Picnic Treats: ten acts you have to see

Pulp
(Sunday) A decade-long break has been excruciating for fans of these ‘90s Britpop giants, but witnessing a dynamite Glastonbury show unfold across their telly boxes in June was enough to tide devotees over until Pulp’s Irish return. “The shows will involve all the original members of the band,” publicity personnel confirmed shortly after the reunion was announced, “and they will play songs from all periods of their career. Yes, that means they’ll be playing your favourites.” From the murky non-charting records of their independent days, to mega hits ‘Common People’, ‘Something Changed’ and ‘Do You Remember The First Time?’, Pulp will be leaving no musical stone unturned. The inimitable Jarvis Cocker is likely to have a few frontmanly shapes to throw too – after feigning wiping his behind with a copy of the since-extinct News Of The World at T in The Park, there’s no telling what kind of mischief he’ll bring to Stradbally Estate.

The Drums
(Saturday) It may only be 14 months since The Drums gave us our most treasured performance of Oxegen 2010, but that’s a long time in the life of a group of scintillating swoon rockers. In the interim, they’ve waved goodbye to a band member (guitarist Adam Kessler called it quits in November 2010, leaving other members “devastated”) and after nearly calling the whole thing off, written a whole new album, which we’re bound to get a taste of at the Picnic. The woozy nostalgia-filled Drums sound is hardly cutting-edge, and as for singer Jonathan Pierce’s moves, well, you’ve seen them all before. In the mirror. In your mum’s house. In 1983. Flailing about the stage like your average hairbrush-wielding, booty-shaking bedroom dancer, the Brooklyn lad is an unstoppable ball of energy, which instantly rubs off on the crowd he’s crooning to. Not to be missed.

The Family Stone
(Sunday) If there’s one thing we can always count on Leccy Piccy to deliver, it’s a big fat hunk of nostalgia and 2011 will be no different. The sabbath set by The Family Stone is one of the festival’s most anticipated performances, which we reckon has a little something to do with their 45-year history and back catalogue of legendary grooves. Helmed by Sly And The Family Stone founding members Jerry Martini and Cynthia Robinson, the septet is the only band that can carry the torch for the reclusive Sly. With Ireland still dizzy from Prince’s Malahide Castle visit, this is the perfect time to crack out classic funk masterstrokes ‘Hot Fun In The Summertime’, ‘Family Affair’ and ‘Everyday People’ (which his aforementioned purpleness has taken to covering in shows across Europe and the United States.) Come early, sing loud and bring both of your left feet.

PJ Harvey
(Friday) After the critical killing she made with seventh album White Chalk, PJ Harvey could easily have opted for a few years off, but the idea of taking it easy doesn’t seem to register with our Polly Jean. In the intervening years, the Mercury Prize winner scored a Broadway play, perfected the use of the autoharp and arguably created the album of her career. The triumphant Let England Shake gets its Irish live debut at Stradbally Estate on September 2, and for Harvey fans, it can’t come soon enough. Reports from shows across the water suggest we’re in for a extraordinary performance – solemn, captivating and befitting of the blood-drenched subject matter of her remarkable eighth record.

Sinéad O’Connor
(Friday) The controversial queen of Irish rock may never be far from the headlines, her latest appearance arising from a very funny and self-deprecatory statment, posted on her website, to the effect that she is currently looking rather determinedly for a man! However, it is her wonderful voice and remarkable music that we are all looking forward to with baited breath, in advance of her appearance at Electric Picnic 2011. 20 years on, the lyrics of songs like ‘Feel So Different,’ ‘I Do Not Want What I Have Not Got’ and ‘Three Babies’ are as poignant as ever and even the shakiest of shaky iPhone clips confirms that the Dubliner is in remarkable voice of late. She moved crowds in Moscow, Bulgaria and Manchester this summer with heartfelt renditions of ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’. Now she is set to do the same thing on home turf. Long may she flourish...

Flying Lotus
(Saturday) We’ve waited five long years for electronic wunderkind Steven Ellison AKA Juno Leed AKA Flying Lotus to hit Irish shores and three head-spinning albums of genre-hopping musical sorcery have only added to the anticipation. As well as charming Thom Yorke and Lil Wayne with his experimental beats, Ellison has a penchant for a bizarre music video (the raunchy film that accompanies ‘Parisian Goldfish’ was deemed too hot for YouTube) and even turned director this year, creating shorts for Bilal and Erykah Badu. There’s really no predicting a FlyLo setlist, especially now that the LA man has promised us a fourth record next year, but whatever knobs he plans on twiddling in Stradbally, a date with an undisputed visionary and straight-up game-changer sounds good to us.

Santigold
(Friday) It may have something to do with her shapeshifting wardrobe (hey, every festival needs a bit of sparkle!) but Philadelphia dubtronica maven Santigold is an easy lass to love – think a club-hopping reincarnation of Bjork or MIA without the exhausting incessant controversy. Since the release of her infectious debut album, Santi White has featured on the Beastie Boys’ Hot Sauce Committee Part Two, The Lonely Island’s Turtleneck & Chain and a perplexing collaboration with Lykke Li and Kanye West. Now a member of Jay-Z’s Roc Nation (sounds like the makings of one fabulous birthday party to me), Santi is due to drop her second album before the year is out, featuring contributions from TV On The Radio guitarist Dave Sitek and Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner. In the meantime, tunes from her self-titled debut, including ‘Say Aha’, ‘Creator’ and ‘LES Artistes’ (believe me, you know them) will do just nicely, thank you.

James Blake
(Saturday) Making the shortlist of the Beeb’s Sound Of 2011 poll is just one of a hundred big-ups bestowed on baby-faced electro soulster James Blake over the past 12 months. The 22 year-old kept voguish musos guessing in 2010 with three excellent, but hugely varied EPs – the spooky The Bells Sketch, the throbbing Klavierwerke and the rather genius CMYK, which saw Blake work his sampling magic on R&B divas like Kelis, Aaliyah and Brandy. Even his jarring self-titled debut album, which is guaranteed to top end of year lists from here to Chattanooga, has yet to make Blake a household name. The London lad’s first Irish show sold out in mere minutes – in fact, dozens of music-lovers stalked around Wexford St. hoping to blag their way indoors, and with good reason. Songs from his bumping, grinding, cooing, hissing first LP sounded beautiful under the Whelan’s roof, but Hot Press couldn’t help but hope for something more. A bigger stage, a wider audience and thicker air for Blake’s soulful croon to cut through.

Everything Everything (Sunday) Seasoned mud-dwellers will tell you that the key to a terrific festival is to see one act who you’ve never heard of, and this is where experimental pop rogues Everything Everything come in. While the art rock foursome are fairly well-known in indie circles, they make their Stradbally debut without the benefit of Pulp’s reputation or Blake’s buzz. What they do have is hook-laden melodies, African-inspired percussion and head-spinning vocal harmonies aplenty. The risk-takers have just one album behind them, 2010’s Man Alive which has already been shortlisted for the 2011 Barclaycard Mercury Prize, alongside Ms. Harvey and Mr. Blake. With song titles like ‘My Kz, Ur Bf’ and ‘Suffragette Suffragette’, you’d be right to assume Everything Everything’s lyrics will leave you tongue-tied, but that’s not going to stop several hundred punters from matching all that exploratory rock with a defiant singsong.

The Cast Of Cheers
(Sunday) Since last we wrote about spazz-happy rockers The Cast Of Cheers, Dublin’s favourite live force has relocated to London, where they’re currently squirreled away working on tracks for their second album. We don’t have to tell you that Messrs. Adams, Adams, Curran and Higgins broke the mould with their debut album Chariot, the first ever download-only record to be nominated for the prestigious Choice Music Prize, but in case you haven’t heard talk of their breakneck live shows, we’ll tell you this much – they’re reliably thrilling. New track ‘Human Elevator’ has been sitting pretty alongside seasoned numbers ‘Goose’ and ‘I Am Lion’ on recent set-lists, so there’s a good chance a handful of new tunes will make their way into their Sunday show. Electric Picnic will be your last chance to see them before they loop and holler their way into the hearts of musos in the UK and elsewhere, so mark our words – anything less than front and centre simply won’t do.