It’s that time of year once again when Electric Picnic fever hits and everyone is heading to the camping shops (or Dealz if, like me, you’re on a a budget!) on search of suitable tents, sleeping bags and warm clothes as well as going to the off licence for the necessary amount of cans, naturally!
This year’s lineup was suitably impressive with a good mixture of old and new to appeal for the varied audience that attends the picnic. Top of the bill were Billie Eilish who is certainly a favourite for 2019, The 1975 who were touring in support of their new album, The Strokes who gave us a bit of a 200s throwback, and Hozier who was a huge success at EP 2018 .
2019 was the first year featuring the new eco friendly campsite, Freetown which proved to be quite a success as young people, the primary target audience for Electric Picnic, are becoming increasingly interested in environmental matters.
Part of the beauty of Electric Picnic is the layout and the variety. Not one area of the festival is the same. There are stages for there are stages for those with a passion for dance and techno and there is the Body and Soul area which is where the hippies tend to like hanging out. This area features 2 bonfires which are attended to regularly by volunteers. There is artwork attached to the trees including a memorable piece of art hung between 2 trees which read Mind One Another which is an important message for people embarking on a 3 day party! The main stage is at the bottom of a grassy hill which is a perfect place for people to sit in the sun and drink beers while waiting for the band to come on.
The weather forecast before Electric Picinc 2019 did not look promising- festival goers heard rumours about intense rain and freezing temperatures so it was a very pleasant surprise when the sun came out on Friday, the first day of the festival, and it remained dry all night. However we were not so lucky on Saturday night…it must have been around two in the morning when all the entertainment was ending and attendees were beginning to wearily head back to their tents when there was a sudden horrific downpour along with high winds that uprooted many unfortunate people’s tents and soaked their possessions. Luckily Sunday had bits of sunshine so there were a lot of wet sleeping bags and clothes hanging over tents in the morning in a desperate attempt to dry them out.
So all in all this year’s Electric Picnic was a definite success despite Saturday’s weather and the usual unavoidable mishaps that happen to most festival goers such as dealing with long queues for the toilets, losing things and having to spend three nights in a tent on ground that certainly wouldn’t win any prizes for the comfort but this is all part of the festival journey!
Reviewing Music in Ireland 