Electric Picnic 2017
Festival guide
With politics, poetry, theatre, comedy, science, food, and spoken word, the Stradbally weekender has a lot to offer – but the music line-up is especially delectable. Boasting unreal acts both local and international, from Saint Sister to Chaka Khan, if you're heading to County Laois from September 1st to 3rd, you're in for a treat. Here's our pick of some of the acts you won't want to miss.
Top picks
Rejjie Snow
Perhaps the biggest rapper to come out of Ireland ever, Rejjie Snow's got flow as smooth as Tyler's - albeit with a deliciously gentle, Dublin inflection. From the twinkling light production of 2013's Rejovich mixtape (that featured a then relatively-unknown Loyle Carner), 2017 has seen the artist release his dreamy debut album - The Moon & You. He's conquering the world, but seeing the hip hop star on home turf should be especially unmissable.
Chaka Khan
Truly, does Chaka Khan need any introduction? The woman with the powerhouse vocal chords and the endlessly catchy, anthemic tunes has been killing it since the 1970s, and her music remains as glorious now as it was then. 'I'm Every Woman' and 'I Feel For You' are among some of the biggest songs of our time, and seeing them live should be one helluva uplifting dance party. This is a great opportunity to catch a legend: see you at the front to belt out 'Ain't Nobody'.
Saint Sister
Haunting Irish duo Saint Sister are making waves in the music world, and you'd be remiss to not catch them at Picnic: not least because their live shows are renowned for being special. Mixing beautiful Celtic harp traditions with gorgeously possessed, doleful vocal harmonies, the Madrid EP and tracks like 'Tin Man' and 'Corpses' have shown a proclivity for shiver-inducing, goosebumps-giving music. This should be magic.