Body and Soul stage at Electric Picnic

Marking the end of summer, Body&Soul is delighted to descend once again upon the world of the Electric Picnic for 2014, bringing with it, its 11th meticulously curated installment at the lauded annual music and arts festival in Stradbally, Co Laois.

For three days and nights, the extensive team behind Body&Soul transforms the small corner of a Co Laois estate into a beautifully stitched together, fantasy landscape, lined with shimmering lights and colourful installations, featuring a natural amphitheatre, a collection of specially constructed stages and the trademark, unexpected corners that bring with them the sense of discovery and wonder that is synonymous with Body&Soul.

The village becomes a realm of two halves and opposite attractions: celebrating day and night, both a place of calm and a place of mischief, of relaxation and wild abandon, with a thousand things to do and a hundred friends to meet, it's where Body&Soul began in Ireland and it still upholds that warm, fuzzy heartbeat inside the vast landscape of the Electric Picnic.

This year, the programme continues to stir up an exciting mix of international and Irish cutting-edge acts to play across its three stages: The Upstage, Earthship and the Body&Soul Main Stage - criss crossing the tapestry of sound by virtue of months of hand-picked choices by people who still get a thrill from the power of song and the beat of the drum. Continuing its annual promise to deliver new and exciting music as a trailblazing soundtrack for the weekend, this year promises to be bigger and even better than the years gone before it.

BODY&SOUL STAGE

The Body&Soul Stage - that old lady canopied by trees and wonder, a sacred place that emanates music and good times for three magical days – where the heavyweights blend seamlessly with the newbies - where the music just doesn’t stop.

Expect DJs in trees complementing their live peers while, visual artists showcase a spectrum of musical patterns. It’s a place you can marvel at in the afternoon and again, to a different beat, bathed in strange lights and fires well into the early hours. As usual, we are very proud of our line up - international and national, stars and stars in ascendance, all expected to blow the roof off this natural ampitheatre.

Boasting sound, light and visual systems from the very top drawer and a crew of technicians who put love into their labour, Mainstage Body&Soul at the Electric Picnic aims to bring you the biggest but most intimate show of the year. Among the artists on call include the queen in waiting of experimental pop, the un-rivalled tUnE-yArDs headlining a Friday night bill that brings us from the quiet acoustic subtleties of UK's Lau through to the buzz-saw onslaught of heavily tipped Irish combo Girl Band, whilst Edinburgh's Young Fathers and Berlin's Oum Shatt complete a European supporting cast to Montreal's Merril Garbus.

Saturday sees emerging Irish star talent such as Meltybrains? share the limelight with regarded international acts like Kate Boy and Linkoban. Get ready too for some psychedelic glam rock and killer basslines from France's Moodoid whilst our old friend Donal Dineen tops the late night revelry with some quality tune selections.

We close on Sunday having trawled through electronica, skat jazz and traditional music, virtuosos and collectives, where finally Irish rappers and experimentalist producers make way for a closing triumvirate of top notch talent when the UK's Glass Animals, USA'S Perfume Genius and the Anglo French purveyors of quality pop Francois and the Atlas Mountain combine to co-headline our closing adieu to 2014. We hope you approve.

UPSTAGE

Meanwhile over at Upstage .....

A spot exclusively reserved for electronic music, The Upstage continues to showcase talent from forward-looking Belfast and Bristol labels mixing it up with DJs and live electronic artists from home and abroad.

From the subliminal to the sublime, we chart a course from disco to dancehall through a multitude of four-four incarnations and an array of wow and flutters, beeps and blips. Brought to you with the same indulgence of the senses that you’ve come to expect from Body&Soul, you now have somewhere new to get your dance on. Delights vary from the deep house of LAKE PEOPLE to the grimier take on techno by Bristol based Kowton. Upstage will get your clubbin' senses juiced up. Livewise, get your dancing shoes shined up too for exclusive sets by TR One [the only live show of 2014 from Body&Soul's favourite Carlow duo] and UNKNWN, a delicious sounding 5-piece approach from the beats of Chris Hanna allied to the vocals of Gemma Dunleavy. Closing on Sunday night and taking it to a high, we promise 4 to the floor from one of Body&Soul’s favourites o.utlier, who will hand over the reins into the safe hands of Padraic Disconaut to keep your feet dancing well in to the night.

EARTHSHIP

Last but by no means least, The Earthship Stage, whose middle name is curation, sees a Friday bill veering on a honky tonk-country-meets-travelling-roadshow course, steered by the Campbells Tavern Crew with highlights including the 12-piece Tav Jam Band and the rockabilly boogie of Country Joe and the Hayride. The revered musical chops of ex-SawDoc Leo Moran and sometime-Waterboy Anto Thisteltwaite, also vie with the sheer manic exuberance of Aindrias de Staic & The Latchikos. The rest of the weekend sees a more broader palette with The Amazing Few presenting and appearing on a Saturday line-up that travels from the pirate pop of The Eskies to the literal fuelling of the Earthship by the energy of The Punchface Champions and the drum'n'bass speaker shaking rhythms of the 3-piece that is WOB!. Sunday brings us back to our roots with singer-songwriters from various hues of the musical rainbow like Eileen Keane or Somerville sharing our stage with broader electronica and riddim-based acts including Tuam based composer and producer Willow Sea presenting a selection of hand-picked pearls whilst the fantastic and respected Cork-based Ruff Chuff Live Crew headline proceedings with a bit of dub heavy wibble and wobble to leave the Earthship in orbit.

AND REMEMBER TO CHILL….

In the ZEN GARDENS - Indulge your senses with in a wood-fired Hot Tub, unwind in the mobile sauna, star gaze in a sea-weed bath, get bendy in the dedicated Yoga Theatre, or give your body over to one of our hand picked holsitic therapists who know how to appease your Body&Soul.