THE WOLFE TONES pulled in a massive crowd at this year’s Electric Picnic and tickets for their upcoming 3Arena gigs may be harder to come by after a promised Kellie Harrington performance.

Last year, The Wolfe Tones played at the Electric Arena at the Co Laois festival and the crowd they drew took festival organiser Melvin Benn by surprise.

At a sneak peak of the Stradbally site last week, Benn said he has been a fan of The Wolfe Tones “since the very early days” but added: “The idea that they could ever play to that amount of people was just off the scale, it was in nobody’s comprehension.”

Benn said he was also taken aback by the many young people last year that knew “every word”.

Benn said they needed to be on the main stage as a result, and the move worked, with The Wolfe Tones attracting what may well be the festival’s biggest crowd at their gig yesterday.

One of the loudest cheers came with an unexpected cameo by double Olympic gold medallist Kellie Harrington.

“Well, well, what a girl!” said Brian Warfield, who then added: “I’m going to invite her to come down to the 3Arena and sing for The Wolfe Tones for the last shows there in October.”

Kellie Harrington is brought out on stage by @thewolfetones and gets an invite to perform with them at the @3ArenaDublin @thejournal_ie pic.twitter.com/awXEfrMVnT

— Diarmuid Pepper (@Diarmuid_9) August 18, 2024

Harrington led a rendition of ‘Grace’ after claiming her second Olympic gold medal in Paris earlier this month, so perhaps this will be her potential duet with The Wolfe Tones should it come to pass.

After Harrington’s appearance, Warfield remarked on the band’s 60 years in music and with time running out on the set, he said: “It’s coming to an end and I couldn’t let it go without writing a song for everybody, and I’d like to leave you with a song I wrote to say goodbye.”

Warfield sung that new song, titled ‘Goodbye’, and with their allocated time elapsed, it seemed as though there would be no Celtic Symphony.

There could be no other way for The Wolfe Tones to end a gig though, and sure enough they finished out the set with the song that includes the lyric “ooh ah, up the ‘Ra”.

It seemed as though @thewolfetones were going to leave out the Celtic Symphony this evening but sure enough it was sung at the end of the set @EPfestival 1/2 pic.twitter.com/Y4B2xgv378

— Diarmuid Pepper (@Diarmuid_9) August 18, 2024

Like other Irish acts, The Wolfe Tones had a message for Gaza, encouraging the crowd to put their hands in the air “for Gaza, and for peace”.

Later on Sunday, CMAT received a rapturous applause from all in the Electric Arena tent and told the crowd that Electric Picnic was her first festival and it’s always been her dream to play at the festival’s Electric Arena.

“My name is CMAT,” she told the audience, “and I’m like if Bono and Dolly Parton had a pet dog.”

She too had a message for Gaza, dedicating ‘I Wanna Be a Cowboy, Baby!’ to the people of Palestine.

“It’s a song about not having any freedom and desperately wanting it,” said CMAT.

“So, I would like to dedicate it to the people of Palestine who are being murdered in their thousands.

“I want you to be very fucking angry about it, as everyone seems to be.”

“I want you to be fucking angry (about what’s going on in Gaza), as everyone seems to be,” says @cmatbaby during her @EPfestival set pic.twitter.com/5LW3rp4Yz1

— Diarmuid Pepper (@Diarmuid_9) August 18, 2024

This sense of anger, among most Irish acts at least, was something Bambie Thug said they were proud of.

During their set, they took a pause “to be serious for a moment”.

“I want you all to appreciate how lucky you are to be able to be safe with your family and friends, out, open and queer at a music festival, when just across the world there are people facing a genocide,” said Bambie Thug.

They added: “I am so proud to be from this country that is so loud against that.”

Bambie Thug then moved into a cover of ‘Zombie’ by The Cranberries as the stage was lit up in Palestine colours.

.@Bambiethug says they want to take a moment to be serious, and says they feel so lucky to be from a country that is so opposed to Israel’s actions in Gaza. Then moves into a cover of ‘Zombie’ by the Cranberries. 1/2 @thejournal_ie pic.twitter.com/DVTL35iqJ4

— Diarmuid Pepper (@Diarmuid_9) August 18, 2024

On Saturday, Kneecap led the way in terms of messages in support of Palestine, and projected a message on the screen stating that violence in Gaza “is being enabled by the USA who use Shannon as a military outpost”.

There have been several protests at Shannon Airport this year calling for an end to the transport of weapons to Israel via Irish airports.

However, former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said last November that Shannon Airport was not being used by the US to transport weapons to Israel.

He told RTÉ the airport was not being used to facilitate the war in Gaza “or any war for that matter”.

Massive cheers in the Electric Arena at @EPfestival when these images are projected before @KNEECAPCEOL enter the stage. @thejournal_ie pic.twitter.com/3kF2lESfsu

— Diarmuid Pepper (@Diarmuid_9) August 17, 2024

Meanwhile, over on the mainstage last night singer-songwriter Raye was second to last musician to take to the main stage.

Throughout the set, she repeatedly encouraged “Dublin” to make some noise.

After the third such occasion, people began to shout “Laois”.

However, the mistake may come from the fact that she was accompanied by the Dublin Gospel Choir, who more than played their part in what was an excellent show.

“I’ve forgotten my tit tape and I’ve broken a nail,” she said at the top of the show.

“I’m getting my insecurities out of the way so that I can be myself for you.”

.@raye with ‘You Don’t Know Me’ from the main stage of @EPfestival yesterday pic.twitter.com/5DqyD0e1Iw

— Diarmuid Pepper (@Diarmuid_9) August 19, 2024

Last but not least came the final headline act, Kylie Minogue.

During her set, she spoke about making a song recently with ‘The Blessed Madonna’ and told the crowd that she would perform this song live for the first time, and with no other than ‘The Blessed Madonna’ herself.

Scores of people took out their phones, primed for the shock appearance of Madonna of ‘Material Girl’ and ‘Vogue’ fame.

There was some disappointment when these people realised ‘The Blessed Madonna’ is an American DJ.

Kylie also took the crowd back to the 80s with ‘The Loco-Motion’, a song that was belted out by all, even festival-goers born nearly two decades after the release of Kylie’s cover version.

Kylie Minogue performing ‘The Loco-Motion’ at yesterday’s headline @EPfestival set. pic.twitter.com/ckgj2aWhbk

— Diarmuid Pepper (@Diarmuid_9) August 19, 2024

“When they called it Electric Picnic, they really meant … ELECTRIC,” Kylie wrote on Instagram following her gig.

“I’m going to be buzzing for a while. Thank you thank you thank you Ireland!!!”