Electric Picnic organisers apply for licence for four-day festival
The Main Arena of Electric Picnic in 2019 — the last time the festival was held before the Covid-19 pandemic. Picture: Aerial.ie
Electric Picnic organisers have applied for a licence to hold the first festival after a gap of three years caused by the pandemic.
EP Republic Limited, the company behind the festival, has applied to Laois County Council for a licence to hold the outdoor musical event in September.
This year's festival, on the Stradbally Hall Estate, is planned to be held over four days — from Thursday, September 1, to Sunday, September 4 — organisers and the local authority have confirmed.
The event is set to be bigger and different than ever before with a maximum daily crowd capacity of 70,000 revellers similar to that planned for last year’s festival which never went ahead.
The 2020 event was cancelled relatively early due to Covid-19 restrictions, however, last year’s festival was mired in controversy with the organisers initially postponing the event by three weeks after local councillors voted against granting the licence despite calls for it to go ahead.
The Promoters EP Republic Ltd and MCD wanted to run the festival at full capacity in late September — with plans to allow 70,000 revellers attend from September 24 to 26 — three weeks after it was first postponed.
One of the Electric Picnic organisers, MCD managing director Dermot Desmond, called on the Government to allow the festival to go ahead.
The Council decided to pull the plug on the September event citing their decision was due to the “most up-to-date public health advice” available from the HSE.
Changes are also on the cards to several of the stages. The working plan includes a new area due be known as Fishtown.
The Body and Soul area organisers ended their link with the festival after 2019. Electric Picnic said that this would now be called Mind and Body and would remain in the same area as previous years.
The Mindfield area was also due to move to be adjacent to the new Mind and Body area.
The application said campsite, arena entrances, and arena layouts have been reviewed and amended accordingly to accommodate the additional capacity.
The application, is subject to a three-week consultation by council officials, local businesses and related organisations. Submissions can be made by the public over the next five weeks.
A Council spokesperson also confirmed that they had received the application and that officials and country councillors have until four weeks prior to the planned opening date to give the green light or not.
“A decision may be made even before that date it depends obviously on the level of submissions received and what situation the country is in with regard to the pandemic and regulations around that,” the spokesperson explained.
Organisers have yet to announce a line up acts for the festival. Previous line-ups include The Chemical Brothers, New Order, Lana Del Ray, Ed Sheeran, Christy Moore, The Cure, and Paulo Nutini.
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