Laden down with too many clothes and not enough sunscreen, 80,000 people descended upon Stradbally for the annual summer blow-out that is Electric Picnic, with the spectre of Storm Erin threatening to batter Ireland, and the weekend along with it.
The line-up for Electric Picnic is always highly scrutinised and this year was no different with much excitement for contemporary chart-topping headliners Chappell Roan and Sam Fender paired against some scepticism regarding Fatboy Slim and veteran rockers Kings of Leon. Let’s face it, it’s a long time since either act’s sex or skank was setting the Irish charts on fire. An 18-year-old attending Electric Picnic was one when ‘Sex On Fire’ was a hit. How would they resonate with the mostly mid-twenties crowd? Only time would tell.
at Electric Picnic 2025. Photo by Owen Humphreys www.owen.ie
The eager assembled for quality early sets from the ever impressive Paddy Hanna, Limerick rockers Sweets and Lucy McWilliams, while over on the Salty Dog stage up-and-coming folk duo Dug illustrated why they are one of the most hotly tipped acts in the country right now with their up-tempo, devil may care, have at it brand of folk music attracting a sizeable crowd, something which is sure to have caught the attention of organisers. Fresh from opening for Dua Lipa, English breakthrough pop act Alessi Rose proved she’s ready for bigger stages with a vocally impressive and fun set of pop rock songs like ‘That Could Be Me’ and believable ballads like ‘Pretty World’ in the mould of Olivia Rodrigo. Safe to say, bigger things lie ahead.
The couture pop/melodic Americana stylings of Memoir of a Sparklemuffin star Suki Waterhouse proved very enticing on the 3 Music Stage with the retro ‘My Fun’, stomping ‘Supersad’ and velvety ‘OMG’ going down a storm with the young crowd and showcasing Waterhouse’s star-power, while a mid-set cover of ‘Don’t Look Back In Anger’ let her band to cut loose, no doubt winning over anybody still left on the fence. This was the kind of festival set that sells tickets to your next tour. Excellent stuff.
Suki Waterhouse at Electric Picnic 2025. Photo by Owen Humphreys www.owen.ie
Not since Michael D. Higgins was re-elected President with a record haul has the country voted so unanimously with their feet as almost every person attending Electric Picnic – punters and workers alike – descended towards the Main Stage for Chappell Roan as she attracted the largest crowd in the history of the festival. And it didn’t take long for her to prove that the hype is more than justified. Before she stepped on stage, the visuals set the tone for what was to follow – a spooky world set somewhere between ‘Thriller’ and ‘Bat Out of Hell’ in her own ghouly Castle Grayskull green set.
Chappell Roan, or Kayleigh Rose Amstutz as she’s known to her mammy, emerged onstage in a Sleepy Hollow-esque period dress, as did her incredibly tight all-female band who blasted through every song with pinpoint accuracy. The energy swelled as Roan bounced from ‘Super Graphic Ultra Modern Girl’ to ‘Naked In Manhattan’ to ‘After Midnight’ to the sexually explicit ‘Casual’ with ease early doors, her rich, silky vocals never less than thrillingly captivating.
‘HOTTOGO’ unleashed bedlam upon Stradbally as Ireland got down to its second favourite dance routine (Vote CMAT No.1) with children of all ages up on shoulders. An unexpected cover of Heart’s ‘Barracuda’ was a remarkably well dispatched detour, while ballads like ‘Picture You’, ‘California’ and ‘Coffee’ stripped away the bombast and showcased Roan’s stellar vocal chops. However, ‘Coffee’ became somewhat disconcerting when she started crying during the song.
She recomposed herself for a stellar one-two punch of 2024’s stand-alone single ‘Good Luck, Babe!’ and 80s tinged album highlight ‘My Kink Is Karma’. Of course, there was only ever going to be one option to close the set and ‘Pink Pony Club’ was every inch the hands in the air affair you’d expect it to be. Simply put, this was a masterclass performance from arguably the most important artist in the world right now.
Hozier at Electric Picnic 2025. Photo by Owen Humphreys www.owen.ie
The unenviable task of following the mic drop fell to Hozier, and while he tried his best he couldn’t match up to what we had just witnessed – we’re not sure is anybody could, to be honest. However, he delivered a fine performance with songs like ‘Too Sweet’, ‘Angel of Small Death And The Codeine Scene’ and ‘Francesca’ reminding those assembled that he isn’t up there by mistake, and he remains one of the finest Irish performers of his generation. Breakthrough hit ‘Take Me To Church’ remains as powerful in a live setting as the day you first heard it.
Confidence Man at Electric Picnic 2025. Photo by Owen Humphreys www.owen.ie
Those in search of something a little more upbeat made their way to see PhD-level party-starters Confidence Man unleash their brand of madcap mayhem and dance moves upon Stradbally. Barry Can’t Swim, meanwhile, delivered a stellar set in the Electric Arena, setting people well and truly up for the afterparty with his mix of live drums, keys and jazzy flourishes laced with love throughout his modern take on dance music, which was paired with excellent visuals throughout. We’d highly recommend spending some time with Barry Can’t Swim
Saturday
NOFUN! at Electric Picnic 2025. Photo by Owen Humphreys www.owen.ie
With next to everyone resembling a hungover Elmo GIF dodging showers on Saturday morning, the uptempo barrage to the senses that is NOFUN! is exactly what we needed to shake the cobwebs off and get back into it. The LA based alternative hiphop group, featuring live drums, bass and guitar and a plethora of rappers, delivered an unexpectedly fun set.
A non-stop swirl of movement onstage, each rapper brings their own unique flavour to proceedings. It’s infectious from the off; with ramshackle dance moves and set-pieces it feels like a cross between a rap show and a theatrical experience. Recent single ‘Outrageous’ is a standout, occupying the kind of soundscape Dublin’s KhakiKid has mastered over the last couple of years.
The elephant in the room is that one of the rappers is Levi Evans, son of The Edge, who is in attendance. How the world at large reacts to that fact may well determine how well Nofun! do long term, but based on this performance, Levi Evans more holds his own in this collective.
Kneecap at Electric Picnic 2025. Photo by Owen Humphreys www.owen.ie
It was around this time that unfounded rumours that Lewis Capaldi was performing with Sam Fender later that night started to circulate as he was seen watching Aaron Rowe from the side of the main stage. As the singer/songwriter’s set progressed, there was a noticeable increase in security in preparation for Belfast/Derry trio Kneecap’s impending performance. As the main arena swelled to over 50,000, it transformed into a sea of green jerseys and tricolour balaclavas with Irish and Palestinian flags also the order of the day, and apart from Chappell Roan, this was the only instance when anticipation was palpable throughout the weekend.
And the crowd went up with less encouragement than a Protestant bonfire in July, feasting on songs such as ‘Fine Art’ and ‘Better Way To Live’, even the guards could be seen bopping their heads to ‘Your Sniffer Dogs Are Shite’
“I understand that we are all here enjoying ourselves, but our brothers and sisters in Palestine are under tremendous fucking pressure right now,” notes Mo Chara, addressing the crowd. Later in the set they turn their ire towards the Irish government. “Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are causing a housing crisis and doing fuck all about Palestine. So fuck Micheál Martin,” before leading the crowd in a chant of “Fuck Orban” in reference to their 3-year ban from Hungary which they joke will be increased to 6 following the chanting.
Other highlights include new rave tinged single’ SAY?NARA’, while the final run of songs can only be described as utter carnage as a sea of bodies throws themselves around with abandon to ‘C.E.A.R.T.A’, H.O.O.D’, ‘Get Your Brits Out and the Kemi Badenock clapback ‘The Recap’. Kneecap certainly put themselves in the frame to be future headliners with this performance
We followed a healthy portion of the crowd over to the Electric Arena to sees up-and-coming Irish hiphop artist KhakiKid perform his biggest show to date in front of 8,000 fans. Buoyed by the success of recent single ‘Date Night’ and having shifted over a 1,000 tickets to his upcoming 3Olympia headline show on presale, it’s safe to say he was feeling in the zone in Stradbally, blowing bubbles into the crowd as he showcased his alternative approach to hip hop, running through tracks from his superb recent EP Moanbag. He followed this performance up with an absolutely rammed appearance at the Heineken House. ‘Don’t Touch The CDJ’, we’ve a real one on our hands here.
Sticking to the plan isn’t very rock n’roll, but when you’ve graduated from the James Brown finishing school like Nile Rodgers, it’s hard to knock it. Chic stick to their funky script even though you know exactly what’s gonna happen next, down to Rodgers between song banter – everyone knows you wrote those songs, dude. Why do you think we’re here? However, it doesn’t matter – the groves are timeless, the songs are fresh as the day they were born and the spirit of Nile Rodgers is undeniable. Chic are a 9 on a bad day. Go and see them at least once.
Following a 20 euro burger – where else are you gonna go? – we headed over to see the biggest band on the bill that most people have never heard of, Lord Huron, currently the 141st most popular act in the world on Spotify with mega hit ‘The Night We Met’ having amassed over 3.2 BILLION streams (for reference, the song with the most streams is ‘Blinding Lights’ with 5 billion). In other words, Lord Huron are fucking massive. They are also fucking good.
The American folk band occupy a space similar to Father John Misty, maintaining the soul of Americana with great care and affection whilst also pushing the boundaries of where it can mutate to. ‘The show commences shrouded in darkness with the pulsating Interpol-esque bass groove of ‘Who Laughs Last’, sadly minus a live appearances from Kristen Stewart who guests on the studio version. When the lights finally rise, front man Ben Schneider is found singing into an American style payphone. It’s a striking visual, his quiff recalling Elvis as it shakes.
‘Bag of Bones’ from the group’s new album The Cosmic Selector Vol. 1 is a thoroughly impressive mid-paced spacious affair, with Schneider looking like the heir apparent to Johnny Cash with an acoustic guitar in his hands. As the set roles on, we begin to wonder if Lord Huron have a bad song in them. ‘Secret of Life’ with its wiggly bassline and psychedelic desert undertones is mesmerising. When the aforementioned ‘The Night We Met’ arrives you can see Lord Huron just succumb to it and let the fans have their magical moment, and who can blame them? There’s no point fighting a phenomenon, but unlike most bands with a runaway hit, Lord Huron aren’t constrained by it because the rest of their material on tonight’s evidence is better than it.
Sam Fender at Electric Picnic 2025. Photo by Owen Humphreys www.owen.ie
Back on the Main Stage, expectations built for a special appearance from Lewis Capaldi during headline Sam Fender’s set – no such appearance arrived, with Fender instead opting to celebrate a long-serving member of his road crew by inviting him on stage to perform. Newcastle’s finest purveyor of heartland rock delivered a fine performance with enough hits and deep cuts to keep both hardcore fans and “go on then, impress me” casual attendees interested.
The Bruce Springsteen comparisons are more than justified with track like ‘People Watching’ delivering serious ‘Born in The USA’ energy complete with saxophone flourishes, but the influence of the likes of Tears For Fears are also apparent on those lighter moments throughout the set like ‘Crumbling Empire’. There’s no denying the power of songs like ‘Seventeen Going Under’ and ‘Hypersonic Missiles’. Fender certainly knows how to deliver a soaring chorus and he’s backed by a band that take it all too seriously in the best possible way, adding interesting flourishes to the songs. He marshals it all with the kind of casual aplomb Jimmy Nail would surely approve of.
Fatboy Slim at Electric Picnic 2025. Photo by Owen Humphreys www.owen.ie
After 40+ years in the music industry, there’s not many people better at getting a party started than Norman Cook, and he brought Stradbally to church with a stunning set as his most famous alter ego Fatboy Slim. Blessed with effortless cool, Cook goads the assembled crowd into a frenzy from behind his rave pulpit. The accompanying visuals are stunning throughout with well-known faces morphing into each other on screen twinned with an excellent light show.
‘Right Here Right Now’ is the perfect palette cleanser as Cook prepared to take the crowd on a wild uptempo journey through his greatest hits and favourite techno acid house tracks, and what a journey it was. The fact that these songs mostly from the previous century still resonate so vividly in 2025 is testament to Cook’s innate understanding of music. Some might say he’s just a DJ. He is in his hoop.
A proposed secret set at The Salty Dog had to be abandoned due to safety concerns surrounding the size of the crowd. That’s right, Fatboy Slim’s so good people wanted to see him twice in the same night. Now that’s what we call a headliner.
Sunday
Dermot Kennedy with The Cranberries and the RTE Orchestra at Electric Picnic 2025. Photo by Owen Humphreys www.owen.ie
We pulled ourselves out of the primordial soup that is the campsite – no fancy corporate glamping for us – and made our way to the main stage for one of the more intriguing prospects of the weekend The Canberries + a special guest singer who transpired to be Dermot Kennedy. And it was an inspired selection, for this wasn’t a mere tribute show that rolled out one guest per song it and it was all the better experience for it. Think Nirvana, fronted by St. Vincent, like Kurt you can’t replace Dolores so why even bother trying? Clearly a big fan of The Cranberries, Dermot Kennedy knocked it out of the park, delivering songs like ‘Linger’ and ‘When You’re Gone’ with crushing anguish and ‘Zombie’ with considerable gusto. He was clearly having a great time and his energy fed into the crowd who gladly reciprocated. Some gatekeepers have expressed their disappointment that the Hogan’s chose a man to replace Dolores but they didn’t replace her they got the best singer they could find to fill in for her in her absence. Game, as they say, recognises game. And if one of the most successful Irish singers of the 21st century isn’t good enough for you that sounds more like a you problem than a Cranberries problem.
Over on the Electric Arena Ireland’s best contemporary pop-star Biig Piig performed songs from her irrepressible debut ’11:11′ – one of the best Irish albums of 2025 – with the pulsating ‘4AM’ a highlight. Ivor Novello award-winner Orla Gartland, meanwhile, showcased why she is one of our greatest exports with a set mostly drawn from her exceptional album Everybody Needs A Hero, ‘Kiss Your Face Forever’ is a fuzzed up snapshot of new love, while ‘Backseat Driver’ highlights her knck for delivery glossy melodic hooks. She breaks from the norm opting to cover Chappell Roan’s ‘Red Wine Supernova’, rather than Oasis which was the go to set filler over the weekend. This was a set that reminded us just how lucky we are to have artists like Orla Gartland flying the flag for Ireland.
David Gray’s longstanding love-affair with Ireland continued as he took to the Main Stage, catapulting back to a time when there were more 1.3 copies of ‘White Ladder’ to every home in the country – our collective appetite for songs from the biggest selling album of all-time in Ireland should never be doubted, and boy does Gray know how to sell them to us all over again. Sail Away, This Year’s Love, and Babylon are delivered impeccably. What more can you ask for from a midway set on a Sunday at a festival than a gentle sing-along.
Irish breakout star Jazzy filled the Electric Arena for her DJ set getting the party in full flow, while the one man explosion that is Marc Rebillett wowed crowds with his off the cuff songwriting skills and madcap antics in what was undoubtedly one of the most fun sets of the weekend, an experience rather than gig. Meanwhile the power of TikTok was on full display as The Kooks played to an absolutely rammed Electric Arena, mad for their retro hits Naive and She Moves In Her Own Way.
Veteran rural rockers Kings of Leon closed out Electric Picnic 2025’s main stage with a 20+ song set that navigated all corners of their career. Kicking off with recent ‘Rainbaow Ball’ from 2024’s Can We Have Fun Please, their best in some time. Caleb Followill and co flit forward and backwards through their back catalogue keeping interesting for themselves and fans alike ‘Taper Jean Girl and The Bucket, drop early set, much to the delight of those who checked out on the band after Aha Shake Heartbreak.
Fans of their stadium rock era will no doubt have been pleased to hear the likes of ‘Closer’, ‘Fans’, ‘On Call’ and ‘Revelry’ unleashed, while ‘Use Somebody is a mid set highlight. While the set carries a fair clutch of tracks from their latest album, it’s quite noticeable that Walls, Mechanical Bull, When You See Yourself hardly feature in the set at all with around half of the set coming from 2004-2010. An extended version of Seen which finishes off the main set is the highlight of the new material leaning into the kind of darker guitar driven work that made them huge in the first place.
The ubiquitous ‘Sex On Fire’ which is well on its way to 2 Billion streams on Spotify is greeted by the rapturous reaction you’d expect, if they’re bored of playing it it certainly doesn’t show, the more rocking Black Thumbnail replete with soaring guitar solo is a fare more suitable epitaph and a reminder that in their heyday Kings of Leon were indeed worth the hype. If you were expecting anything revelatory from this performance you will have been disappointed but if you wanted a high level Southern rock show then that’s exactly what Kings of Leon delivered. Solid as a rock with moments of excellence and lashings of sing along moments.
Kings of Leon at Electric Picnic 2025. Photo by Owen Humphreys www.owen.ie
Photo of Chappell Roan supplied by Electric Picnic