Electric Picnic: Nine talking points from a damp but fun weekend in Co Laois
Grian Chatten of Fontaines D.C. on the final night of Electric Picnic 2026 in Stradbally, Ireland. (Photo by Debbie Hickey/Getty Images)
The main stage is being dismantled, pitched tents are being taken down, and fields full of mud are left with the shoe prints of the 80,000 revellers who enjoyed everything that was Electric Picnic 2026.
Three days went by in a (somewhat damp) blur and soon the sheep will graze once again on the site in Stradbally in Co Laois.
It’s Monday morning and already people are suffering from post-festival blues after a weekend of impressive international acts and homegrown talent who made us feel every emotion. People laughed, cried, sang their hearts out and danced the night away over the course of a weekend that had it all.
And with pre-sale tickets going on sale this Tuesday and general sale this Friday, it’s no doubt there will be a lot of loyal EP festival-goers and first-timers shaking their blues away by trying to nab themselves a ticket.
Here are some of the top talking points from the weekend:
Things looked hopeful for those who arrived at the festival grounds on Friday, as revellers were welcomed by sunshine and clear skies that lasted until late afternoon.
Remnants of the rainfall that fell on Thursday, soaking those attempting to pitch their tents in the downpours, were evident in the abandoned carts and trolleys whose wheels had given out on the soft ground and the tents that had already started to let in water after night one.
A thunderstorm broke late on Friday afternoon, with claps of thunder heard over the site, before the rain drenched it, but it was short-lived, and the sun made a return later that evening with conditions remaining dry and clear for the remainder of the night.
Saturday came along, however, and people woke to the sounds of rain pelting off their tents, and a day of mixed conditions followed. Sunny spells and showers of rain, which made the ground between the main arena and the campsites muddy. By Saturday night, depending on what campsite people were staying at, many were walking through sludge to get there.
By Sunday, people accepted their fate and even rain jackets with a high thread count were put to the test as the rain pelted down, but on what was the final night of the festival, revellers were treated to more dry conditions, making the final late-night exploration of areas such as Croí, the Trailer Park, Salty Dog, and Fishtown a lot more enjoyable.
Social media was filled with videos of the muddy conditions over the weekend, which were worse in some areas of the site than others, but overall, conditions could have been much worse, with Melvin Benn, managing director of Electric Picnic co-promoters Festival Republic, reminding people on Sunday that nobody comes to a festival in Ireland without expecting some rain.
On Friday night, crowd control concerns at the festival were raised after international DJ Armand Van Helden attracted a huge crowd at the Smirnoff stage – one of the smaller venues at the 80,000-capacity festival.
Van Helden's set was ultimately cancelled due to congestion fears, which sparked concerns from some revellers who found themselves in that section of the crowd.
On Saturday night, English DJ and producer Duke Dumont played to huge crowds that spilled outside the tented Electric Arena, with security staff stopping people from entering the area after it quickly reached full capacity.
Melvin Benn disputed comments that improvements are needed in crowd control at the Stradbally site, following a surge of crowds for the two popular artists on Friday and Saturday night.
He acknowledged that Van Helden was “clearly on a stage that he was too big for” and confirmed that his set was ultimately cancelled as he was “not willing to put people’s lives or people’s injuries at risk”.
“We stopped it immediately, as soon as we could see a crowd collapse. Sometimes a crowd is full and doesn’t collapse. There was no crowd collapse on any other stage at any other time.”
When asked about the crowds that gathered for Duke Dumont on Saturday at the Electric Arena, and whether the venue’s location needed to be reconsidered, Benn said that the venue is in “a perfect location” and acknowledged that people did have to be held back when the tented venue had reached capacity “because he [Duke Dumont] has become bigger than we anticipated”.
Benn went on to say that the festival is in a really good place in terms of its location and in terms of how crowds are handled.
The festival has steadily increased its crowd sizes in recent years – for example, 2016 had a capacity of 60,000 – but Benn said there would be no expansion for the 2027 event.
The new female urinals that were introduced for the first time at this year’s festival seemed to be a success with many availing of the new toilet facilities.
The ‘squat and go’ facilities are designed to be three times faster to use than conventional portable toilets.
The individual units provide coverage from the waist down, while their open-air, touch-free design means users don’t need to touch doors, locks or toilet seats.
The urinals seemed to have a good uptake in users, with Melvin Benn hailing them a success and a facility that will return to the festival.
“You’ll be glad to know, I haven’t used them myself,” he told media on-site on Sunday afternoon, “but I have been told that they are much quicker and much cleaner”, he continued.
“I think the popularity is definitely there. They’ll be back,” he said.
CMAT brought her infectious energy and personality to the main stage on Saturday night, playing to a huge crowd that spanned the whole main stage area.
Rumours had been rife earlier in the weekend that the Meath woman wouldn't make it to Stradbally as illness had forced the cancellation of a gig in Paris. Thankfully, she'd recovered in time.
Revellers gave her the Take a Sexy Picture of Me singer the welcome home that she deserved by packing out the main stage area and belting out the lyrics to her popular hits, which even seemed to take her aback.
Looking out onto the sea of festival-goers, the self-proclaimed Dunboyne Diana took in the moment that people sang every lyric of Euro-Country back to her, becoming emotional on stage.
Her performance was not only special because Electric Picnic was the first-ever festival she attended, but because it was the first anniversary of the release of her Euro-Country album, which she paid homage to by donning a two-piece set designed with the album cover artwork.
CMAT described what happened at the main stage on Saturday night as one she would never forget, saying: “This is as good as it gets for me”.
Shared calls for peace in Palestine were made by many of the artists who took to the many stages across the site over the weekend.
CMAT had people chanting ‘free, free Palestine’ and had a message of love and peace to share with fans, reminding people of what is most important in life – being kind to one another.
Damon Albarn of Gorillaz, who has previously spoken about his support for the Palestinian people, made his opinions on the war in Gaza clear to the EP crowd by wearing a keffiyeh on his head during some of the set before draping it around his shoulders for the remainder.
Fontaines D.C. also showed support, wrapping their headline set on Sunday night by saying ‘Free Palestine’.
Sombr also spoke on the main stage during his set about people connecting through the one language we all know – music.
He also noted that it is a “f***ed up world right now” and that everyone is always welcome to his gigs.
Swedish singer-songwriter Zara Larsson made dreams come through for three Irish fans during her set on the main stage on Friday evening.
The singer, who is known to choose someone from the crowd to come join her on stage to perform the viral choreography to the chorus of her viral hit, Lush Life, picked out not one, but three fans from the Electric Picnic crowd.
Sisters Lucy Maye and Fiadh, alongside their cousin Phoebe, were brought on stage to the cheers of the thousands who were gathered to witness Larsson’s upbeat and nostalgic set.
Larsson spoke with the girls on stage, spray painting a dolphin on a t-shirt for Fiadh and wishing Lucy Maye a Happy Birthday by getting the whole crowd to sing to her – a birthday celebration she will never forget.
They then broke into the chorus of the hit, performing the viral dance and hitting each step.
members American singer-songwriter Sombr, who was a favourite for many at this year’s Electric Picnic festival, surprised the thousands of people who had gathered for his set on Friday with two special guests.
Joining him on stage to perform a rendition of Zombie were Noel and Mike Hogan of The Cranberries.
The performance was met with screams and cheers from the crowd, who sang every lyric and watched in awe as the Hogans rocked it out on their guitars together. Truly a special moment that became a talking point across the site for the remaining two days of the festival.
The west was very much awake this year, and on Sunday on the main stage we saw the dream-team combination of the Saw Doctors and Mayo’s All-Ireland-winning footballers. The players joined the band, whose members Leo Moran and Davy Carton wrote on the main stage for a rousing rendition of the song. In the wake of the All-Ireland final, it felt there were at least six million Mayo people in the world, and judging by the strength of the singalong, at least half of them were in Stradbally at the weekend. The Saw Doctors also got to play such as N17 and The Sunday Game theme tune.
If you leave aside Bono and co, there’s no doubting who the next biggest band in Ireland are right now. Fontaines DC topped the bill of an Electric Picnic that again had a decent Irish representation, and the group’s Laois appearance completed a hectic weekend during which they had also played festivals in Reading and Leeds.
The quintet opened their set with Boys in the Better Land and also they also played hits such as Favourite and Starburster. An onscreen graphic mentioned ‘Slane Castle’, sparking a flurry of rumours that were confirmed on Monday morning with the announcement that Fontaines would be headlining the iconic venue in June 2027. I’d imagine plenty of people who saw their impressive set at Electric Picnic will be back for more.
