Live Report- Cian Ducrot at Electric Picnic

The Friday hangovers at Electric Picnic were blasted out of the water with a confident and soulful afternoon set courtesy of rising Corkonian Cian Ducrot.

Gaining massive traction on apps like Tik Tok, Ducrot has become known for his flash-mobs, during which the singer and a backing choir surprise passers by with renditions of songs. 

An original and highly successful guerrilla marketing tactic, he has now amassed over 4.5m followers on the platform.

The growing prevalence of viral clout chasing has perhaps had its drawbacks, creating swarms of one-hit-wonders who often fail to leave much of an impression with subsequent releases and live performances. 

Photo: Liam Murphy

Ducrot so far has showed no such signs of struggling to adapt to the real world.

The Passage West native has skyrocketed himself to the top if the Irish charts this year, his debut album Victory soaring straight to number 1.

Strolling into frame with a rockstar swagger and microphone already in hand, one wouldn’t have thought that this was his first rodeo on the hallowed main Stage in Stradbally Hall.

Starting off with the title track from his recent LP, he needn’t have strained a vocal cord as Ducrot’s growing army of dedicated fans sang along word-for-word. 

Nonetheless, Ducrot’s pipes were flawless throughout the set. 

The song was followed up by a performance of his debut single ‘Aftertaste’,  which he described as being a “shit” number.

The tune was anything but, featuring a badass guitar solo courtesy of music-man Peter Wilson.

Photo: Liam Murphy

Self-deprecation and humbleness were persistent themes throughout the set- Ducrot constantly thanked his audience with a genuine sense of indebtedness.

The love-fest was two-fold, as the singer’s ballads had audience members on shoulders and in tears. 

Ducrot also treated the thousands watching with a flute solo on ‘Endless Nights’ and a rap verse on ‘People’ (a Libanca song on which he features) , showcasing that beneath the pop superstar is a real musician’s musician. 

The 45-minutes-or-so spectacle was inevitably capped off with the gargantuan ‘I’ll Be Waiting’,  this time sung to tens of thousands of picnickers- as opposed to the Luas featured in Ducrot’s viral videos. 

Not a bad promotion.