- Conceived in Montreal, Piknic Electronik is a bucolic and idealistic twist on the outdoor techno all-dayer, with the emphasis on family-friendliness. Now celebrating its tenth year of events in Montreal and having expanded to the nearby city of Gatineau, Piknic Electronik has gone international for the first time with this, the first of seven events at Jardins de Joan Brossa, in the shadow of the cable cars on Barcelona's beautiful Montjuic hill.
Following on from the confident, accomplished house of Paul Loraine's warm-up DJ set, Piknic Electronik veteran Jake Fairley took to the stage for an early-evening hardware-and-vocals live set in his woozy, sun-bleached Fairmont guise. Gearing his set towards the civilised, relaxed, organic diaper-friendly credo of the event, Fairley gave rein to the gently hypnotic likes of "Fade and Saturate" and "I Need Medicine," while eschewing more uptempo works such as "Gazebo."
James Holden's DJ set, meanwhile, ratcheted up the BPM significantly without threatening to tip over any remaining tubs of ethically sourced baby food. The sound was a touch feeble at times, though this may well have more to do with noise restrictions laid down by Ajuntament de Barcelona than failings on the part of the organisers.
Two major gripes do stand out, however, and will surely need to be addressed if this is to become as beloved a part of the calendar here as it is in Quebec. Firstly: a lot of people were a bit miffed that, despite this being a "picnic," they were only permitted to bring soft drinks in with them, so best not to compound the irritation by providing such a paltry provision of bars that huge lines snake out from them for the entire day, without interruption.
Secondly, the setting. Photographs from the events in Montreal and Gatineau suggest that they take place in gorgeously grassy, comfortable surroundings. Though such areas are at a premium in Barcelona, particularly at the height of summer, I'm sure that somewhere on Montjuic, or perhaps a little further out of the city centre, there must be a setting more in keeping with Piknic Electronik's core idea than the Jardins, which, despite their amazing views over the city, offer no more than dirt and the odd scrap of hard, jagged grass to picnic on.
Sort these issues out, add a little punch to the sound, and there'll be little to beat a day at Piknic Electronik, even in a city as rife with summer options as the Catalan capital.