Festival News: Electric Picnic 2012 Line-Up Announced.
Wheee, this is the big one, lads! Electric Picnic, the musical extravaganza, the beer-soaked behemoth, the weekend the whole country flows into a hollow in Laois for mud, sunburn, and vigorous boshing. We. Can’t. Wait.
The line-up has just been announced and it’s as diverse as Ashley Banjo’s freestyle. At Culch, we’re getting the party started early with our own Lekky Pikky Playlist, so crank up the volume (or stick the headphones in if you’re at the office) and do the futhermucking Carlton. Full playlist and useless facts about every headliner after the jump. Ah do. Jump. Jump or we’ll push you.
This year there’s a line-up to sate air-punchers and chin-strokers alike. It’s likely that our playlist will stoke your curiosity, so as promised, we’ve put together a couple of useful facts about each of this year’s cavalcade of legends and trendsetters, so you can pretend to be incredibly well-versed when your troupe are discussing whether or not to boutique it this year.
- Headliners The Cure have been around since 1976. Frontman Robert Smith has been the only constant member, and he once saved South Park from Barbra Streisand.
- Sigur Rós get their name from Jonsi’s little sister, Sigurrós. Aww.
- Elbow are called Elbow because “elbow” is the most sensuous word in the English language. According to The Singing Detective tv series, anyway. You try saying Elbow in a Manc accent! Daft, isn’t it?
- Grizzly Bear are Jonny Greenwood’s favourite band (that he’s not in, presumably).
- Orbital broke up in 2005 and got back together again in 2009. We hope it wasn’t awkward for them, because they’re brothers. Their song “The Girl With The Sun In Her Head” was recorded using only solar power. Wow.
- Christy Moore sings with his eyes closed because he’s written the lyrics on the inside of his eyelids.
- Jazzy hip-hop legends The Roots are the in-house band for Late Night With Jimmy Fallon. When Michele Bachmann was a guest, they played her in with a snippet from Fishbone’s 1985 song, “Lying Ass Bitch”.
- Hot Chip‘s Alexis Taylor shares his name with an American “adult” model.
- In a recent poll, 97% of Irish people said that it didn’t matter how many Oscars or Simpsons episodes he had under his belt, Glen Hansard would always be Outspan Foster to them.
- The XX went to the same school as Hot Chip.
- Metronomy‘s Joseph Mount says girlfriends kill bands, so don’t bring your girlfriend to see any bands you like this year. Women are toxic. A man called Mount would know these things.
- The Horrors‘ favourite cocktails are tequila-based.
- US rapper Azealia Banks topped NME’s “Cool List” for 2011. She says she doesn’t “live on other people’s terms”. Ooh, get her.
- Roots Manuva‘s real name is Rodney and his mam and dad are from a place in Jamaica called Banana Hole.
- Bell X1 are from Kildare but we still love them. Frontman Paul used to be the drummer, until Damien Rice left in a huff over an argument abut recycling.
- Staff Benda Bilili are Congolese and live in a zoo. This makes them far cooler than Azealia Banks.
- Milagres are from New York. Frontman Kyle wrote many of the songs on debut album Glowing Mouth flat on his back, which he’d banjaxed mountain climbing.
- Ed Sheeran‘s favourite drink is Robinson’s Fruit and Barley.
- Alabama Shakes have a guitarist called Heath Fogg. Heath Fogg! Class.
- Cranes‘ frontwoman Alison Shaw has a very interesting voice. One reviewer described it as “a small child singing lullabies at the bottom of the well”.
- Reggae legend Little Roy‘s first number one was all the way back in 1969. He’s recently done an album of Nirvana covers.
- Dance music demi-god John Digweed‘s brother George has been World Clay Shooting Champion 19 times.
- Sunny Irish pop dynamos Land Lovers have an empty widget box on their website. If you have any ideas for appropriate widgets they might like to use, drop them a line.
- Baxter Dury is Ian Dury’s son. His own son is called Kosmo. Probably not after the magazine.
- Jonathan Wilson once lived across the road from Errol Flynn’s old house.
- There’s a hockey team called the Orlando Solar Bears. Our own Solar Bears had no idea.
- Gorgeous Malian songstress Fatoumata Diawara was an actress before she took up the guitar and realised she was only mighty at it.
- Chicago singer-songwriter Willis Earl Beal is the next big thing. He used to stick fliers up around the city telling people to phone him and he’d sing to them. Someone once phoned him for a song whilst he was on the toilet.
- Folktronic six-piece Lanterns On The Lake have been called “the anti Geordie Shore” by The Guardian, because they sound lovely.
Handy, eh? Now, party.
Back to practical news, favourite diversions Body and Soul, Mindfield and the Salty Dog will return, along with the Comedy Tent, the Circus and the greatest pig-out paradise in Ireland, the Theatre of Food, which promises wine-tastings, pop-up dining, and panel discussions on all things gastro-porn. The Soul Kids area will provide magic and mayhem for the smallies – and I still say they absolutely make the festival for me – and chilling customers can find “the spirit of Jamaica” in Trenchtown, tucked away in the woods. Trenchtown? That’s where you’ll be finding half of Cork, I’ll bet.
And once again, should you choose to pay for your ticket with your nutcrackin’ thighs, you can join 2 Wheels’ “Tour de Picnic”, which has raised over €550,000 in the past three years for Temple Street Children’s Hospital. Registration is now open – enquiries to [email protected] or call on 01 218 7972.
About the Author
Lisa McInerney That cranky young wan from award-winning blog, Arse End Of Ireland, Lisa’s also noted for her dedication to cobbling together unrelated imprecations to make new and bemusing insults, mostly because she’s not eloquent enough to otherwise explain her deep-seated terror of genre fiction and Fianna Fail. In 2006, The Irish Times called her “… the most talented writer at work in Ireland today”, and her mam still can’t understand why this is better than being the new Marian Keyes. Which it totally is. Alright? Website Twitter: @SwearyLady Facebook.com/sweary Last FM: LeislVonTrapp
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