Villagers: Beautiful and stomping | Electric Picnic

Gorgeous, distinctive vocals deliver set worth five stars

The Villagers. Photograph: Aidan Crawley
The Villagers. Photograph: Aidan Crawley

“Would it be weird to ask everyone to sit down? Cuddle the person beside you,” says Conor O’Brien, halfway through the Villagers set in the Electric Arena.

He probably could have asked us to do 1,000 jumping jacks and we would have been just as compliant. He launched into So Naïve, which showcases his gorgeous, distinctive vocals.

Helped along by harp, bass and drums, they shift easily between very acoustic-led soft, quiet tracks like My Light House and some shaper sounds.

The Soul Serene and 27 strangers go down particularly well with the crowd.

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“Now I feel like Ireland is proud of me. This next song is for everyone who voted yes [to marriage equality],” says O’Brien before launching into a goosebump-inducing Hot Scary Summer. Putting his sexuality front and centre, he closed the set with Little Bigot.

Beautiful and stomping all in one go.

In three words: Goose-bump inducing