Live Review: Tame Impala dazzle crowds on Main Stage at Electric Picnic 2022

It was Tame Impala who wound up Saturday night on the Main Stage with an audio-visual spectacle of truly dazzling proportions. Easily one of the most anticipated headliners at Electric Picnic 2022, the Australian multi-instrumentalist served a delightful ending to the second day of festivities.

Spot, strobe and flashing lights were all in use, and backdrop is a mixture of album graphics, desert and ocean scenes and ManRay-style talking lips. The big screens too, featured heavily filtered and distorted footage of the band. The entire effect was intensely psychedelic, perfect for dancing to as the rain held off.

Tame Impala at Electric Picnic 2022 copyright Miguel Ruiz

The set list was your typical festival mix, pulling songs together from all four albums. A few songs suffered extra distortion due to the nature of festival set ups no doubt, but 'Borderline', 'Breathe Deeper', 'Apocalypse Dreams' and 'Gossip' all had their turn and were all well received. 'Elephant' of course was a huge hit, and 'Let It Happen' went down a storm, as he kept us teetering on the edge then threw in the drop like it was an EDM concert (cue the confetti cannons).

They wound us down with an extended version of Innerspeak's 'Runway, Houses, City, Clouds', before coming back out for the encore we'd all been waiting for; 'The Less I Know The Better' before finally finishing on 'New Person, Same Old Mistakes'. Despite feeling a little distant (the level of effects on the big screens made it seem at times that we were watching a recording), Tame Impala still delivered a truly enjoyable and dance-able end to day two here at Electric Picnic.

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