An alien invasion soundtracked by Pink Floyd and Sgt Pepper-era Beatles arrives in Co Laois on the second night of Electric Picnic as Australian psychedelic adventurers Tame Impala beam down to the main stage. Stradbally has never seen anything quite as out-of-this-world as the Perth outfit, led by acid-house Jesus figure Kevin Parker and with tunes that set the controls for the heart of the sun.
This is as much audiovisual rush as rock concert — which is what makes the performance the perfect way to close Saturday. With the rain holding off, the set begins with a commercial for a fake drug, “Rushium”, that — much like queueing for a portaloo after dark — “alters your perception of time”.
Swirling lights swallow up the ad and then the band are on, belting out the throbbing One More Year against a backdrop of a yellow moon. Sensory overload is the key register. And that remains the case throughout a gig which casts Parker as a kind of pop Rasputin — a long-haired, pointy-bearded conjuror of mind-bending soundscapes.
There is also something of Willy Wonka to the frontman, who has become an unlikely pop figurehead (Rihanna has covered New Person, Same Old Mistakes, while Tame Impala are festooned in Grammy Awards). A candy-cane gleam ripples through Breathe Deeper. Lost in Yesterday has a marshmallow quality — sweet at first, then suffocating.
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“People of Ireland ... Electric Picnic are we going to do this?” Parker asks. “Let’s do this!” Later there is a shout-out to his Nenagh-born roadie.
The production values never let up. The big Hollywood moment comes during Let It Happen. An out-of-body rave with a Möbius strip chorus, the tune is framed by a huge flying saucer. It looms over the stage, its rainbow LEDs striking up a menacing visual symphony
Psychedelic music is often about immersion rather than instances of individual brilliance. But Tame Impala have at least one standout in their catalogue — the glam stomp odyssey Elephant which, at Stradbally, features more whizz-bang FX than an entire Star Wars trilogy. Strobes, smoke, blitzing riffs and ecstatic moshing ... as the long, cold night takes hold this is just the rocket into outer space that Electric Picnic requires.
