It is very much a tale of two reunions this weekend as the final big festival of the year rolls into Stradbally, Co. Laois, for the sold-out Electric Picnic.

On top of that, a former Argentinean soap star, a woman who played a Bond-baddie, local noiseniks, Icelandic chamber rockers, a chipcore hero, and a funk-meister extraordinaire, are amongst some of the more intriguing prospects on the bill.

Expect a huge exodus from the city this weekend for the Electric Picnic.

First though, let’s look at those reunion peddlers – in one corner, punk dinosaurs The Sex Pistols resume their on/off reunion. In the other corner, creators of possibly the greatest Irish album ever, My Bloody Valentine, continue with perhaps the most implausible comeback of the century.

After witnessing MBV in all their sonic glory in Manchester earlier this “summer”, it is still blatantly clear that tracks from their epochal long-player ‘Loveless’ are as ahead of their time today as they were when first committed to disc some 17 years ago.

The likes of ‘Soon’ and ‘When You Sleep’ still send shivers down the spine. A word of warning, however: of late, MBV gigs have been finishing with a thirty-minute plus “chord of death”, which if you are determined to see until the bitter end, should only be witnessed with ear plugs inserted. Trust me.

While My Bloody Valentine henchman Kevin Shields would be the last name to be doing the celebrity circuit, unfortunately the same can’t be said about Johnny Rotten/Lydon, with reality tv (‘Judge Judy’ and on of those ‘Celebrity…’ yokes) and accusations of racially-charged assault on fellow rockers amongst the biggest crimes on The Sex Pistols frontman’s rap sheet.

A couple of other old-timers worth a glance will be George Clinton and Grace Jones. The Parliament/Funkadelic oddball could easily brighten up anybody’s Saturday with his eccentric antics. On top of that, he has probably sown up the most unique hairstyle of the weekend award already.

Also on the hair/style buzz is the aforementioned Ms Jones, a former supermodel herself, who also appears on Saturday. Her early-eighties heyday saw her release ‘Nightclubbing’, which had influences as disparate as new-wave and dancehall. One thing guaranteed with Jones will be a spectacle of a show anyway.

For many, the undoubted highlight of the opening night will be the appearance of Sigur Rós. The Icelandic four-piece will be plugging their latest album, ‘Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust’, which besides being the biggest mouthful of an album title this year (or any other, for that matter), is probably their most immediate release yet. Live, Sigur Rós are bustling with epic beauty, and are far-removed from the bore-fest that some may imagine.