Festival-goers at sunny Electric Picnic have less than a year to wait for the 2024 event
Festival-goers in Stradbally Co Laois this weekend enjoyed Electric Picnic in balmy sunshine. Met Éireann predicts the late burst of summer weather will continue for the next few days. Picture: Niall Carson/PA
Revellers at this year’s Electric Picnic will be donning the aftersun this morning and checking the 2024 calendar after confirmation that the festival will switch to mid-August for one year only — and all to capture one special and as yet unnamed guest.
This year’s festival — the 20th iteration of the event since it began in 2004 — unfolded under beaming sunshine and scorching temperatures as the weather gods favoured the 70,000 attendees at Stradbally in Co Laois, wrapping up the summer just as the weather reverted to June sunshine.
It might take a while for the sunburn to ease and the heads to settle, but the memories are likely to linger for far longer.
As the evening set in on Stradbally, a huge crowd flocked to the Electric Arena which was already overflowing with fans of the Wolfe Tones.
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With such a huge audience, only half could squeeze into the red and blue tent and just as many revellers had gathered outside to listen to into the band with plenty inside the tent hopping on the shoulders of their friends.
A rendition of ‘Grace’ made for plenty passionate singing and swaying from the crowd before a huge roar and cheer as the band prepared for their final song, ‘Graffiti on the Wall’.
Later at the Main Stage, The Script were in front of what lead singer Danny O' Donoghue described as the “loudest crowd” they’ve ever had.
After all of Stradbally sang their hearts out to ‘The Man Who Can’t Be Moved’, Donoghue chugged a pint of Guinness on stage - after some encouragement from the excited crowd.
A lucky man by the name of Pat got quite the unexpected surprise when Donoghue called him from his girlfriend niamh’s phone after she handed it over from the crowd. “Hiya Pat this is Danny from the script,” he said before singing ‘Nothing’ while on FaceTime to him.
The performance came months after the band’s guitarist Mark Sheehan passed away.
“Earlier on this year we lost our brother,” Donoghue said before a huge cheer from the crowd.
“You never realise what you have until it’s gone.” Choking on his words, he said it was Sheehan was really looking forward to playing Electric Picnic before dedicating the very emotional ‘If You Could See Me Now’ to his late friend and band mate as video clips of him played int the background.
From the feeling in the crowd, the moving performance will go down in Electric Picnic history.
Friday night’s headliner Billie Eilish dazzled a packed crowd crammed in front of the main stage, despite battling what she called a “fat fever”, adding that she was “sick as balls” and requesting she get as much help as possible from those watching.
That was duly delivered while, before Eilish’s set, midlander Niall Horan — “I’m from only an hour up the road” — could also afford to give his vocal cords a rest due to the sheer volume of the audience as they powered the lyrics back at him. The former One Direction man looked genuinely touched at the reaction to what was his first Irish show in five years, the feelgood vibes setting the tone for the weekend as any lingering clouds melted away on Saturday morning.
Horan was also among the artists to pay tribute to the late, great Sinead O’Connor, playing a truncated version of ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’, with a full rendition played by singer-songwriter Maija Sofia at a special event in the Manifesto tent in Mindfield on Saturday afternoon reflecting on O’Connor’s legacy.
We already know that next year’s festival will have one major difference — a date switch to mid-August, with organisers saying the move was triggered by a desire to snare one particular act.
Speaking about the decision to change the dates to August 16-18 for one year only, EP festival director Melvin Benn said he has come up with a plan and has been meeting with local farmers.
The new dates had come under criticism from the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) and local farmers in the area as they fall in the middle of harvest season.
“They were a bit shocked,” Mr Benn said of the criticism. “They’ve overcome their shock. Actually, yesterday was the only day I didn’t meet them this week. I’ve met them again this morning. I’ve given some of them the plan of how I’m going to overcome it. It’s a good plan, they’ve accepted the plan, they seems to be happy with the plan. I think I’ve got a solution,” he said.
Of course, the hedonism can come with its own cost. As flagged in advance of the festival, the HSE expressed ongoing concern over the high-strength MDMA tablet known as the Pink Punisher circulating at the festival, advising that it is linked to seizures due to containing double the adult dose.
The HSE also said on Saturday that the substance 3-CMC — a potent stimulant-type drug that can lead to negative mental health reactions — was being sold as cocaine.
In addition to the ongoing drug surrender option operated by the HSE, the festival also carried out its first-time policy of banning single-use vapes. At a press conference on Sunday afternoon, Melvin Benn said there is more to come in terms of sustainable activities at the festival.
He said of disposable vapes: “We took the decision to ban the retail [sale] of it to discourage its use and to recycle them where we could.
“They do recycle I’m told but it’s really hard to recycle them. Most people don’t.
“For me, the sooner that gets sorted out at government level, the better. In terms of other sustainability activities, I’ve got a fairly major announcement later this month… it’s about the picnic leading the way, showing the way.”
As EP has grown over the past two decades, becoming the country’s premier summer music event, its appeal has broadened.
The large number of Irish acts at this year’s iteration showed the range of talent being produced around the country, almost lending an early-1990s Féile vibe, but in the hideaways and nooks and crannies, there is still enough offbeat and sometimes oddball attractions to keep the festival anchored to its roots.
A line from Estragon could be flipped on its head, considering all the action outside: Everything happens, everybody comes, everybody goes, it’s Electric Picnic.
Now the wait is on to see just who that special guest will be next year...
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