We are back from Electric Picnic, where we went with Cranberries Mexico, and here is our review!
Following the festival’s announcement on 20 August 2025, we felt it was important to attend Electric Picnic for what was to be a unique performance of the Hogan brothers with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra & a mysterious special guest, especially as Noel hinted in an interview earlier this week that this would be a one-off event with no plan to go back on the road. Such an appearance could therefore well never happen again!
The Hogans had been invited to perform The Cranberries’ repertoire accompanied by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. As Noel explained to the audience when stepping on stage, they had chosen Dermot Kennedy on vocals since neither of them are singers themselves, “Mike and I cannot sing so we asked a friend of ours to join us”. It turned out to be a smart move in our opinion as a female singer might have been perceived as bad taste, a misguided attempt to replace Dolores. Kennedy, on the other hand, is one of Ireland’s most acclaimed voices, blending folk and hip-hop with over a million followers and no need to borrow the spotlight. In fact, we could see on site that many of the younger festival-goers had gathered in front of the main stage more for Dermot than for The Cranberries’ catalogue!
It’s worth remembering that Electric Picnic, very much like Glastonbury in the UK, is Ireland’s largest festival (80,000 people a day!) and sells out within hours before a single act is announced. The audience the band was thus expected to sing to is predominantly Irish, coming each year for the Electric Picnic experience regardless of the line-up. In this context, the choice of Dermot Kennedy seems to us to make perfect sense, even though we weren’t there to judge Dermot’s voice against Dolores’ – it’s fair to note that his wide vocal range allowed him to handle the songs with competence.
On a day alternating between heavy clouds, wind gusts, showers, and rare clearings, we were lucky that the rain stopped just as the Hogans and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra took the stage. After a short introduction from Noel — amusingly, his very first time speaking into the mic “just going to be talking so… this is my first time” — and a warm welcome from the crowd, the show began, surprisingly, with “This Is The Day”… a lovely surprise for us as we were expecting to hear only the most popular hits the Irish audience is familiar with.
This Is The Day
From the very first notes, emotions ran high: the beauty of the orchestral arrangements, the joy of seeing the brothers smiling again after those years of grief (Mike’s emotions perhaps more discreet, but let’s keep in mind it must have been pretty intense and emotional for them too), the sense of closure of being able to enjoy these songs one last time, and of course the constant thought of Dolores.
Noel gave a second speech before “Free To Decide” unfortunately, his mic cut out front-of-house, so it’s impossible to know what he said. Perhaps he introduced the musicians on drums and second guitar (we only caught their first names – Phil and Ben ?), or did he say a word about Dolores, we’ll never know…
After all, this wasn’t so much a tribute to Dolores concert, but as Dermot himself explained later in the set, more of Ireland’s homage to a musical legacy that has shaped Irish citizens lives and history, “to be up here singing songs that are such an important part of Irish music history means an awful lot to me so I’m very very grateful to be here doing this” and that’s exactly how we perceived it too. That’s how special it felt out there, the atmosphere at Stradbally Hall was profoundly reverent, almost contemplative, as if the huge audience — weary after two days of festival and braving the rain — understood the significance of showing up, despite the fact that most Irish people really know only a handful of Cranberries songs to be honest: “Zombie” (immortalized at rugby matches since Dolores’s passing), “Dreams” (adopted by Limerick’s hurling team since 2018), “Linger” and “When You’re Gone”.
So of course, when “Linger” began, Noel invited the crowd to sing along with Dermot, and they all joined in singing along in unison, goosebumps all around. The fact the concert turned into a collective ritual made the trip worthwhile. It was clear this was always going to be a giant singalong rather than a test of the guest vocalist’s prowess — hence perhaps why Dermot’s name had only been revealed a few hours before the show, since this wasn’t what mattered most.
Linger (incomplete)
The emotion was obviously palpable on “When You’re Gone”…
When You’re Gone
Then Noel asked his fellow musicians to speed things up, “a bit… like… a lot…” (lol!) after realizing the set was running late. Here we found Noel Hogan in a role reminiscent of a conductor, much like during the “Something Else” tour in 2017, where the string section relied on him to launch songs and keep track of things.
“Salvation” brought a last chance to jump around to a classic from “To The Faithful Departed”
Another emotional highlight was “Ode To My Family” and just like on the other tracks, Dermot wisely stepped back here, avoiding any attempt to imitate Dolores’ “tu tu lu tu” or her signature live yodels. He left those either to the orchestra or to the crowd, which made the performance feel less painful and all the more genuine. The same happened with “Just My Imagination” where we were spared the elongated “not my, not my, not my…” — again, a choice we appreciated.
On “Ridiculous Thoughts” the strings took over the vocal intro once sung by Dolores, and more recently handled by backing singer Johanna Cranitch.
Ridiculous Thoughts (incomplete)
As the set neared its end, gorgeous orchestral arrangements of “Promises” gave way, to our delight, to “Dreams”, a stunning instrumental medley that took us completely by surprise. And finally, as Noel announced, “This is gonna be our last song, I bet you know what this is gonna be” the band launched into “Zombie”. Once again on these two tracks, the audience carried the song with full voice, turning those into a hymn of collective release.
Dreams
You may spot Dermot Kennedy and Mike taking their in-ear monitors off on our “Dreams” video to listen to the crowd.
For us, it was a beautiful farewell. We left with hearts full — touched, grateful, and somewhat relieved to have been able to say goodbye to The Cranberries’ live legacy in such a poignant and meaningful way. What made it even more special was the humility of the performers, the Hogans, the RTÉ Orchestra, Dermot Kennedy — all stepping back somehow leaving space for a collective embrace of the music itself. Let’s here use the occasion to remind the haters that most of these songs were co-written by the man on stage, Noel Hogan, whose legitimacy to perform them could never be in doubt.
Thank you, Noel & Mike, and congratulations to the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and Dermot Kennedy for delivering this truly epic moment of Irish collective communion — one that we will remember with both smiles and tears <3
Setlist published here.
EDIT: Second guitarist was Bill Shanley, and drummer was Ben Sloan – thanks to Ado for the info!
