Electric Picnic
It is that time again, Electric Picnic, and what a line-up, what a party, what a way to end the summer sason.
ARCADE FIRE have never forgotten their first outing at Ireland's Electric Picnic. The Canadian band - one of this year's headline acts in Stradbally, Co Laois - are still buzzing about their 2005 experience at the festival.
Six years on, drummer Jeremy Gara tells Shuffle: "We definitely talk about that one a lot. Electric Picnic was one of the first, huge festival things that we did. It was a weird, magical day where people just went completely bonkers for it and it was really, really awesome."
Last year, Arcade Fire played Oxegen after Jay-Z's set on the Friday night.
"That was a totally different experience," Jeremy laughs. "We didn't know what to expect because we'd never been there as a punter.
"It was great, but it's a really different vibe to Electric Picnic and totally not the same at all. But we 100 percent can't complain because we had a great show, even though we were on after Jay-Z.
"It was like, 'Those 18-year-olds are tired from Jay-Z.' Oh, man, of all the people that we had to follow! And every single song he played was great. Having experienced both festivals, it's going to be exciting to come back and do Electric Picnic."
Arcade Fire have a strong association with Ireland and not only because they enjoy massive support here. The band hasn't forgotten how U2 championed them in the early days and walked on stage to their song, Wake Up.
"The amount of people who heard of our band solely from U2 playing Wake Up at their shows before they came on stage is amazing," Jeremy says.
"U2 are lovely people as well. Every time we play in Dublin they send us Guinness and champagne."
Arcade Fire centres around husband and wife team, Win Butler (31) from Texas and Canadian Regine Chassagne (34), the daughter of Haitian immigrants.
The pair met at college in Montreal, and Regine says: "Win was the first person I ever spoke to who was as much into music as I was. There was something in the way he talked that intrigued me."
Win and Regine's romantic and musical partnerships evolved in tandem. On their first date, the pair wrote a song together, Headlights Look Like Diamonds.
As the group evolved, the lineup would include Richard Reed Parry, Tim Kingsbury, Jeremy Gara, Sarah Neufeld and Butler's younger brother, Will.
While it may seem challenging to coordinate a large line-up, Butler enjoys being part of a gang.
"It's like how it's easier to dance around your best friends," Win says.
"You get a group of people together and they either keep each other down or enable each other to cut loose. I think we give each other permission to lose ourselves in the music."
I caught Arcade Fire live in front of 60,000 fans at London's Hyde Park with 02 chiefs in June and they were on top form.
"We just put on our boots and got comfortable and had the right attitude," Jeremy explains.
"Our spirits are high because we don't do long tours. It's not about making as much money as you can while you're hot."
The Arcade Fire collective strike a good balance between the band and their personal lives.
"We try to find a balance between normal human living and the rock n' roll world and I think we're better off for it."
They're even planning on an Irish holiday after their Electric Picnic gig.
"We haven't been to Cork or any other city other than Dublin and this is one of the opportunities where we can hang out for a bit afterwards. And it's a nice time of the year to do it," Jeremy reveals.
