Fine weather gives Electric Picnic revellers a great start to the party

Revellers at Electric Picnic in Stradbally on Friday morning. Pictures: Leah Farrell / RollingNews.ie

In a great omen for Electric Picnic attendees arriving on Friday morning, there was no rain to dampen their spirits as they set up their tents in anticipation of a great weekend to come.

As tens of thousands descended on Co Laois for the country’s largest music festival, revellers were urged to “act responsibly” on their way to and from Stradbally after a recent spate of tragic road deaths.

The weather forecast promised mostly warm and dry conditions for the 70,000 attendees at the sold-out festival, with Billie Eilish and Niall Horan headlining Friday evening and Fred Again and Paolo Nutini on the main stage on Saturday evening.

The Killers and the Script, meanwhile, will close out Electric Picnic when they headline Sunday evening. Early indications also suggest Rick Astley will neither give up nor let down music fans when he takes to the main stage at 5.30pm on Sunday.

Vesta Svedaite touches up her make-up in the Electric Picnic campsite.

As well as the main arena, festival-goers will also be able to sample the eclectic mix of amenities on offer, including the “harmonius hub of music, movement and meditative activites” at Crói, the marooned Salty Dog pirate ship, and the ArtLot down one of the forest paths.

Festival organiser Melvin Benn said, even beyond the main headliners, the festival has an “incredible” lineup and the whole site “looks stunning” as festival goers began to arrive.

Plans are afoot to double the size of the family campsite next year, with generations of the same family attending. "We have an incredible family campsite, which we call the 'Little Picnic'," he told RTÉ radio.

Ban on disposable vapes

Mr Benn added workers would sift through the waste left behind after the weekend and recycle as much as possible. He also appealed to people not to leave tents behind as this problem persists each year.

A major talking point for Electric Picnic 2023 was the decision to ban single-use disposable vapes, with organisers saying they were difficult to recycle and could be hazardous if they are not in the correct waste stream.

Elissa O'Dowd from Roscommon enjoying the good vibes at Electric Picnic.

The HSE drug-checking service will again be in operation this year, with surrender bins for drugs to be tested and analysed.

The Irish Examiner reported earlier this week that HSE bosses were concerned at the “high strength” of cocaine in circulation as they prepared for an expanded drug-checking service at Electric Picnic this weekend.

HSE addiction lead Professor Eamon Keenan said the benefit of the service means they can identify the content and purity of substances and if a health alert is needed, they can send one out in “real-time” at the festival.

He said: “By us analysing at the events and seeing the strength of drugs, we were able to put out a risk assessment and we put one out at the Life Festival [in Co Westmeath last May] about high-strength cocaine.” 

Prof Keenan also said gardaí “couldn’t be more supportive” of what they were doing. “They understand what we are trying to do and we understand they have a job to do, but they see the benefits of getting this information out at festivals,” he added.

The Road Safety Authority and the gardaí joined forces to urge road users to be safe going to and from the festival this weekend.

In a statement, the RSA said the bars at Electric Picnic will close an hour earlier on Sunday night while the car parks will remain open until 4pm – three hours longer than usual – on Monday to accommodate motorists until they are fit to drive.

Penny Morris from Blackrock, Co Louth, Maria Usovich from Clontarf, Dublin, and Katie Killarney from Dún Laoghaire, Dublin.

Drivers are being urged to be especially cautious when driving home after the festival, and told they should not get behind the wheel until they are in a safe condition to do so.

RSA chief executive Sam Waide said: “To date in 2023, we have already seen too many lives lost on our roads, with one in four being young people aged 16-25 years. Slow down, don’t use a mobile phone while driving and remember, driving the morning after consuming drugs or alcohol will put you in danger.

“A very simple safety message for those attending Electric Picnic this weekend is: don’t drink and drive, don’t take drugs and drive.” 

Criticism from farmers

Meanwhile, the festival drew criticism from the Irish Farmers Association in Laois, over its choice of dates for next year’s events.

County chair John Fitzpatrick said moving the festival to two weeks earlier than is traditionally the case “came out of the blue” and was going to cause “huge problems for local farmers”.

“The dates announced for 2024 — August 16-18 — are right in the middle of harvest season,” he said. “To expect that the harvest and the movement of grain can take place with 70,000 people piling into a small rural town is not realistic.

“It’s a time when there will be lots of farm machinery on the roads at the busiest time of the year in one of the busiest tillage areas in the country. There needs to be serious dialogue to resolve this issue and everything must be on the table.”