There was only one topic on everybody's lips at the Electric Picnic yesterday, as the drizzle woke campers who had optimistically left their runners outside their tents only to find them rained on during the night. And it wasn't the weather. It was Janelle Monae.

In her debut Irish performance on Friday, the eccentric Atlanta pop star slayed the main stage and did the same later in the Body and Soul area. Janelle, Janelle, Janelle.

"I high fived her!" said Ciarán from Stillorgan, before launching into an anecdote about sneaking behind a barrier just to get close to her.

It's expected that Swedish electronic enigma Fever Ray might be the only act who can upstage Monae. She performs tonight at the Electric Arena.

At the Picnic, it's never about obvious choices. Oxegen looks after the big hitters. This is a setting where the underground or underappreciated can become superstars for a weekend, if only in the minds of the chemically-enhanced audience.

For many, though, the music is incidental in Stradbally. Dan Boyle, Seán O'Rourke and David McWilliams were just a few of the picks at Mindfield, the spoken word area for those slightly more with it and able to do more than lie face-down in a bacon sandwich of a morning.

Naturally, a bacon sandwich wasn't the only option, and people spoke highly of the ostrich burgers, along with the annual adulation of Pieminister.

The festival failed to sell out, but there didn't seem to be too much scrimping on production, apart from some theatre shows being cut last week. The Body and Soul area was in fact expanded and became a late-night haunt for those looking for one last experience before sleep."There were definitely people in hot tubs at, like, three o clock in the morning," Helen from Galway said about her late-night wander. "I think that's what I saw anyway."

Holistic therapies competed with avant garde sounds to create an otherworldly atmosphere as flames erupted from the giant steel Arcadia structure and the ferris wheel sparkled in the mist.

Randomness is key at the Picnic also. At the heart of this is the Thisispopbaby tent which packed drag queen Panti interviewing Crystal Swing, a near-naked cabaret performance of 'Wonderwall' by a man dressed as Jesus dancing on scaffolding, and a burlesque performance accompanied by guitar prodigy Leanne Harte into a couple of hours – all overseen by a giant inflatable baby hanging from the ceiling.

The guest list is almost as eclectic as the performances, with Sean Penn, Christy Turlington and actors from the Harry Potter and Twilight films all keen to see what the Picnic has to offer.

This morning, Ryan Tubridy will host a 'Picnic Brunch' at the Leviathan Stage from noon, and Massive Attack headline the main stage.