheduled to play across the weekend – in addition to a Hot Press Chat Room appearance – and even if they are 'hungover' from last night, these guys play like a band with nowhere else they'd rather be.

'Anybody Else But You' gets a sing-and-clap-along response from the crowd, and there is an impressive number of proper fans for a band that have yet to put out an official release.

It's further evidenced by the enthusiastic reaction when Zoe asks who already knows the chorus to 'I'm So Babyrat', and by the impressive singing along it again elicits.

These young Cork rockers are chatting and joking the whole time, working the crowd like old hands in their hour-long set.

A sudden shower doesn't do much to dislodge or discourage the crowd, and as Zoe notes, "We're already wet, we should just embrace it!" Good thinking!

She thanks the crowd as they gear up for their last song. "If you just came for 'Bambino' thats cool; if you came in out of the rain thats cool too; we've been Babyrat and so have you!"

Don't worry if you missed this set, Babyrat are due to play Fish Town on Saturday at 6:30pm, and at Rockshore Live on Sunday afternoon, 3:15pm.

You can also catch a chat with the band at the Hot Press Chat Room in the Mindfield Arena, on Saturday at 1.30pm. It's one that's surely not to be missed!

You can find all of the Hot Press coverage from the entire Electric Picnic 2026 weekend right here.